Some of the key provisions in a real estate purchase contract are, of course, the purchase price, the closing date, a financing contingency, an inspection contingency, but there’s also a lot of smaller, little-known clauses that are important to the transaction. It’s very important to retain the services of an experienced real estate attorney to review the contract if you have any questions.

It’s important when you buy real estate to draft the contract to give yourself what’s called an inspection period. This is a time period where you can have a professional inspector come in, inspect the house. You can have an AC person inspect the air conditioning, an electrician inspect the electrical system. During this period, the honeymoon kind of has worn off, so that you more realistically get a picture of what you’re buying, but it’s important that you draft that into the contract in advance because if you don’t, then you’re going to be buying the house as is with that problem.

Sometimes, questions or problems can arise following a residential real estate closing. If you’ve retained the services of an attorney for the real estate transaction, the first call may be to them, to get their advice on the situation. You could also contact the real estate agents or the title company that handled the closing, depending on what the question is.

Tenants in common means that you each have an undivided interest in the property. For instance, if there are three owners of property, each owner has a one-third undivided interest in the property. If one of the owners were to pass away, their one-third interest would pass to their heirs or to their beneficiaries under a will.

Typically, most attorneys and title companies will require a wire transfer at closing because of the amount of fraud that’s around today with cashier’s checks, wire is the safest way to get money to the closing attorney or the title company, however, you should always verify on the phone, the wiring instructions with the person that’s sending them to you to make sure you’re sending them to the right place.

Closing is where everything comes together. The seller will sign and deliver a deed which transfers the property to the buyer. The buyer will sign their loan documents, including a mortgage if they’re getting financing on the property. A closing statement will be drawn up and gone over by the closing attorney or title company with the parties.

At the closing, the buyer and the seller will each sign their documents. The seller will sign a deed, which actually transfers the property to the buyer. Typically, the buyer will sign a mortgage if they’re borrowing money to buy the property. Then the closing agent will distribute the funds to the people that are due. The parties will exchange keys. Most of the time it’s a pleasant process, but sometimes it’s not so pleasant.

If the real estate agent is aware of a defect on a property, it’s their duty to disclose that to their client. Similar to a seller’s duty to disclose facts that materially affect the value of the property, the realtor is also held to that standard.

Depending on how the contract was drafted, the seller may seek to retain the deposit as liquidated damages. Or the buyer may receive a return of the deposit if there was a contingency in the contract that allowed the buyer not to close. You need to consult a professional real estate attorney in Florida to know what your rights are under the contract.

Typically, in the state of Florida, the seller is responsible for the documentary stamp tax on the deed. In most counties in Florida, they’re responsible for title insurance and the real estate brokerage fee; however, none of those are actual laws, but rather, customs that have been followed over a long period of time. All of these items can be negotiated at the time of contract.