Purchasing a home – the contracts.
The Contract
I ‘ve heard that purchasing a home can be confusing and stressful for anyone, even if you’ve purchased a home before. We’ve purchased nine homes of our own during our life together. We can confirm this. We’ve also helped almost 400 clients buy or sell their homes. And because of our experience, we’ll make the process of purchasing a home as smooth and stress free as possible.
First, you’ll need to find a new home to purchase. However, this is not what we will be discussing today. Today we will start to explain what happens after you find a home.
The first step is to prepare a contract. Your Realtor typically prepares a contract using a standard form supplied by the New Jersey Association of Realtors. This standardized contract will include the necessary information required for the transaction. This information included in the contract is:
Purchase price
The deposit amounts and the time schedule that the deposits to be submitted
If a mortgage is part of the transaction, it will include the mortgage amount, payment schedule and the date the mortgage commitment is due.
The contract will state the targeted closing date
What’s Included
In addition, the Items included in the sale will be listed. For example, appliances, any included window treatments or other personal property/ In fact, this should all be listed to ensure everyone knows what’s included.
What’s Not Included
It’s important that the contract also lists what is not included in the sale.
Inspections are part of the process. The contract will specify the time frames for inspections to be performed.
Once your agent has prepared the contract, your agent will go over the contract and explain to you what you are signing and committing to. Do not hesitate to ask for further explanations if there is anything you don’t understand. Once this step is completed, you will sign the contract. Next, the contract will be sent to the seller’s Realtor, who will then present the contract to the seller. Negotiations will begin and with luck an agreement will be reached with the seller. You have now completed the next step towards purchasing your home.
In Chapter 2, I’ll explain what happens next – Understanding Attorney Review.
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Will you be buying and/or selling a home? Contact us.