For those of you who are involved in the business world when a day is refered to it is a "business day", but in real estate transactions this is often not the case.
In real estate transactions a day can be either a calendar day or a business day. With the many deadlines that are referenced in the contract and subsequent addendums, it is important to note what the exactly is referenced in each step of the process. Especially if you are involved in the purchase of a foreclosure with costly per diem penalties if deadlines are exceeded.
Under the miscellaneous section of the VAR Contract To Purchase it states that unless otherwise noted "days" shall mean calendar days. One confusing place in our forms is the fact that the home inspection addendum talks about calendar days, but the radon addendum has business days for its response deadlines. Since both inspections are usually being performed during the home inspection period, this can be a point of confusion.
Recently I sent some documents to a purchaser and stated in an email that we had 5 days to get a signed response back to the seller. Day 5 was on a Monday. On Sunday which was day 4, I followed up reminding the purchaser that we had to have these documents signed and back to the seller by 5:00 p.m. on Monday. At which point my buyer said "don't we have til Wednesday, since the weekend was in there". Even though I had been telling them what day I needed the paperwork back, they still assumed that they had 5 business days. Needless to say I had the signed papers back right away and the deadline was met.
Day is such a simple word, but in the process of buying or selling a home it can be one of the most important. This is another place in the real estate transaction that a vigilant Realtor can help keep the parties on track and the process moving forward smoothly.
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