California Association of REALTORS® releases April 2010 California Residential Purchase Agreement Revision (RPA)
The long awaited April 2010 revision of the California Residential Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions has just been released to REALTORS®. This is the bread and butter of the real estate profession and possibly the single most important real estate contract, make sure your real estate agent understands it backwards and forwards. In the hands of an experienced real estate agent this contract can afford both a Buyer & Seller lots of balanced protection. View sample (RPA) here or our complete how to video series.
Here are a few of the more significant revisions.
My favorite is that the Agency Disclosure and Confirmation has been moved from page 7 to page 1. Agency disclosure and confirmation is such an important consideration that I applaud CAR for moving it up to the head of the line! Now if just more consumers would realize the pitfalls of dual agency we would really be making progress.
Secondly one of the largest problems for Brokers and biggest focus for the Department of Real Estate is trust log issues. Many broker’s don’t even maintain trust fund accounts any more and the revised contract allows the buyer to deposit the “good faith” deposit directly to escrow – always my personal choice.
Another really nice housekeeping issue is the separation of the Buyer and Seller initials which often time was confusing.
Other changes were the requirement of the appraisal to be prepared by a licensed or certified appraiser while the default to appraisal contingency is removed automatically when loan contingency is removed.
The Wood Destroying Pest Inspection & Allocation has been revised and we will discuss in a separate post. The home warranty coverage now includes a option to check to upgrade for pool, spa, air-condtioning and code upgrade.
The default possession of the property is 5 p.m. on the close of escrow.
Televisions and speakers excluded from sale – and check box to include stove or refrigerators were made to the fixture paragraph.
Present condition is parenthetically defined as being “as is”. What was old is once again new as the older revision referred to condition “as is” replaced by “present condition:.
Some important changes to contingencies and cancellations include -
- Requires exercise in good faith – more on that later
- 5 days for buyer’s response if seller delivers late
- Last date not to fall on Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday
- Demand to closed escrow required before cancellation for failure to close
- Notice to perform – 2 days instead of 24 hours
Finally delivery (confirmation) has been defined to mean personal receipt by principle or agent, wherther sent by fax, e-mail, or other – previous version did not define which made for some interesting discussions. Also a presentation of offer box is included so the listing agent can show that offer given to seller.
Hats off to CAR and the standard forms committee on a great job!
Photo courtesy of Flickr
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