How to write a contract, 101

Today I received a bottom-lined contract on one of my listings, HURRAH!, and handed it over to my transaction coordinator.  It had the essentials, sure, but there were so many errors, including my name, that I handed it over with the notation that it was a pretty sloppy effort.  MY TC had to leave before I could document them all, none fatal, but it just made me realize why I appreciate my Keller Williams office so much.  I could never get away with this!

My broker once had an office member find a clean copy to make copies for a document I needed that she was helping me with.  It was going to a bank for a BPO I think and she didn't want a bank to see the line that shouldn't have been there on the side of the page.  She's gooooood.  Impressions do matter.  I've blogged here about spelling and grammar to mixed reviews but I still stand by my beliefs.  No one is perfect, me included; the occasional typo can be forgiven but massive errors and structure of the English language? - I wouldn't trust a professional who couldn't master that - why should anyone else?

I enumerated for the TC what was wrong that I could see - no purchaser signatures on the lead-based paint disclosures, no notice of buyer agency (we require that of others for us, do we require that from others for them?), no copy of the EMD check.  The errors within the contract were non-threatening, just ommissions.  Dollars, dates, contingencies were all there.  The agent struck me as smart, street smart, probably very good with her clients and getting good deals for them - she got a GREAT deal out of my sellers.  But wouldn't she be that much more effective if she had all the ingredients in the recipe?  The deal will get done and we'll be happy to do it.  We'll be thrilled if it closes by the end of the year.

Once again, I would like to thank my Keller Williams Ann Arbor office for demanding perfection from us.  I never considered working for anyone else.  People associated with the business but not in real estate themselves told me this was the only place to go.  They even said this office was the only one to consider.  The training, the commission split, the opportunities to run your business your way, it's all here.  Thank God I listened.