You have found the home you want to buy and live in. You both love it. You sign a contract at a negotiated price. Two days after signing the Contract you phone and ask the agent if a Parent can inspect the property.
What is the problem with this you ask? The problem arises when buyers lose respect for the seller, in one case I had nine relatives inspect a property after a couple had signed a Contract. Legally, you are not entitled to return to the property until the Pest and Building is being conducted. I do not however, see the point in delaying the process, so usually agree to the Parent inspecting. Let me tell you that in my many years of experience the result of this is inevitably a crashed Contract.
If you do not involve your Parents in the process of signing a Contract by asking the Agent for a second inspection prior to signing the Contract, the Parent, or interested party feels slighted and will always find fault with the property – either correctly or incorrectly is of no importance.
My advice to young Buyers is always ask for a second inspection prior to signing a Contract. At that second inspection have all parties whose opinion you respect attend. Sellers get very (understandably) irate when a Contract crashes after 21 days on finance when no pest and building has been ordered and no valuation has been conducted, which would suggest that after the Parent or interested party has inspected you have changed your mind. The writing is already on the wall, so why wait until the 21st day to advise the Seller’s?
Pest and Building inspections are another bone of contention, a number of Buyers are using it as a further negotiating tool on the price. This is not the purpose of a Pest and Building, unless of course there is something that we as Agents and quite often the Owner themselves are not aware of – such as structural problems. You should act reasonably. If you are told a property has a fibro roof, then do not come back and ask for $15,000 off the price to replace the roof.
All Contracts are positioned in favour of the Buyer. You have 14 or 21 days to organise finance and have building and pest inspections. There is also a five working day cooling off period which applies to every Contract. The Seller on the other hand cannot change their mind, which occasionally happens.
Enjoy the experience of looking for your new home, make sure all interested parties are aware that you are thinking of purchasing and ensure they too have seen the property and agree with you on the purchase. Buying a new home should not become a war zone between Seller, Buyer and Agent. Each party must respect the other and a fair price will be paid. The whole experience can and should be very enjoyable.
Labels: buyer, contract, finance, pest and building, seller
