Please help with contract agreement!

Profile picture for tibet71
Hello,

Is this normal and what does it mean?
"Loan and appraisal shall be removed within 15 days after acceptance of offer"?

Who shall pay for termite treatment? Seller or Buyer?

Home Warranty should not exceed $ 400? What does that mean?
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May 26 2010 - US

Replies (6)

Profile picture for natewolf

I have not read your contract. You should have a local Realtor or Attorney read your contract. Are you the buyer or the seller?

It appears they are referring to "Contingencies" in your contract for a Loan Approval Letter and for an Appraisal. So, within 15 days they want you to get approved for your loan, and to order your appraisal to make sure the property appraises for your loan.

Who pays for Termite? It depends on what the Buyer and Seller agree. In my state, a Termite Inspection is required, and generally this is paid by the buyer. But if there is any treatment required, this is generally paid by the Seller. In some circumstance, the seller has the home preinspected and would have already paid for the Termite Inspection Letter.

They intend to order a Home Warranty. And the Home Warranty cost should not exceed $400-- it should also say who is paying for the Home Warranty. If the home warranty is more than $400 -- say it costs $500... then only $400 will be paid, and the other party will have to pay the extra $100. You can check with several Home Warranty companies to make sure that $400 will be enough to cover the costs.

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May 26 2010
Profile picture for tibet71
I am the buyer.

"Loan and apprasial shall be removed witin 17 days after acceptance of offer." was in the addendum.

We are approved already with 20% down.
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May 26 2010
Profile picture for natewolf
Your lender needs to hurry up and order the appraisal.

Since you are approved, you can send a copy of your loan approval letter to the sellers. Most likely your letter states something like "subject to appraisal".

There may also be a standard form in your state to give formal notice of the removal of these contingencies. But do not remove them until your know the loan is approved and the home appraises for the value required.

Do you not have a Realtor representing you?
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May 26 2010
Profile picture for jkonstant
If you have not yet signed, you should hire an attorney to expalin, re-write or amend this and any other parts of the contract and attached addendums.

As stated and without full knowledge of the entire document (contract) we can only guess as to the exact meaning. Yes, it appears to be a fairly standard financing contingency but what is not clear is what the financing terms are that this affects, the likelihood that they can met easily met and the penalty for failure.

Hire an attorney is rule #1 with all real estate transactions. Yes they cost a few extra dollars, but they are far cheaper before they become necessary.
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May 27 2010
Profile picture for tibet71
I do have a realtor, but she keeps saying it is "standard". I guess now I need to find an attorney.

Thank you so much for all your advices.
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May 27 2010
Profile picture for Brett_Frosaker
I'm not an attorney but in my opinion, is sounds like sloppy writing by the real estate agent.  In representing the seller, since you are pre-approved, he didn't want the finance contingency to hang out for the duration of the contract.  Thereby giving you an arguable out if you chose to walk away at the last minute.

She probably should have simply said; "Buyer's earnest money shall be non-refundable 15 days after mutual acceptance." 

I generally find when agents enter into the unauthorized practice of law they write a clause too loose which has no teeth or they use the space to try to sound like a supreme court justice.  If you must take pen to paper, it is best to keep it in simple real world sentences. 

Regarding the pest inspection; the contract should clearly state who pays for it.

Regarding the Home warranty, that is another example of sloppy writing.  To simply state that the home warranty "should" not exceed $400 is simply an opinion and doesn't compel either side to do anything.  Maybe what they meant was that the seller will provide a home warranty but hey price of the warranty will not exceed $400.  In the event the warranty is more than $400 the buyer will be responsible for the difference.

Once again though, I am not an attorney and these really are legal questions that should be answered by an attorney.  Then above are simply my thoughts and should not be taken as advise.



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May 27 2010
 
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