There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to your real estate contract. Its well-laid out terms may seem concrete, but, in reality, they can lend themselves to differences that make for a potentially tumultuous deal.

The contract that governs the transaction assumes a standard of objective reasonableness. Objectivity is hard to define when you are buying your first home or selling the home where you raised your kids. Accordingly, the success of a deal relies heavily on the buyers’ and sellers’ ability to appreciate and understand the other side’s point of view. Ridiculous demands or senseless obstinacy will get in the way of your sale or purchase. Buyers and sellers should approach the transaction with a view towards reasonable negotiations to achieve a successful closing.

A lot of human nature

The contract protects buyers and sellers by laying out the parameters of the transaction. It earmarks the timelines, conditions, and action items that must be met and performed by both parties prior to closing. Still, there’s a lot of movement underneath, around and in the middle of these three categories. With a whole lot of human nature in the mix, plus the involvement of lenders with their independent timeframes, the combination can be deadly.

Learning about the process before entering into a transaction can prevent you from being blindsided by any unexpected pitfalls. Increased awareness also gives you the time to prep and plan some strategic responses if and when the going gets tough.

Your real estate broker and attorney are the perfect partners to help educate you and to guide you as you navigate the process. Seek out professionals who put your interests first. Ideally, they’ve already represented both buyers and sellers. Because they’ve viewed real estate deals from both sides, they bring a broad perspective to your transaction and can share helpful insights from both sides.

They can also prepare you for some unexpected pitfalls you may encounter along the way. Of the three primary contract contingencies—the home inspection, financing, and title—the inspection and financing are the areas in which emotions run high and people can get stuck in the weeds.

Potential Snag 1: Inspections bruhahas – the negotiation within the negotiation

Purchase agreements are typically contingent on the buyer’s satisfaction with a third-party home inspection, which is requested and paid for by the buyer. Following the inspection report’s findings, buyers and their attorneys may request remedies from their seller. Sellers must respond to the buyer requests and can agree to make the repairs, legally refuse to make them, or agree to make some and not others. If the seller refuses some or all of the repairs, the buyer can withdraw from the sale. Alternately, they can compromise.

The dance between the buyer and seller in this regard centers around the question of whether the repair being requested constitutes a “material defect” under the contract. Typically, material defects involve issues with a system or component of a residential property—think furnace, HVAC system or roof—that may have a significant, adverse impact on the value of the property. It may also pose an unreasonable safety risk to residents. Faulty plumbing, a leaky roof, mold, the presence of radon or insect infestation are among the items that are considered material. Paint colors, bathtub drains or unappealing light fixtures, for example, are not.

The debate about the materiality of a defect in the gray area in between these examples is where the dance is most intense. Sometimes buyers don’t understand they are buying a used home and not a new one that’s free of flaws. In turn, sellers view the buyers as unreasonable with too-high expectations. But no matter how mad they get about the buyers’ demands, they need to weigh the cost and hassle of making the repairs against the ultimate outcome of selling their current home. Experienced brokers and attorneys can help the parties navigate these conversations and offer perspective that can save a transaction.

Potential Snag 2: issues with your lender

Many buyers submit a pre-approval with their purchase offer, leading some sellers to believe the proposed purchasers are rock solid financially. It is critical, however, for both parties to recognize that a mortgage pre-approval, typically issued after a cursory review of finances by a lender, is not a commitment to lend money and never guarantees the buyer’s ability to obtain financing.

Banks tend to move at their own pace in the commitment process rather than focusing on the on or about dates detailed in the contract. The wait time can cause buyers and sellers to be on pins and needles. The deafening silence can make sellers think the worst and lose trust, because they wonder if something is going on that is either troublesome or less than transparent—or both.

Part of the process also includes a determination by the lender of the value of the sale property. The appraisal’s failure to equal or exceed the listed value of the home can create an additional obstacle to closing. The buyers can make up the difference by ponying up more money. Or, they can try to negotiate a lower purchase price with the sellers. While this may be a more appealing option than having to relist the property, incur additional carrying costs, and look for new buyers, sellers often have their hearts set on a dollar amount they want or need to take out of the sale. They also can get hung up on the emotions attached to their home.

As a protection for buyers, most contracts include a financing contingency which allows buyers to back out of the deal if they cannot obtain necessary funding. Contract clauses such as these are designed to protect buyers and sellers. Though they do indeed offer protections, backing out because of an inability to compromise could be considered a needlessly self-destructive reaction to a problem. In the end, nobody wins.

So a lot can go wrong

A lot can go wrong if buyers and sellers fail to act with reason.

There are no guarantees that your experience on the road to closing will be hassle free. Still education, preparation and alliance with trustworthy experts along with a strong dose of self-discipline can keep you thinking on your feet. At the end of the day, if you approach your deal with reason, you’ll stay on course to closing and the exciting passage beyond.

At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Weqbreit, LLC, we’ll help to provide education, insight and perspective in your real estate transaction.  Please call us at 908.232.2244 to learn how we can assist you to effectively, efficiently and successfully navigate to closing.