Be Exact on What You Put on Paper

Happy Friday Red Rock Agents,

If it’s not hot enough for you I feel so sorry, but I have had plenty of this heat already. I guess as I get a little older it has a bigger effect, but still, it’s hot. The market is still going strong, and business is booming. Be willing to go the extra mile for your clients. That is what it will take to get contracts accepted.

Only a few items I want to go over this week. I have seen a few addendums to correct or extend the time of response for an addendum prior to that one. So, here is the deal: if you feel the need to extend the response time of an addendum, please write it to say just that. “The (response) time for addendum XX shall be extended till XX”. I saw one this week that read like this “The time for acceptance has been extended till XX time”. What happens if the other party accepts that addendum? If the other party accepts that addendum, have they accepted the entire contract, or just the time for response? I feel like the party has just accepted all the contract. Remember to extend the response time, not time for acceptance.

I have seen contracts address the appraisal issues in different ways. One of the ways I have seen them written is like this, “Buyer shall pay $XXX over the appraised value”. Who is at risk with this type of language? Both buyer and seller I feel are exposed. If the addendum says that the buyer will pay $5000.  over appraised value and has no cap, what if the value comes in just $2,000 thousand dollars less than purchase price. Have you committed them to a higher amount that the buyer will have to pay over the purchase price? Yes, it’s what has been agreed to. Please set a cap on what the buyer will pay. If it comes in $15,000 less than the purchase price, then the $5,000 over that has been agreed to, the seller will lose $10,000 of the agreed-on purchase price. As you can see it is in the writing on the addendum that makes all the difference. It goes both ways either in favor or against the clients. So, please be exact on what you put on paper. Please call with questions.

Please have a great weekend and be safe out there,

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