News
Real Property PodcastsPodcast: New Agreement of Sale will be available later this month
Click here to listen to the podcast.
The new version of the PAR Agreement for the Sale of Real Estate (ASR) is set for release in mid-to-late January. REALTORS® who have reviewed the document are pleased with the revisions, according to Mike Barth, PAR’s standard forms specialist. In part two of our series, Barth discusses the changes to the form regarding inspections and deposits.
|
Samantha Elliott Krepps was the Communications & Media Relations Manager at the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®. |
Related posts:
Print This Article
David: The good news/bad news is that minor changes to the form were made just last week. That’s good news because we clarified an issue that had been confusing; bad because it will delay the final release a bit.
We’re in the final stages of getting the official printed proof of the form, after which we’ll get it off to the e-forms vendors. All are aware of the impending change, although word may have not traveled from the tech folks to the customer service staff. As for usage, members can use it as soon as it is available. We’ve already stopped selling the old paper form, and e-forms vendors will keep the old form live through about March. After that you can still (technically) use the old form, but it will be hard to come by.
Hi Hank,
I just checked with TrueForms (My Provider) and they don’t have anything “approved” yet. Rep wasn’t even aware of the revised form.
When will it be Released and when will it become standard or mandatory (although I understand that it isn’t REQUIRED” )
You are correct, Karlene. After inspections, a buyer now has the option to accept, walk away, or negotiate by submitting a Written Corrective Proposal. Should eliminate a lot of game-playing in the process.
Hank a quick look at the new form reveals that the option 1 and option 2 selection for inspection have been eliminated or am I missing something?
Rick:
There is no language to this effect in the Agreement, and that probably wouldn’t be the right place for it since that is a contract between the buyer and seller. PAR is currently reviewing all of our listing/buyer agency contracts, so I’ll forward the suggestion to add it to the listing contract.
Is there anything in the new agreement of sale that would authorize the listing agent to sign the settlement statements on behalf of the seller? Or could it be put in the listing agreement? We seem to be getting asked more and more about what authority we have to sign those statements, normally by settlement agents and title companies.
George:
Thank you for taking the time to comment on the Agreement. By way of background, PAR forms are drafted by committees of PAR members from across the state with hundreds of years of combined real estate experience. Given the varied experience and background of those members there is often intense discussion over even the smallest of changes, but at the end of the process the members forward a completed form that they believe to be in the best interests of the majority of practitioners and consumers.
It is certainly not unusual for members of the committee to disagree on certain provisions of a new or revised form, and we expect that not all members will love every change that is made. I can tell you, however, that staff and committee members have already done training sessions for several thousand PAR members in all corners of the state, and the overall reception has been very positive.
Practitioners can certainly line out or amend certain provisions that they believe don’t serve their clients appropriately (with approval of the client, of course, and taking care to not overstep into the unauthorized practice of law), and can utilize forms other than those published by PAR if they wish.
If there are specific issues of concern you would like to discuss in more detail, please feel free to contact me at hlerner@parealtor.org or 1-800-727-5345.
this new sales agreement is no more then an intent to purchase with no teeth. in short this new agreement sucks
Charles: With the computer-generated forms, all the Notices appear as separate pages to be initialed by the clients. The Notices on the backs of the pre-printed forms have never been initialed because of the physical limitations of the pre-printed forms (the carbon doesn’t work in both directions). Instead of initials, there are statements above the signature lines that the seller and buyer have both read and understand the Notices. Regardless of which style of form you use, the Notices should ALWAYS be a part of the transaction file. In short, if you get sued later you’ll have a hard time convincing the court that the consumer read the Notices if they’re nowhere to be found in your file.
Am I correct in understanding that the “back of” pages to the new contract need not be initialed and therefore not be part of the completed file?
Really like the podcast’s on the New Agreement of Sale. I hope to incorporate them into a presentation on the new forms at our next Board of REALTOR’s meeting.