Understanding the Sales Contract

When you are selling a home, the most important part of the transaction occurs after you have found a buyer. If your property is being marketed professionally, the real estate agent will put together the purchase offer and present it to you. Each local Board of Realtors has standard contract forms which reflect the legal requirements of the jurisdiction in which you live. These contracts include the sales price, financing contingencies, completion deadlines, and other items that are required in order to meet local government requirements. You may find that trying to sell your own home in order to save the brokerage fee is false economy. Real estate sales are complicated, and a slight variation in language can sometimes cost you a sale and/or a lot of money. Many of our listings came from sellers who thought their homes were sold, only to lose the buyers at the last minute--on a technicality!