Homebuyers, do you want to know the difference between buying a home outright, or making stipulations in your offer? That's what we are going to explore here, so that you have an excellent understanding about what your options are when it comes time for you to start living here in beautiful Ucluelet.
When a buyer purchases a home 'firm,' this means that you are willing to buy the house exactly as it is, without any conditions. Sellers love to hear that a home is sold firm, and if the offer is accepted and all passes by the lawyers without any hiccups, this means that when closing day arrives, the property will be yours!
Going in firm means that you have all your financing in place and ready to go. The deposit that you submit with your offer will be held in trust by the seller's real estate office, and will be put toward your down payment on the final purchase.
One major perk of going in firm is that it puts you in a strong negotiation position, in the case that there are competing offers. But you'll only want to do this if you've had the property inspected thoroughly and it is undoubtedly to your satisfaction.
If the inspection wasn't up to snuff, you might want to place one, or more, conditions on the purchase. And although you'll still be submitting a down payment with your offer, the stipulations you've made made mean that if your conditions aren't approved by an agreed-upon date, your deposit will be returned without penalty.
Let's say that your purchase conditions are such that a satisfactory home inspection must be done within 5 days of the offer date, and if the report is unsatisfactory, you will be able to back out of the agreement with what is called a Mutual Release.
All this means is that the home is not legally sold until all the conditions in the offer, which will usually be stipulated on a Schedule (addendum) to the offer, until said conditions have been met and/or fulfilled.
We hope this helps to clarify another piece of the home buying puzzle for you, but as always, if you have any further questions about this, please feel free to contact us. We'd love to help you start living in Ukee!
