The common contingency periods are 10- 17 days.  The clock starts at the ratification date of the contract or when your purchase offer is signed and acknowledged by all parties.

• Property Condition

• Financing

• Title Conditions

These are the most common contingencies found in your purchase contract.  They are not required , however your contract should have one or more of these the contingencies.   Which contingencies, is dependent upon the structure of your particular home purchase offer.  The following details their significance to help you avoid the most serious consequences.

Property Condition: This is usually based on reports like the home buyer property inspection, the termite report, roof report and, when applicable, the fireplace or masonry report.

You may order any number of inspections you deem necessary.   Inspections for rural property would be far more extensive than those necessary for a home in the suburbs or condominium.  Raw land (dirt) properties require the most intensive inspection process.  This would include septic or perk, utility soil, geological etc.

Loan Contingency: The loan approval or financing contingency is used to give you time to gain your loan approval.  There is an additional element, the appraisal.  These should be tied together.  If the home you want to buy appraises at a value equal or in excess of your offer you won’t have any problem.

The appraisal contingency can cause a problem if it is incorrectly used in the contract.   What if  the home does not appraise for the amount you offered and you removed your loan contingency?  For example, you received your loan approval subject to the appraisal and you removed your loan contingency.   What if the home appraisal did not meet the offer price you and the seller agreed on?

You would likely find yourself in a pickle.   It would be up to you to find a way to cover the difference in price.   Not a fun place to be.  You could negotiate with the seller and ask for help, pull money out of your pocket or hope you  have another contingency to use to cancel the contract.  I suggest you take measures to prevent that from happening.   Make sure the contract uses language that ties the loan approval and home appraisal together.

appraisal note: The new loan disclosure process, that began last July, requires the lender to disclose your costs and allow you 72 hours to review them (commonly called the GFE  [good faith estimate]).   Often by email (except Wells Fargo).   When that is sent to you by email or if your lender sends by regular mail you simply respond to it and that initiates the appraisal order.

The appraisal then occurs.  The appraised value simply needs to meet the value that you offered for the home.   We then remove appraisal and loan contingency.

Title: The title search is performed by the title company hired to hold escrow and perform it’s duties as a neutral third party.  The  title report is necessary to identify any clouds on title.   Clouds on title are issues that affect ownership.   This would include liens (encumbrances) and ownership rights of others attached to the property.

In addition, it clarifies lot lines, easements and the ownership title chain.    The title company will provide a preliminary title report during the contingency period set forth in your home purchase contract and a final report, an updated version of the preliminary report, is available prior to the transfer of ownership.

Condominium buyers have a few other items to consider and should have these built into any contract.  The most common of these is the Home Owners Association documentation.    This package can be quite extensive.   It covers the contingencies mentioned earlier and other important  items: HOA budget, HOA reserves, HOA meeting minutes covering the past 12 months, articles of incorporation and by laws.

Not as common, yet  becoming very important in today’s atmosphere,  is to determine if the HOA project, sometimes called a PD or PUD, is FHA  approved for FHA lending or VA approved if you are considering a VA loan (veteran’s administration).

Michael Roberts is a licensed California Realtor and real estate investor providing agent representation to home buyers and sellers in the San Fransisco Bay area.

He can be contacted at mroberts@rwnetwork.com or his Website http://www.LosGatosHomesandRealEstateBlog.com