Minimize Your Risk

How real estate professionals can protect buyers during an offer

On Behalf of | May 26, 2020 | Real Estate Law |

As a real estate professional, it is your job to guide and protect those buying or selling real estate. When you serve as a buyer’s agent, your primary role will be to help people find a property that fits their needs and protect them from the potential pitfalls of a home purchase, such as the loss of their earnest money due to an offer falling through prior to closing.

Buyers often feel nervous about making an offer, especially if they have to take an aggressive offer on a property in order to stand a chance of purchasing it due to intense interest by others or multiple offers. There are certain steps that you can take as a real estate professional that will drastically reduce the financial risk your clients carry when they make an offer on a property they might purchase.

Draft unique purchase agreements that protect your clients, not the seller

A lot of the real estate documents you will use primarily protect the seller, not the buyer in a transaction. If you wanted to optimize the protection you can offer to your clients as buyers, customizing unique documents that reflect their concerns and needs and protects them against negative outcomes can help establish you as a reliable and competent real estate professional.

Anyone can download documents from a website and quickly plug in a buyer’s information. It takes a lot more work to craft a custom agreement that reflects the unique needs of an individual buyer. Custom paperwork will go a lot farther than boilerplate documents to ensure that your buyers have adequate protection when they make an offer.

Make sure the contingencies reflect the needs of your clients

A critical aspect of creating an appropriate real estate contract for your buyers will be knowing enough about their life circumstances to include the right contingencies and limits on the offer that you prevent on their behalf.

Helping them avoid overextending themselves by including provisions about selling their current home and other similar protections can reduce the risks that they incur and maximize the benefits that they derive from their decision to work with you. Getting help with the creation and review of real estate contracts can help set you apart from others in the same profession.