Buying a Silicon Valley home? Understand that unless you are buying “all cash“, you will need to show your real estate purchase agreement to your lender, and your lender may want to see inspections, reports or disclosures based on what you’ve written in that paperwork.  And then the bank, credit union or lending institution may ask for repairs prior to close of escrow, even in an “As Is” sale.

This happened to my buyers a few months back.  They were buying  their first home using an FHA backed loan.  In the offer, we indicated that we would be having a few inspections (home, pest, roof, pool). Because financing with FHA backed loans is a tougher road, the lender did, indeed, require certain work to be done prior to close of escrow.  It was supposed to be an As Is sale so the buyers ended up paying for work to be done in order to close (and the seller allowed us to reduce the price somewhat).  Luckily they were all improvements that my clients intended to make anyway – but it was inconvenient and stressful to have to rush to have the work done, and of course this did cause delays.  (We did discuss not having the inspections listed in the offer, but my clients very much wanted them in it.)

For this issue, does it matter which contract you use, PRDS or CAR?

If you are planning to purchase a Los Gatos, Saratoga or San Jose area home, most likely you and your real estate agent will use either the newest PRDS contract (Peninsula Regional Data Service, employed from Los Gatos to San Francisco) or the CAR contract (California Association of Realtors form which is used throughout the state of CA). (more…)

Normally I do not reference other Realtors’ blog posts on any of my blogs or sites, but this morning I read one worth calling out because it raises a good issue that home buyers and sellers often never consider: the ongoing exposure of sold listings’ information, videos and photos on the web will continue to be present long after the home sale is closed.

The post, by Norma Toering of ReMax Palos Verdes Realty, is entitled “Please remove my home from the internet” and can be found on the Active Rain website at the link provided above.  This conscientious Realtor sold her listing and got it closed last week.  Now the buyer, the new owner, wants all traces of the listing removed from the internet.  Many people are private and may be uncomfortable with videos and pics of their home online (even if with the last owner’s consent, decor and furnishings).  But it is nearly impossible to remove all online photos because they are syndicated or pushed to other sites where we agents have no control. 

One commenter suggested that perhaps we need another disclosure so that buyers know and understand that what’s out there on the internet cannot be removed (and for that matter, that agents don’t want to spend many hours to remove them – a challenging task for which there is no compensation).  Having photos on the web is part of marketing and once it’s done it simply cannot be undone (at least not fully and certainly not easily).  I don’t think a new disclosure is a bad idea.  Our purchase agreement forms or contracts inform buyers and sellers that there will be dissemination of information on the MLS regarding the sale status and later the closing price and terms.  It wouldn’t hurt to also warn the parties that once images are disseminated on the internet, they are very likely to remain online a long, long time.

Many towns and cities now make building permit files available online and at no cost. That doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be able to understand everything in the file or that what’s online is complete. But it is a help!

Here’s the link for the city of San Jose’s site:

https://www.sjpermits.org/permits/permits/general/generalquery.asp

Online permits may be viewed in many other Silicon Valley areas too. Just do a websearch for your city or town!