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Association News, Standard FormsNew Agreement of Sale reflects changes to inspections, mediation
Some major changes have been incorporated into a new PAR Standard Agreement for the Sale of Real Estate (ASR) which will be available later this year.
Last updated in 2005, the new Agreement of Sale includes:
- Expanded and reorganized broker blocks which have been changed for clarity and ease of use
- Updated mortgage contingency paragraph to include an appraisal contingency clause
- Changed format for handling inspections to include more inspection contingencies and allow for a variety of circumstance
- Reduced default time for inspections to 10 days
- Change in language to dictate what will happen to escrow monies in response to the new Real Estate Licensing Registration Act (RELRA) changes
- Mandatory buyer/seller mediation as compared to the current agreement where the buyer/seller can waive mediation.
The revised form was recently approved by the PA Association of REALTORS®’s Standard Forms Oversight Committee and will require final changes prior to its publication.
As in the past, Guidelines for the Agreement of Sale, which explains how to use the ASR form, will be available when the form is published.
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Kim Shindle is the Manager of Media Relations at the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®. |
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Congratulations to the entire Agreement of Sale subcommittee,and especially Chairman Dominic Cardone, as well as the Standard Forms Panel and Oversight Committees for a job well done. The feedback we received, the idea sharing and the time invested yielded a great new form. Lots of learning to be had, as we launch the new Agreement in January!
And also special thanks to PAR staffers, Mike Barth, Hank Lerner, Cheryl Savino AND PAR counsel: Jim Goldsmith and Brett Woodburn.
Kathy Opperman
2009 Chair of PAR Standard Forms & Oversight Committee
Proud Member of Agreement of Sale Subcommittee
Mark: I’m a PAR staffer who is heavily involved in the forms drafting process, not an outside attorney looking to circumvent the process. The goal of the change is to encourage more mediation, but we know that there will be consumers who don’t want to agree in advance to mediate future disputes. If the parties want to agree to terms other than those pre-printed in the form they always have the right to cross out the pre-printed language and, if appropriate, propose new language.
It didn’t take long for an Attorney to see a way around ‘mandatory’ mediation. Striking the paragraph defeats the purpose of the form change, helping eliminate lawsuits.
Mary Lou: The Agreement doesn’t “force” mediation on anyone. The difference here is that the current form says ‘buyer and seller agree to mediate unless we check the waiver box below’ while the new form just says ‘buyer and seller agree to mediate.’ If the parties don’t want to mediate they just cross out the subparagraph instead of checking the waiver box.
How do we force mediation on people who do not want it?
I love that the default inspection days will now be modified to 10 days. 10 days is plenty of time to take the car for a test drive. There is something to be said for speeding up the failure process:)