New York has many amazing homes for sale. However, in most cases, you’ll need to sign a real estate contract before a new home is yours. Before you sign this important document, it’s good to know about a real estate contract’s conditions and to thoroughly understand what is expected of you.
The home inspection
An extremely important part of the transactional real estate process is a home inspection. A home inspection lets a professional take a closer look at a property and can uncover problems that neither the buyer nor seller knew about. It can also drastically affect the final price of a home.
How you’re financing this home
It’s great if you have the money available to pay for a home in full. However, most people need to finance the purchase of a property by setting up a mortgage. If someone isn’t buying a home with cash, these people will need to include financing terms in their real estate contracts.
Handling closing costs
In most cases, all parties involved in a real estate transaction must determine how to handle closing costs, which can cover a wide range of expenses including title search costs, mortgage tax and transfer taxes. Some costs are the sellers’ responsibility (i.e. transfer taxes, real estate brokerage commission, mortgage payoff costs and sellers’ attorneys fees) and most are the purchasers’ costs (lender fees and costs, mortgage tax, title insurance, search fees and buyers’ attorneys fees).
A real estate purchase is an enormous investment financially but also in terms of your time and emotional commitment as it can be a stressful process. It’s a good idea to make sure you read and understand all parts of your contract so that there are no surprises that could prevent the sale or draw out the closing process.
