Are you looking to sell your home on your own? Make sure you are aware of what contractual rights you and your buyer have during the home buying process. I’m Sherri Echols, Broker Associate with RE/MAX Bryan – College Station and as local real estate experts we truly care about the homeowners in our community. Because we care, we want to pass on some useful information to homeowners like you to help you avoid the common pitfalls associated with selling your property on your own. There are a lot of moving parts to make your sale a successful one from start to finish so our hope is we can contribute to your success and make your for sale by owner experience a great one! A contingency is a contractual right allowing a party to cancel a contract (without penalty) either before or after a specified timeframe. But remember, these timeframes are not set in stone and can be negotiated prior to going into contract. However, Standard Buyer Contingencies that you will most likely have to navigate are inspection, appraisal, and loan approval. 1) Inspections. 7-10- days for the buyer to complete any inspections. Only the buyer can cancel if the buyer is not fully satisfied with the result of the buyer’s inspections. However, remember that the timeframes can be negotiated and that is determined by the market conditions. 2) Appraisal. Appraisal is one of the final parts of the final loan approval. Only the buyer can cancel if the appraisal amount is lower than the purchase price unless you’ve previously negotiated something different, for example a no appraisal contingency or possibly gotten the buyer to agree to pay a specified amount over the appraised value not to exceed the purchase price. Again, there is a lot more involved with this, so be sure to protect yourself. 3) Loan Approval. 14-21-days for buyer’s lender to ‘approve’ the buyer. Only the buyer can cancel if the lender does not approve the buyer. Also, be aware of these less common contingencies that may be part of a purchase agreement:1) Sale of buyer’s current home. This contingency is usually processed with the TAR form “Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property”, which offers several timing options. If you the seller get another offer you would like to accept, the original buyer. has the first right of refusal. The number of days they have to make the decision. to go ahead and purchase your home without this contingency or terminate the contract is negotiable. This only scratches the surface of the FSBO process. If you find the process a bit too much to handle on your own with everything else you need to focus on in life, like family and work responsibilities, give us a call and we can remove some of the stress from the situation for you. Let’s connect and discuss your real estate goals and how we can achieve them together! I’m your Community Market Leader Sherri Echols, a helping hand for a happy home.
