Study the sample contract to purchase shown in Figure 9.1 to familiarize yourself with typical provisions—but don’t try to use it. Obtain a contract suitable to your area from your broker, lawyer, or legal bookstore. If your agency uses one specially designed form for its transactions, try to obtain samples of other standard contracts used in your area.
Local custom dictates the manner in which the offer to purchase will be made. The form may be called an agreement to buy and sell, a binder receipt and option, an agreement to purchase, a sales contract, or an offer and acceptance. Study it ahead of time so that when an offer comes in, you will be familiar with the standard provisions and can concentrate on the specific terms being offered.
It is helpful, also, if you familiarize yourself with the financing options open to potential buyers of your home. Chapter 10 discusses some alternatives. Because you will be asked to make decisions based upon the buyers’ plans for financing, be conversant with their choices. Your salesperson will have information on current financing opportunities.
Some of your strongest offers will be those from buyers who have prepared themselves to purchase a home by having obtained a lender’s prequalification letter. They may have even gone further, by procuring a full preapproval (they are completely loan-approved, pending a property address) for a home up to a specific price. These buyers will (understandably) not reveal what their price ceiling is, but will be in a better bargaining position compared to others who did not bother to take this step. |
