The New York Times > Real Estate > Closing Day Disasters:

IN a real estate utopia, there are no last-minute meltdowns and no buyers forsaking an apartment because of a $100 microwave. Sellers do not threaten to kill a deal if they don’t have a signature by sundown. No one acts like a character in an Edward Albee play.But in the ever-so-flawed real world, all those things do happen….There are no data to record how many closings die or are delayed, but brokers are seeing and hearing about more 11th-hour problems.At any time, finishing a real estate deal can be far thornier than just signing deeds, writing checks and handing over the keys to the front door. Closings may not end with a handshake but with failure, fury and two people nearly aborting a $400,000 apartment sale because they can’t decide who should pay $250 to replace a broken air-conditioning unit.

These situations arise primarily due to greed. Greed and positioning. When parties place their own goodwill aside in order to beat out the other guy, even the most simple task can seem insurmountable. The goal of achieving a “win-win” resolution can so swiftly be lost to emotions and hard-headed actions.