Stop short sales from putting you out of business!  Read On!!!

Inspections:

Generally, in short sales,the Seller is not willing to pay for any repairs. This should be made clear in the contract. Recall that paragraph 15 termite, wood boring insect provision of the standard Realtor Contract for Hampden County and other Counties in MA requires that the Buyer pay for the first $1,000.00 in termite treatment and repair. If Seller is unwilling to pay this charge, it should not be left in the offer or purchase and sale agreement as a potential deal breaker.

A compromise on this point is to state in the short sale addendum that the inspections may be performed for wood boring insects, but that these inspections fall under the general provisions of paragraph 20, the structural  / all other inspections paragraph where Buyer may request the return of their deposit if they are not satisfied with the results of the inspections.

Additional Provisions / Short Sale Addendum:

Because there should be a date that the Seller must perform by, it is important to state a date by which Seller must obtain short sale approval or Buyer at Buyer’s option may terminate the contract. Without such a provision there could arguably be no performance date and Seller could hold Buyer’s deposit indefinitely. Another issue that is very important to the Buyer is their rate lock period. Lenders should attempt to lock the rate for as long as possible because these transactions are often delayed. In our opinion it is unfair to simply state that Buyer may withdraw if their rate lock expires without giving the Seller that date.  It should be stated as indicated above.