Good News...a contract arrives!

The selling agent will call me and register that a contract has been written for the property. Normally the contract is faxed or sent by E-mail to me at my office so that I can present it to the seller.

Once I have received a copy of the contract, I will be contacting the seller for an appointment to review the contract. We will go over the contract, item by item, confirming that all points are acceptable to the seller. Important factors are usually price, financing, settlement date, and seller subsidies. But there could be a variety of different things that a purchaser might also want.

THERE ARE FOUR OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THE SELLER:

1. Accept the contract as written. This means no changes are made. Therefore the seller has a ratified contract.

2. Counter one or more items in the contract and return it to the purchaser's agent for the purchaser's consideration. (Keep in mind that this is a counter offer and it can be refused by the purchaser)

3. Reject the contract completely.

4. The seller could also not do anything with the offer. But this is not recommended. If the seller does not like the contract, he should at the very least counter it.

The contract is ratified when the seller and purchaser have signed off on all changes and are in agreement on every item, and the contract with approved changes has been delivered to both parties.

There are usually some contingencies in a ratified contract. For example, the purchaser desires a home inspection. This inspection is paid for by the purchaser and is done between 5 to 10 days after the contract is ratified.