1st Contract "caution" of manipulation

[Jonathan White]

BP nation, I have advice for newbies like me.  I made an agreement with a guy and I made the mistake of sending a long distance cash purchase contact and I signed first.   Assuming he would sign and return it. He did this but in doing so, he changed terms on it.  I called him out on it and when sending new copies back two more times, he repeated it two more times with other parts of the contract. He felt he had to control it I guess.  Had I not payed attention and sent it to the title conpany, it could have been a problem.  My tip is, send em an unsigned contract and have them sign first if your long distance and have to ground support.  Also, limit the  opportunity where someone can can fill in data in areas like Other Contingencies or Other Considerations.  Lastly his lack of understanding on terms made him think it meant different than intended which also caused a problem and almost blew the deal.  Keep it simple and expect skepticism on sellers part if the jargon in the contract is to technical.  Hope it helps someone.  Waiting for title report now.  We'll see how it comes out.