Changes to PA Agreement of Sale Contract

Some new and interesting changes to the Pennsylvania Agreeement of Sale contract recently went live. As a full time Realtor since 2007, I've seen quite a few revisions to the real estate sales contract.  I'm geeky enough to be excited about these changes! 

After being approved earlier in the fall of 2018, the Standard Forms Committee approved the following changes:

1. Buyer MUST order title search within 7 days of a fully executed agreement of sale. Previously this was rather ambiguous and since title issues can take a lot of time to clear up (and can even kill a sale) it is in everyone's best interest to get the title search done as quickly as possible.
   
   
2. Details on who is allowed to attend inspections and the pre-settlement have been spelled out.  Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, only the named parties on the contract and their real estate agent are allowed to attend.
   
   I have attended some inspections where the buyers brought their entire family, including Uncle Joe, who "knows stuff." If a buyer wants to bring a third party to the inspection, they must name that person and get the seller's permission - it's just common sense. It is still the seller's home.  And while it may be a hassle to get a sitter for your children, it really is best to be able to give the home inspector your undivided attention during the inspection.
   
   
3. The inspection report must be provided to the seller in its entirety. In the past, the inspection report was only provided when requesting repairs or when exercising the inspection contingency to terminate the agreement. Additionally, many buyers would only provide the portion of the report that pertained to the specific requests. 
   
   I'm sure some agents will not like the idea of being presented with the inspection report - some listing agents prefer not to see it at all because once a problem is identified, it is required to be disclosed.  Sometimes the objection is to the fact that the inspector may have been mistaken on a particular issue. That, however, is an easy fix - simply have the issue in question evaluated by a professional and obtain a written report outlining the findings.  

More details can be found on the PAR Just Listed blog.