[villages8house]

Boomer BeBack - to reply to your question -

Regarding the question of being able to put contingencies relating to inspections into the Purchase offer for a preowned home.....A buyer can make an offer to purchase putting in any contingencies he/she wants. It's then up to the seller/owner to either accept the offer as written or submit a counter offer with changes they'd be willing to agree to.

In normal real estate resales, pretty much everything is negotiable. I live by the motto "If I don't ask, I won't get!" Also, the worst that can happen is you get a NO reply and you move on from there either continuing to negotiate or find another house you want.

Also, it was mentioned a buyer should use an attorney when purchasing a For Sale by Owner home. In my experience, owners selling their own homes should have no problem at all with this since it's no cost to the seller for the buyer's attorney fees.

In a preowned "For Sale by Owner" or thru MLS realtors, a buyer can also hire a licensed real estate agent to represent them as a "buyer's agent" where they sign an agreement to pay this buyer's agent a set dollar amount or a percent of the sales price. I sold my own home once where the out of state buyer was not able to be present for the inspection or the closing, etc. and their buyer's agent did everything for them for 1% of the sales price. The owner/seller shouldn't have any problem with this situation since they won't be paying the "buyer's agent" commission.

The above examples do not necessarily apply when you buy NEW homes either in The Villages or other new home developers.

A friend of mine wanted to use her own "licensed buyer's agent" when she was shopping for either a new or preowned home through The Villages and she was told they would only sell to her if she did not use her own buyer's agent. She also wanted to put a contingency clause in the offer that the deal was off if she couldn't get a mortgage. This wasn't allowed either and her offer was written up as a cash deal on the house she did eventually buy through The Villages without using her own buyer's agent.

In summary - always ask - always negotiate. You'll never know what people will agree to if you don't.

Readers - feel free to correct me on any of this information. My feelings won't be hurt. I'm not a real estate agent, just a homeowner here in The Villages who likes to share information about my own personal experiences in buying and selling my own home over the years.

Happy House Hunting!

Villages8house