{"id":20895,"date":"2022-05-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/?p=20895"},"modified":"2022-04-20T16:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T20:52:58","slug":"conditions-for-buying-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/conditions-for-buying-a-house","title":{"rendered":"7 Common Must-Have Conditions for Buying a House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

When the time comes for you to put an offer on a home you would like to buy; there is a lot to consider. Not just the purchase price but also the conditions of the purchase. What does it include? How can you ensure the home is safe? What happens if you don’t secure mortgage approval<\/a>? To help protect yourself as the buyer, you can set a list of conditions that must be agreed upon and met to ensure the sale goes through without any hitches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Conditions Do You Need to Include When Buying a House?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Real<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Financing Conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Financing conditions ensure that your offer will only be valid as long as you are approved for the required mortgage to buy the home. However, should your application be denied or perhaps the appraisal comes in low, this condition will give you an out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Home Inspections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps one of the most important conditions to include when buying a house is the home inspection. You want to ensure that the home you purchase is in good condition, especially since it will likely be a long-term investment. To confirm that the property is, in fact, in good condition, you should arrange a home inspection. This usually costs about $500<\/a> and is performed by a professional licensed inspector. If the home does not pass the inspection, you can safely withdraw your offer without penalty or re-negotiate by including this as a condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Survey Review<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whereas a home inspection will inspect the conditions of a home, a survey review will examine the actual property that the home is on. In addition, a survey review will confirm the home’s property lines for sale to ensure that the measurements are correct as indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Appraisal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An appraisal determined the home’s actual value compared to the asking price. If an appraisal comes in low, it could mean that the would-be buyer will not be approved for the mortgage required for the asking price. This may lead to re-negotiation or the buyer withdrawing their offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related content<\/p>

How to Price Your Home, Accurately<\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\n\n\n

5. Escape Clause<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An escape clause allows one of the parties to back out of the deal and can only be triggered by allowable circumstances that fall within a specific period. In real estate, the seller, not the buyer, will want an escape clause condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if the buyer needs ten days to secure financing, there could be a clause where the seller can accept the offer and still be open to other offers until the funding comes through. So, if somewhere were to come in with a better offer, the seller could then go to the original buyer and say if you can’t complete the sale within the next 48 hours, I’m going with the new buyer. The original buyer then has to decide if they want to continue with the transaction or not based on this demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Cleanliness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No one wants to move into a home that isn’t up to their standard of cleanliness. For that reason, a great condition to include when buying a house is that the property must be professionally cleaned before move-in. If you are moving into a home that has been lived in, cleanliness will likely be a concern. You can list one of the conditions to also be that the house is cleaned and maintained until the buyer takes ownership. This ensures that the buyer doesn’t have a considerable clean-up upon receiving the keys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Fixtures and Appliances<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want any appliances or fixtures such as the refrigerator, stove, washing machine etc., then put them in the contract. Don’t rely on a verbal agreement, and do not just assume that they will come with the property. If you don’t include this in your contract, you might find a very bare home when you get the keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Should You Drop Conditions and Why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"conditions<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The conditions above are all pretty reasonable. After all, you want to ensure that your new home is in good condition and safe to live in; it’s essential to be confident that things will be as you hope. However, sometimes people will drop conditions. Why? Because the market is so competitive and it gives them an advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a seller’s market, competition to buy a home can be very high, which means the seller can pick and choose who they would like to sell to. In these circumstances, especially when a home has multiple offers, it benefits the seller to select the most straightforward option, which, in this case, would be a potential buyer who is willing to drop conditions. If you have your heart set on a specific home, dropping conditions can help put you at the top of the seller’s list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Conditions Should You Avoid Dropping?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dropping conditions can put you at a significant advantage in having your offer accepted. However, it also comes with some risks and should be done with caution. Some conditions are easier to drop than others, but you shouldn’t drop them all. Any financing conditions that may impact your mortgage pre-approval should not be dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let’s say you all conditions then have an appraiser come and look at the home. The appraiser finds that the home’s value is lower than the asking price. As a result, you won’t get the entire mortgage amount required to buy the home. If you still had the financing conditions, you would be protected. But with all conditions, including financing conditions, dropped, you are still on the hook. This means you can lose your deposit, face legal penalties, or even be forced to proceed with the purchase-even though you can’t afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also want to consider avoiding dropping any conditions that could put you in a situation where you face financial hardship. For example, if you decline the inspection (which is rarely a good idea), you may find a large repair bill come forward just months after moving into your new home. No one wants to be house poor due to an avoidable renovation or home improvement that an inspection could have prevented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considerations for Buyers vs. Sellers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most conditions benefit the buyer, but, as you can see from the list, there are some conditions of interest to sellers. Having a massive list of conditions in a seller’s market can disadvantage any would-be buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, the seller wants things to be as quick and easy as possible with little extra work and cost. However, as a buyer, remember that conditions play an essential role in buying a home and are there to help and protect you and your potential investment. So think twice before dropping any.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protect yourself as a home buyer with these conditions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":20900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"guide":[],"class_list":["post-20895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying"],"acf":[],"zolo_excerpt":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20895"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20907,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20895\/revisions\/20907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20895"},{"taxonomy":"guide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/guide?post=20895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}