Your Trusted Real Estate Advisor

Today I spent 3 hours in a class taught by an attorney going through the newly revised real estate purchase contract.  It's something I've had to do just about every year for the past couple of decades.

The 2009 contract is eleven letter-size pages.  The first Colorado purchase contract I signed (in 1978) was one legal-size page.

The difference in the size of the contracts is lawsuits--everything that has been added in the past 30 years is the result of lawsuits.  The Colorado Real Estate Commission (CREC) is charged with protecting consumers: making the playing field as close to level for both buyer and seller; and protecting both buyer and seller in their relationships with brokers and other entities involved in a real estate transaction.

In Colorado, a real estate broker is given permission by the Colorado Supreme Court to, in essence, practice law without a license.  Among other restrictions, we must use "standard forms": that is, contract forms prepared by the CREC. 

Those forms are regularly revised, usually by adding language to cover some new problem uncovered in a lawsuit between buyer and seller or consumer and broker.  That's how the contract grew to eleven pages.

Whenever I go to one of these classes, I wonder why anyone who only buys or sells a home every 5-10 years would not want an agent representing them. If, after 23 years in the business, I need a class to make sure I understand how to keep my clients out of a courtroom, how can inexperienced and untrained consumers know enough to protect themselves?

It's serious enough when buying a resale home. The question gets more serious when someone wants to buy a new home from a builder.  Builders don't have to use the CREC-approved forms.  Their attorneys prepare their contracts, primarily to protect the builder. 

So, whether you are thinking about buying a resale home or a new one from a builder, it's smart to ask a Realtor to be your agent--to represent you in the transaction.  Why go it alone when there is so much at stake?

To learn more, call me at 303-284-3609 or email me at rudyantle@msn.com.