Avoid Home Headaches: What to Add to Your Terms and Conditions

When you’re buying a home, there’s a lot to think about. And, if you’re a first-time home buyer, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed and unsure about what to do. After all, this is likely the biggest purchase you’ll ever make—and the largest amount of money you’ve ever spent. So, you want to make sure you don’t forget anything. Here are some important things you’ll want to consider adding to your terms and conditions on your real estate purchase.

Subject To Inspection

Having a home inspection done on a property you’re about to purchase is non-negotiable. There may be something wrong with the home that even the seller is unaware of. You must know the condition of the house you’re buying before you commit. You don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of repairs which will suck up a lot of time and money.

Having this condition in your offer means that if the inspection does show some issues which need to be dealt with you can walk away from the offer you’ve made. You can then permanently walk away or you can put in an offer of a lower price.

Subject To Home Inspection

Subject To Finance

Although you’ve likely already checked with your mortgage lender regarding the amount you qualify for, you still need to confirm your financing will be in place before you put an offer in on a home.  When this clause is included, you can withdraw your offer without penalties.

Sale Of Your Current Home

If you’ve put in an offer on a home but haven’t sold yours yet, you should put the sale of your home as a condition on your offer. Unless you can manage to come up with the financing to buy the second house without selling your first, this is very important to remember.

Now, you must be fair and not expect the home seller to keep their home off the market for months while you attempt to sell your home. A specific time period given to sell your home—usually about 2-6 weeks—should be included with this clause.

Who Pays Closing And Other Costs

There are quite a few costs over and above the purchase price associated with a real estate transaction. These costs are commonly paid for by the buyer but can be split in any way if the seller and buyer come to a different agreement.

If this is the case, it should be officially placed in the terms and conditions of your offer so there’s no confusion. You’ll want to put in the exact amount the seller has agreed to pay and how these costs will be split—either in a percent or a dollar amount.

What You Want To Be Included In The Sale

If you expect to get all the appliances and fixtures you saw during the showing, then put them all down as conditions in your offer. The same goes if you don’t want them and would like some or all of them removed before your possession date.

Even if you were told verbally during the showing which appliances and fixtures would be included in your purchase, you likely still want to add them to the clauses in your offer. This will avoid any miscommunications.

What You Want To Be Included In The Sale Of Your Home Or Condo

When The Closing Date Will Be

You and the seller must agree when a fair closing date will be, and this should be put in writing in the offer. Typical closing dates range from about 30 to 60 days but can happen earlier or later. This may also be attached to your “subject to financing” and “sale of your current home” clauses.

Anything Else You Want To Be Done

If it’s very important to you that something is done to the house or property before you purchase it, this can also go into your offer as a clause. Perhaps you would like some trees and bushes removed or an old shed in the yard hauled away. This can also include the seller having a professional cleaning done prior to the possession date, removing unwanted carpeting, or replacing certain finishes within the home.

A qualified, knowledgeable real estate agent will be able to advise you on which clauses should go into your purchase agreement. If you’re looking to buy real estate in Oakville, Hamilton, Mississauga, or Burlington, contact Alex Irish & Associates. No matter if it’s a new home for sale in Hamilton or a luxury condo or townhome for sale in Burlington, we can help make your transaction go as smoothly as possible.