Atlanta homeowners need to know that we live in very different times in more than one way. Not only are home prices under attack, but the entire process of selling real estate for the most part has changed. In fact it is changing too quickly both on the local and national level. Unless homeowners have a very experienced agent guiding them, there will be at a total loss for what is occurring. The homeowner that may sell a home once every 7 or 8 years is lost in a time-warp. They cannot comprehend the new world. The listing or buyers agent that sells 20 homes a year is seeing that each deal is now very different that one they closed just a few weeks ago. New rules for borrowing, lending, and appraisals are being implemented every day. In Atlanta we are under attract fro a few fronts.
One of the biggest areas that seems to be overlooked by most agents and sellers in Atlanta, is that we now are dealing with an "options contract" or "due diligence contract." That contract is very different from those of the recent past. It is more like a commercial real estate contract. What an options contract does... is under mutual agreement of the parties involved...the buyer can explore your home, inspect the structure, the neighborhood for an agreed upon amount of days and then decide if they want to move forward in the deal. It they just want to walk...there is no obligation on their part to stay. If their inspections reveal something that needs attending to, they may request the seller address the concerns before they move forward. Like all other negotiations the seller at their own risk does not have to do so. However the down side of this is that the buyer can freely walk and keep their earnest money as long as it is within the time-frame that everyone has agreed to.
One area that has been overlooked in a cashed starved market is that the sellers used to offer the buyers an amount of dollars perhaps to a vendor to correct the item that needs to be addressed. Since most buyers need a mortgage loan to buy a home, there are lending guidelines that must be followed. Under new lending rules we can no longer all agree upon "All parties agree, that in lieu of all repairs requested the seller at closing the agrees to pay..." There was a lot of fraud in recent years that has ruined this option for everyone. The best advice if you have a home that you know needs work, before you list it, have the work done. The days of passing money to a buyer in lieu of repairs is over. It is now considered fraud
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