So, you got a contract. Yea!

You are so excited, you are buying the house of your dreams! You can’t wait to figure out where all your furniture is going to go, and what colors you are going to paint the walls…

But wait, you are not in the clear yet…

Everyone gets so wrapped up in finding a house, that they forget that the contract process is also just as important.

You are going to have an inspection of the house, to see what you are getting. This is an important deadline. In South Florida, the average inspection time is ten days, but sometimes the seller’s side will only give you five to seven days. Most good inspectors will need a day or two to schedule, and many won’t work on weekends. I use Pillar to Post  who prints their reports on site. Not everyone does that. Some inspectors take one to three days to get you the report back. It is very easy to miss this deadline if you are not paying attention.

What happens if you pass the inspection period?

If you like the property and want to move forward, than all you lose out on, is your negotiating on any of the inspection results. You are now buying it AS IS. (If you have any concerns about the inspection, you have to bring it up before the deadline.)

If you don’t like the property and want to cancel, the sellers can keep your deposit.

If you are purchasing the property with cash, after you pass the inspection deadline, you are buying that property.

 

If you are financing, you are going to be working with a lender to get your loan. You have a certain number of days (often times it is thirty days), to get your loan commitment.  This is an important deadline. If you can’t get financing, you have to cancel within the loan commitment deadline. If you pass the loan commitment deadline, you are buying the property, or you are losing your deposit.

 

So when you go to contract, make sure you go over all of your deadlines, and keep up with your inspector and loan officer, to make sure that you have enough time to get everything you need done, so that you can buy that great property that you are so in love with! 🙂