Thursday, April 17, 2008

Option Period Danger

The Texas promulgated contract assumes that the buyer is buying the house in As-Is condition with no repairs. This is rarely the case. Most transactions involve repairs to the property.

In Texas, the contract provides for an option period (10 days is the standard). The buyer pays the seller for this right ($100.00 is standard). During the option period the buyer may back out of the contract for any reason.

The buyer has the property inspected during the option period and then negotiates repairs with the seller.The buyer is essentially saying, "Either fix these item or I will cancel the contract." A lot of buyer's agents mistakenly feel that if the negotiations are continuing that the option period magically extends. It is the obligation of the buyer to either come to agreement or terminate before the end of the option period.

If the option period expires without all parties in written agreement, the buyer has to buy the property As-IS with no repairs.

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