04-05 Update: Contract Changes, Safety Practices

 

Changes to the standard Offer to Purchase and Contract form and real estate agent safety are the two principal topics planned for the 2004-2005 CE Update Course.All licensees are required to take the four-hour Update course (plus a four-hour elective course) to fulfill the continuing education requirements for renewing a license on active status.

Pending changes to the standard sales contract form were promulgated by the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® and the North Carolina Bar Association. The course will address these changes and any revisions to related forms.

The primary proposed contract form change provides an alternative to the current approach to handling home inspections and repair demands/requests by buyers.Many agents consider the current procedures undesirable because of confusion and differences in the house conditions addressed by the contract inspections provision and by home inspectors in their reports.Also, the current process of negotiating for repairs to be performed by the seller is frequently difficult and unsatisfactory to both parties.

The revised contract would retain the current inspections provision as one alternative, but would add a new choice that allows a buyer to pay the seller a specified sum (option money) for the right to walk away from the contract for any reason prior to a stated date. If the buyer walks (i.e., exercises the option to terminate), the seller retains the option money. If the date passes without the buyer exercising the option to terminate, then both parties remain obligated to perform under the terms of the contract, and the option money is credited toward the purchase price.

Real estate agent safety, the second main topic of the Update course, will involve a review and discussion of the North Carolina Real Estate Agent Safety Guide, a joint publication of the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® Real Estate Safety Council and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.

The Safety Guide contains numerous common sense safety tips compiled from crime victims and real estate associations across the country.It is based on the Washington Real Estate Safety Council’s Personal Safety Guide.Real estate firms will be encouraged to implement a formal safety program that includes regular safety education classes for their agents.

The remaining time in the Update course will focus on recently revised statutes and rules.