Have you read a California purchase agreement lately? Probably not, come to think of it, when a home owner decides to sell his house, part of the homework might be to ask your realtor for a sample contract, just to familiarize your self with the important stuff. Buyers should do the same. This agreement is a legally binding agreement once signed but all parties involved.
About 99% of buyers will make an offer with what we call contingencies… what was that? Yes, I call it the ‘buts’. I’d like to buy the house but: I need a mortgage and the house needs to qualify, I want to make sure the house doesn’t have serious flaws, I want to make sure I really want to live in that neighborhood, I want to….
The list if reasons can be different for everyone. Some of you might say, wait a second, you cannot have an endless list of ‘buts’. Basically the main ones are: Financing, Inspections and Title.
Financing: the house needs to appraise and the bank needs to agree.
Inspections: buyer can do any and all inspection as to satisfy himself as to the condition of the property. This covers a wide range if subjects, even the neighborhood is involved. That’s why the list is endless: depending on property and buyer. Everyone has different priorities.
Title: once the escrow is opened, the title company provides a preliminary title report, stating the legal owners, the liens against the property, the easements etc etc. A problem with title can severely delay the sales process.
In our area, in general, the contingency period is 17 days. This period gives a buyer the time to have all ‘contingencies’ taken care of. Should something seriously pop up you can either ask for an extension to do more inspections, ask for money to remedy the problem, sign of on the contingencies and move forward with the sale or decide that this is not your house and cancel the dale. You can say, when inspection period is up you have to really decide (what is that expression again?).
There is a lot more to say about the subject but this is the basics to remember about the ‘buts’.
Have a great Sunday!
Mirjam
