After 3 years of research and development, the Ohio Association of Realtors (OAR), hit a home run with its newly released State of Ohio Residential Purchase Agreement, crafted to service the entire state of Ohio. While it was created for the exclusive use of its members, it is written with clarity and great skill, ensuring that ALL parties understand each term incorporated therein.
While there are numerous aspects to this purchase agreement, some of the most positive and proactive features include:
- Clarifies appraisal contingencies.
- Clarifies sale of real estate contingencies (such as the requirement to close on the sale of another home prior to purchase of the new one.)
- Clarifies who pays for various homes inspections with a complete breakdown of options, requirements, and timeline.
- Clarifies surveys and incorporates a 14-day deadline for termination. This is extremely important as many Buyers never received the survey until just before closing, discovered an encroachment, and terminated the contract at the cost of valuable time to both the Seller and the Buyer.
- A clear delineation as to what type of title insurance policy the Buyer wishes to have, if any.
- Clarifies who pays for the Title Insurance Premium whether it be the Buyer, Seller or proportionally split.
Title insurance has been a long standing bone of contention per se’ as numerous agent belong to various ABA’s and aggressively factor their title company into the equation rather than allowing Buyers and Sellers to negotiate what is in their best interests. Noting the varying costs and skillset of title companies throughout the state, it is imperative that the Buyer and Seller have a full understanding of the fees and process prior to agreeing to which one will facilitate the transaction.
- Clarifies timelines. This may come as a surprise to some of you, however, I can’t begin to tell you how many offers I have seen over the years that did NOT accommodate appropriate timelines and in fact, many did NOT even have a deadline for acceptance!
While I have covered some of my favorite portions of the new 10 page state of Ohio Residential Purchase Agreement provided by the OAR, I would like to commend those who expended countless hours researching and developing the language and terms and for the comprehensive and detailed language utilized to ensure all parties have a clear understanding of the verbiage therein.
All of us at Ohio Broker Direct advise all participants engaged in the Buying and Selling of real estate, whether using a full service listing brokerage, a brokerage offering Flat Fee MLS Listing Service options utilized by For Sale By Owner home sellers looking to enhance their marketing exposure, or a traditional For Sale By Owner to consider enlisting the services of an Ohio real estate attorney.
Respectfully,
Joan Elflein, Broker / Ohio Broker Direct
Ohio Broker Direct & its Brokers or Associates assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in this blog.
