Buying a House and Drafting an Offer to Purchase

This is a brief overview of the importance of the Offer to Purchase for a buyer in purchasing a home.

When deciding to purchase a home, the most important document will you draft will be the Offer to Purchase document. This document is important because this is the contract which sets up the entire purchase transaction and can help ensure that your real estate purchase proceeds smoothly from beginning to end.

Buyer's Contingencies

In the Offer to Purchase, the Buyer can include certain contingencies. A contingency will allow the buyer to legally walk away from the purchase with their earnest money if certain contingencies are not met. For example, the two most important contingencies normally are the Financing Contingency and the Inspection Contingency.

With a Financing Contingency, the Buyer can state that the Buyer’s obligation to purchase the home is contingent upon the ability of the Buyer to obtain a financing commitment for a loan of a specific loan amount and for a certain interest rate. If your ability to purchase the home is based upon being able to obtain a certain loan amount at a certain interest rate, then this contingency will allow you to back out of the purchase if you are not able to obtain the loan commitment you needed.

With an Inspection Contingency, you can have the house inspected by a professional inspector to determine if there are defects with the home. If defects are discovered which cause you to not want to purchase the home, then the Inspection Contingency can provide you a legal means to withdraw from the purchase. The Seller can also agree to either repair the defects or reduce the purchase price to an an inducement for the Buyer to not walk away from the purchase, if the Buyer agrees.

Personal Property Included in the Sale

The Offer to Purchase should also set forth what personal property is included and not included in the sale transaction. For example: appliances, washer/dryer, water softener, window coverings, etc.

The importance of having an experience real estate attorney help you with the proper drafting an Offer to Purchase cannot be overstated to protect yourself in purchasing a home.