Industry News

There is a lot of fake news out there! And there is a lot of fake news about news that is claimed to be fake that isn’t fake. Here you will see a number of real estate transaction myths that just might be true, or not! Keep this article and one-by-one we will pick out the fake news from the real stuff. At the end of the list I’ve answered the first two questionable facts, so read on.

Time is relative so whether May 31 is fast approaching or is way far out is for you to decide. What I can tell you is that by the summer and fall of 2018, many of you will be calling for help with real estate license renewal problems. So what can and should you be doing now to avoid the potential problems that may be unfolding a year from now?

Terminating an agreement of sale falls into one of three categories: 1) termination based on law; 2) termination based on a contractual right; and 3) termination unsupported by law or contract. Most terminations are based on a contractual right to do so and most of those fall into rights granted under the mortgage contingency clause or the inspection contingencies. The document that is used to exercise a right of termination granted by the agreement is the Notice of Termination of Agreement of Sale (TER).

Home Inspection Contingency Periods
The buyers entered an agreement to purchase a property with an external insulation finish system known as Dryvit. Upon inspection of the Dryvit, the report noted a few areas that were suspect for some moisture infiltration. The buyers decided to submit a corrective proposal asking the sellers to engage a specialist to conduct a “further evaluation” of the Dryvit and to undertake any “necessary repairs.” After being disappointed with specialist’s report of the Dryvit, the buyers decided to terminate the Agreement of Sale outside of the contingency period.

I was helping an old friend of mine’s son and daughter-in-law with their home purchase. The house that most caught their fancy, and the one they eventually purchased, was a flip. Now, I have a lot to say about flipped houses, primarily based upon the volume of litigation that I have handled arising from the purchase of flipped homes. For purposes of this story, let me just say that I was very concerned that my friend’s son and daughter-in-law would later regret their purchase or have serious problems. And so, I embark on my mission, full of advice.

In those good ole days of real estate transactions, offers were also accompanied by deposit checks. There was no place on the standard agreement to accommodate today’s practice of transmitting deposits “within ___ days (5 if not specified) from execution.” It is evident from the many inquiries on this topic, that today’s practice leaves sellers vulnerable, for at least those first days. To protect sellers, the realtor practice of accepting offers, with a deposit, constitutes the sole remedy available to a seller in the event of buyer default.