Dear Rebecca
My husband Jeff and I are hunting for our first home and are ready to buy. We have been pre-approved and have our down payment. Jeff is away frequently with his work and it has happened twice now that we have found a nice home but it has been sold before he gets back and we have had a chance to see it together. I have two questions: What do they mean when they say they have a conditional offer and can just one spouse write an offer on a home and add the name of the other later?
Janet
Dear Janet
Most commonly, offers on homes are accepted conditional on financing, insurance, inspection and review of a Property Condition Disclosure Statement. The buyer will have a specific number of days to obtain a letter of finance. As well, most buyers will have a home inspection carried out by a professional home inspector and the condition will allow a few days to get this done. Additionally a home must be insurable in order to obtain a mortgage therefore obtaining insurance is a conditon. In rural areas where homes are on wells, rather than municipal water, there will be a condition for bacterial water tests. Occasionally, other environment tests will be carried out such as air quality or mineral and trace elements for water. With of these types of condition the buyer will usually request 5-10 days to carry out the tests and to waive these conditions.
As most buyers cannot afford to purchase a second home while selling their home, they often will put an offer in on a home and make it conditional on the sale of their current home. This is often referred to by agents as having a “conditional offer”. There is usually a clause with this type of condition which allows the vendor to continue to offer the property for sale. If the vendor receives another offer the buyer with the conditional offer will be given notice that another offer has been received. In order for the first purchaser to continue with the offer the condition must be waived or the offer will become null and void and the vendor can proceed to accept the next offer. Generally, an offer conditional on the sale of a home will be written allowing the buyers 12-48 hours notice to waive their condition.
You can write an offer on a home without your spouse and add a condition to the offer that he/she view and approve the purchase. Just like the other conditions you will have a specific time frame to meet and waive this condition. You can also add a term to the offer to allow another person to be added to the agreement by making the agreement assignable to you and another person at any point.
There are many different clauses that can be written depending on the needs and priorities of the buyer. Whatever your specific requests or conditions may be, you want to make the conditions clauses written in your favour. The clause should be written so that the condition to be waived is at the sole and absolute discretion of the buyer, and then even if the condition cannot be met the buyer has the choice of proceeding or making the offer null and void.
