In Texas we submit offers, not contracts. So what is a contract? The difference between the two is very different. An offer isn't a contract because the seller hasn't signed it and there isn't an execution date. Every state and mkt can be different. Different terminology is used for the same exact things, it just depends what mkt you're in. In the Houston area we open title versus putting a contract in escrow.
5 days ago I emailed an offer to a listing agent/attorney. For whatever reason he had trouble getting my emails, so I faxed it to him. Today he calls to inform me that he had the contract and not to worry. Great! My next priority was to ensure the checks were hand delivered to him so we could proceed with inspections and opening title.
I drove 20 minutes to downtown Houston, parked in a garage, took an elevator, exchanged pleasantries with a few suits and voila, finally, I get to meet this agent/attorney. I hand him the checks and ask.. "Where's the contract?"
His response..."Well, I'm waiting for the seller to sign it. "
Do you see the problem with interchanging the words? He then told me he received "my contract" I had to remind him (an Atty) that a contract is where the seller has signed it and the broker/atty has written an execution date on page 8. I left his office without a contract. Had I known this before hand I wouldn't have driven to his office.
If I needed an attorney in real estate I'd make sure they were a real estate attorney versus a family law attorney. Proctologist and Dentists are both doctors, but they work on two totally different ends of the body. I'd prefer my dentist focus on my teeth and not my rear end.
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