I almost feel stupid writing this blog post because of how obvious this topic should be, but all too often (and particularly as of late) I've seen my fellow REALTORs show a complete lack of understanding about the paperwork we use in transactions. At the end of the day, these REALTORs are ultimately doing a strong disservice to their clients, who rely and trust on them to navigate through the paperwork. No buyer or seller should be expected to know more about the paperwork than their REALTOR.
I think part of why this is popping up (and subsequently why I felt compelled to write this) is that the Minnesota Association of REALTORs recently made changes to many of our forms. This is pretty standard - about once a year, the Association with make minor tweaks to the forms. Usually they are minimal - a couple word changes here, and small new section there.
However, this year the Association made some rather sweeping changes - in particular, they made very significant changes to the Inspection Addendum, which is a form used in almost every single transaction. More specifically, the way that the number of days are calculated for completing inspections and negotiating any repairs or price reductions changed. These timelines have significant importance to the transaction, and making a mistake could end up costing the buyer the house, or causing the buyer to assume a bunch of sub-par items on the home inspection.
At the end of the day, real estate isn't rocket science. But there are huge amounts of money on the line for buyers AND sellers, and even the smallest mistakes can have significant repercussions. REALTORs should know the paperwork inside and out, be diligent and detailed, and if they can't explain the paperwork or how specific aspects of the transactions work it should be an immediate red-flag.
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