When buying or selling real property it is done by use of contracts and addenda. North Carolina like other states have there own real estate contracts since it is the fundamental instrument of the real estate brokerage business. Contracts can be either oral or written, but some contracts in order to be enforced in a court of law must be in writing....this is derived from the Statute of Frauds. Since there are many different contracts, forms and addenda, it is important to understand what obligations will bind you when signing, so of course I would recommend a Realtor to represent your interests whether you are buying or selling.
The most common contract seen in general brokerage is the Offer To Purchase and Contract. The new OTPAC is now 8 pages long and now more than ever it is important to know what it says. Under a provision in the Offer to Purchase you can attach certain addenda (plural) or an addendum (singular). When an addendum is attached it becomes part of the Offer to Purchase and is legal. An example of this would be if the house being purchase was built prior to 1978, it would have to have a lead based paint addendum attached which gives the buyer a certain amount of time to inspect the house for...you guessed it...lead based paint.
There is a lot of information in our (NC) forms library and we could talk for days about what they mean and how they are used, but my point is to expose you to the most common used contracts and addenda in NC, and to advise you to have representation. Most first time buyers or unrepresented sellers are ripe for exploitation and poor decision making, so consult a Realtor when that time comes. Good luck and I hope this helps.
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