Should I get the Property papers checked by a lawyer before every auction

It probably took more than an hour of the lawyers time. At an hourly rate of $400 it might be cheap.

 

Rethink your strategy. Machinegun auctioning is a waste of time in a hot market. Your clearly looking for a bargain, a hot market wont have that.

 

Hi @dabbler may I ask, my understanding (as a purchaser) is my lawyer will modify the seller’s contract and write the conditions I want to put in? Is this the case?

OR do I put my terms and conditions and ask sellers’ to modify their contract (if they accept my conditions) and send the final contract back to me to sign?

Who should prepare my offer contract with all the conditions, basically... my lawyer ask me to ask the seller to amend their contracts..... thx

 

The seller will have prepared the contract, you modify that by having your lawyer write to them with the conditions, or physically amend the contract, sign it and send it in as your offer.

 

Thank you @Terry_w my lawyer asked me to ask the seller's lawyer to modify the contract, by putting the conditions I want and send it again to my lawyer for final check. Is that a common thing? Or is my lawyer try to avoid doing more work?

 

That's the best way to do it really.

 

Oh normally the lawyer would ask the sellers lawyer

 

You cant modify the sellers contract, you can ask for variations when making offers, but they have no compulsion to conform.....unless no one else wants it and desperate.

 

You can modify the sellers contract by crossing out, inserting or amending. This is an offer to contract, if the other side accepts your offer you will have a binding contract.

 

Yeah....but get it wrong in the wrong market and you can kiss your ability to be in the game goodbye.......

OP should keep in mind, if somone else will accept all terms if they are pretty much normal, mean you rule yourself out.....warm to hot markets mean you need too tread carefully with offers and modifying contracts.......keep in mind, the sellers solicitor will likely advise ignoring everything.....this is how lawyers all nake money, play each side off the other....,then the lawyers have a nice lunch ............

 

Too the OP, I have sold a lot too, I can tell you, in any decent market, my agent and solicitor will not entertain games, if they make it too me, I have at time told my agent to no longer talk to certain buyers........

It could be some thing stupid they said, thier reps, original offer, or whatever, all well and good for those in the ivory tower to say do a,b or c, but you need to work out the market and who your dealing with........cause they also may not give a toss about what the lawyers say

 

in other words in hot market, almost no chance for seller to change their contract, i.e., special condition. but things like subject to finance and b&p inspection still ok, i guess unless someone else goes unconditional.

then like the OP posted, is it going to be wasting money to get the contract check by lawyer every time we go to auction, as sellers or their lawyers most likely ignore amendments request. So what is the value of checking the contract?


Many thanks @Terry_w & @dabbler

 

Check for sellers special conditions, easements, zoning?

 

You will likely have a 100 % chance of amending contracts in any market. It depends on what you want to change.

 

The colour of the ink used to sign - must be blue or black, I don't think you can change that one.

 

There are some things that prob wont be accepted, it may also depend on all thise involved, but hot markets usually mean others do not even bother doing checks....or maybe do not even understand conditions etc. So your competing with those who are reckless or ignorant, or both.

But, I would have it checked if not familiar, because you may do something that you cant get out of otherwise.....

Say you did not check that the owner was removing a garage, or a pool, or that the owner would be staying on rent free for a year, or settlement would be a year away, etc..etc...etc....

And I have seen all sorts of things in contracts.

I also have had trouble when solicitors interfere by scaring clients etc, because they wanted less work, or took a personal view on something.....

And I have had them cause probs as a buyer and as a seller, if you have one who is not wooden and good at negotiating though, they can also do very well for you too.....

I avoid auctions generally, but if buying a home, I would still avoid auction, and in normal sale, if you get to the point where you can do business, then solicitor can read and advise before your locked in, not many times have I had to have them read a second contract, it does happen though. IP or home should be similar......dont just for anything and everything and it should not be an issue. Otherwise, cough up, or take the risks.

 

Once again thank you very much for sharing your experience and insights. So paying lawyer is like the B&P, the due diligence costs I need to pay, especially for a newbie like me.

May I ask when is the right time to ask lawyer to check the contract? Do we negotiate first and after getting the rough figures the house may worth then check the contract with lawyer OR do we check the contract then negotiate the numbers?

Please correct me if I am wrong, I feel buying IP is much more difficult as I tried to get a fair deal, and different with buying PPOR, just to give my best price. Regards, Ben

 

On the other hand you dont get emotional with an ip. Always another one next week. Ppor is different, thats why your willing to overpay.

 

Yes, checking contract if your unsure is just like B&P etc.....

I would ask when we have a deal in principle, agent, you and buyer believe all is a go.

As far as pricing goes, there is no real concern from the selling side usually to make a discount more likely, it will come down to the market, in a warm8ng market it may be wise to pay more just to secure, it will all come down to the timing/situation.