When buyers for Olympia area homes make an offer on a house, the paperwork for the offer will typically include a number of contingencies: financing, title review, inspection, etc. And typically each of these will have a deadline attached to it. These deadlines are super important since once the deadline passes, that particular contingency will likely be ended - whether the buyer meant for it to be or not.
An example is the inspection contingency. Our NWMLS purchase and sales addendum for inspections specifies the number of days the buyer will have to have any desired inspections done, & either give notice of a request for repairs or other corrections stemming from the inspection, approve the inspection results, or cancel out of the deal altogether.
If the inspection contingency deadline comes and goes with no buyer action, then it is likely that the chance to request repairs or cancel based on needed repairs is gone. If the buyer now wants to cancel because of needed repairs, their earnest money may well be forfeited.
Since these deadlines ARE really important for a buyer's protection, make sure you know WHEN your deadlines are. Our contracts spell out how time periods are to be counted; what is the first day of the period? What happens if the last day is a holiday or weekend? Are short (5 days or less) time periods counted differently?
If you are buying a house, make sure you know the answers to those questions for your particular transaction. I like to give my buyers a timeline list of each deadline we will have, so that we are both aware as those deadlines approach.
Make sure you know when your deadlines are! (And stick to them!)
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