Contract Awareness
When you are in the middle of a contract, how the contract is written, or abridged or modified can sometimes make or break a deal.
For example, if in your contract you say you will have a lender letter with full approval in 2 days, you have to do that.
If that letter does not show up in those 2 days, your contract can go into default. If you don’t close by the date given on the contract, the contract can go into default. In other words, become invalid unless you take the proper steps to properly extend your contract.
Here’s something to know: If your closing date is on or before the 15th, and everyone signs, but the deal does not fund until the the next day, the 16th, then your contract can be in default. (Did you know that closing includes funding, not just when you sign paperwork?)
Watch for all the details that have performance deadlines and adhere to them, or have them modified with addendums to everyone’s satisfaction. By not doing so leaves you in the lurch.
Of course, all this can be avoided by carefully reviewing all the paperwork before it’s committed to the other party with your agent. Don’t ever let an agent (Or lender for that matter) tell you to just sign this, it’s just some legal-eeze that you don’t have to worry about. (Which I’ve heard about from clients past experiences over and over in my career.) And don’t let the contract get glossed over. I have always gone over my contracts with my clients, page by page, paragrpah by paragraph. I give them preview copies to read before we got together so they can form questions when we do meet. Don’t be hoodwinked by an agent trying to push a contract through. Believe it or not, you are the boss.
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Speaking of Contracts
When you find yourself in the middle of a contract, be sure everything is put in writing. If it’s not in writing, it’s not enforceable in a court of law.
I was just reading about an oral contract between parties. Egads, it sounds nice, it sounds simple, but it leaves you at the mercy of all kinds of problems. Get your contract in writing.
Additionally, when you are in a legitimate contract, and offers or addendums are discussed between parties, don’t make your coutner offer a verbal one. Your agent should advise you to put it all in writing. In my early days, I got caught up with a client who didn’t want to deal with all the bull, and for me to just “talk” to the other agent. None of the requests flew, but then later on in the negotiations, the seller wasn’t even aware of half the details of those verbal counters because the sellers agent was making decisions for them!! And then my client got mad at me for letting this happen even though he insisted!!
To clients and agents alike, it’s recommended to put everything in writing and get everything signed by all parties!! Plain, simple, effective, protective.
