By Arina Smith
As a homebuyer, buying a home can be considered a significant financial decision that you can make in life. However, a real estate purchase can be a bit complicated because it involves a complex set of real estate laws. This is one reason why you should work with a reliable real estate lawyer to help you navigate these laws, rules, and other regulations involved.
But being a homebuyer doesn’t mean you should entrust everything to a legal professional. Thus, to ensure you’re making the right buying decision, it’s important that you should be aware of some common rules.
If you’re buying a home anytime soon, below are four real estate rules all homebuyers should know:
1. Your House Purchase Should Have A Contract:
When you’re purchasing a house, there are documents that you need to sign to make the sales process official. These papers are usually standard home buying contracts that outline the seller’s and buyers’ rights, obligations, as well as terms and conditions of the sale, and many more. With a contract in place, you can rest knowing that your rights as a homebuyer are protected throughout the process.
If the home buying process doesn’t involve a contract, you can’t hold the seller to their original obligations. In case there’s a dispute, you may be unable to enforce your agreement with the seller, jeopardizing your rights in the long run.
Thus, if you want to ensure the contract’s terms and conditions safeguard your rights as a buyer, hiring a reputable real estate lawyer, like Ryan Gibbs, Esq. can be an excellent idea. They’ll review the document and make sure that everything is in order before closing the deal.
2. An Accepted Offer Will Constitute A Contract To Buy:
Once you’ve chosen a home, it’s time to make an initial offer to begin the homebuying process. Make sure the initial offer isn’t too low nor high for the hopes of getting it accepted. Moreover, when it comes to making an offer, you should know that an accepted offer will constitute a contract to buy. It’s another essential real estate rule that homebuyers like you should be familiar with.
When this happens, the contract is already binding between you and the seller. At this point, you may be required to propose the terms and conditions of the contract, which the seller will agree or reject, depending on the circumstances. That’s why if you want to make sure you’re prepared to buy your home, be careful in making an offer in the first place. That way, you can avoid any conflict throughout the sales process.
3. Be Mindful Of The Some Common Contingencies:
Before purchasing a home, one of the real estate rules to know is that you should be mindful of the common contingencies involved in the process. These can include:
Financial contingency:
It’s one of the essential contingencies during a homebuying process. This means that the home sale contract you enter into may be contingent upon you, in the sense that your ability to take a loan to purchase a house should be considered in determining the period between signing and closing the deal.
In short, you may demand that the consummation of the contract is contingent upon your ability to take out a loan, or else the sale won’t push through.
Home inspection:
Another common contingency to be wary of is the home inspection. This means that the buyer has the right to do a home inspection at least once at a certain schedule. When you, as the homebuyer, aren’t satisfied with the condition of the house after the inspection, this contingency gives you an opportunity to demand repairs or get out of the contract.
Title:
This contingency allows you not to push through with the home sale contract if the seller is unable to prove that they have the legal title of the property they’re selling. This means that when you purchase the house, it’s best to check whether the seller has the authority to sell in the first place.
4. Real Estate Taxes Should Be Paid When Buying A Home:
When buying a home, it’s important to determine who shall pay for the real estate taxes. Typically, the seller is responsible for paying the taxes starting from the real estate tax year to the sale’s closing.
This means that the buyer, like you, will have to pay the taxes that are due and demandable after the said closing. In other words, the seller and buyer will shoulder the payment of taxes at the time they actually had ownership of the property.
However, if the seller has already paid the real estate taxes for the whole year, then you’ll need to return the amount of the seller’s prorated share. If taxes haven’t been paid yet by the seller, both parties will be charged with their respective prorated share.
Due to these circumstances, the rules on real estate tax payments should be properly arranged when you purchase a home. To avoid any issues during the buying process, be sure your home sales contract should set forth these requirements.
Bottom Line:
Indeed, purchasing a home can be a daunting undertaking, especially if you have no idea how it works in the first place. Therefore, to make your home buying experience as positive and smooth as possible, keep these basic real estate rules in mind so you’ll know exactly what to do from beginning to end.
The more familiar you are with these rules, the better you’ll be able to navigate this process, thereby getting your dream home without any hassle.
