P&S before Inspection??

[Robert Andrade]

Hey Y'all

So we have an accepted offer on our first property. It's a multi in our home town and by all accounts a pretty good deal.

As we are unfamiliar with this whole process please indulge my newbie question. Is it normal to be required to sign the P&S before we've even had the home inspection? The inspection is scheduled for this Monday, our offer was accepted yesterday, we received the P&S already today and I'm being told by my agent that this is standard and we have 48 hrs to sign and return it.

I'm feeling rushed. What if the inspection comes back that the whole house has cooties or that it's built on an old Indian burial ground or that it's haunted...? Do we still have the legal right to back out based on an unsatisfactory inspection after the P&S has already been signed??

Thoughts??

[Peter MacKercher]

@Robert Andrade Yes, that's perfectly normal and 98% of the time you'll need to have the P&S signed by both parties to have inspections in the first place (would you let a stranger come and poke around your house to create a report for another private citizen under any different circumstance?).

Your agreement should have an inspection contingency which will allow you to 1) back out of the contract if the inspections return with something wrong that you're uncomfortable with and believe is incurable (burial ground) 2) allow you to negotiate a price reduction due to the inspection results 3) require the seller to remedy the defect that you find disagreeable before the sale. That's all part of the negotiation process in buying real estate, so don't worry about it.

I suggest you also bring these concerns back to your agent again to discuss them, as I can't see the contract that they're using so the language could be different from the contracts I use. Either way, your agent is your agent, so make sure you have open communication with them about any concerns.