Yesterday, the Barbara Ciment Team (Barbara, Mel & Emily) attended a very informative Long & Foster Institute presentation by Suzanne I. Cytryn Feinstein, Esquire, who reviewed the New Regional Sales Contract Coming as of January 1, 2012.
A summary of some major changes that a non-expert would appreciate, include:
1. Elimination of “Required Repairs” in Property Condition Paragraph
2. Removing Financing Contingency with “Firm Written Commitment”
3. New Conventional Financing Addendum protects Earnest Money Deposit if low appraisal
4. Appraisal Addendum Terminates at deadline without seller notice
This was a very technical review with lots of legalese that I will not try to paraphrase.
If you are buying or selling a home after January 1, 2012 in the Capital Region, then you need to be sure that your sales people and lawyers are familiar with how this new contract changes many years of custom and usage.
Let one example suffice. Item 1 above refers to the elimination of required repairs by the seller for major systems, such as, heating, air-conditioning electrical and plumbing. With this new contract, a buyer must positively assert that requirement as it is no longer part of the boilerplate. This means that when a buyer has a home inspection, the buyer must detail all issues and not assume that some systems are the responsibility of the seller.
Some people have criticized this particular change saying that it makes the contract “as is”. I disagree. In fact, I believe that the drafters chose to make the parties to a sale think through all the issues and settle their differences directly, rather than try and use boilerplate language that may be appropriate in some case and less so in other cases. In general, I like most of the changes that are in the new contract. Future blogs may detail these items as they become interesting.
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