-This is a transcript from Go Gaddis Radio to listen to the episode click here-> https://on.soundcloud.com/VNGqY
Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio. Isn't Mitch Palm of Smart Real Estate Data a fantastic guest? Yes, he gave some information that I wasn't aware of that I maybe would have preferred not to hear, but the reality is, is the Atlanta real estate market is still in really good shape compared to many other.
Major markets, major metro markets throughout the United States of. Always excited to have Mitch on as a guest and, uh, looking forward to have him back soon in this segment. What's the difference in a unilateral and a mutual termination in a real estate transaction? And what are best practices in selling your home?
My name is Cleve Gaddis. You're listening to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio, where we help listeners go from. Real estate novice to experts. So home selling and buying can be done with total confidence and without all the worry that is typical with life's biggest investments. We don't want you to learn anything at closing or after closing that you should have learned before making investment in real estate or selling real estate and getting a return on your investment.
They are. In many cases, the most significant financial transactions we are involved in for many of us in our entire life, and there is a lot of room for mistakes to make their way into a transaction. There's a lot of room for oversights, there's a lot of room for math errors and technical errors and paperwork errors, and our job at.
Modern Traditions Realty Group here in Metro Atlanta is to help you make all of the right decisions. If you want to give us a call, 7 7 0 4 9 7 0 0 0 0 is the number to call. If you wanna reach us online, it's go gaddis radio.com, G O G A D D I S radio.com. What happens to your earnest money if you go under contract with a seller, but you decide later to Termin?
What if you're a home buyer and you put 5,000 or $10,000 on the line as earnest money? Money to show the seller you're acting in earnest. You're acting in good faith. Does it make you nervous to think that you might be able to get your money? B, might not be able to get your money back if you decide to terminate?
We got a listener question. This is from Carla in Stockbridge. She says, I've heard the term unilateral termination in a real estate transaction, but recently heard about a mutual termination. What is the difference and how does it affect a buyer's earnest money? And that's such an interesting question.
So let's talk a little bit about the two different types of termination. A unilateral termination can be used only when a party in the real estate transaction has the. Provided by the contract to terminate something unilaterally, unilaterally means one-sided. It means one party does not need the permission of the other party in order to terminate a transaction.
So let's talk about how that might work in a or how that does work in a Georgia real estate transaction. Most transactions today, a year ago, many transactions did not have a due diligence period. There was no opportunity for inspecting, and I feel sorry for a lot of those buyers. I was reading some statistics, um, in the last few weeks that said 73% of home buyers who bought during the pandemic.
Feel like they settled and that is, uh, very sad. But okay, today you're buying a home. You go under contract, you pay $10,000 in earnest money, pay $5,000 in earnest money, and you have a due diligence period. You have a financing contingency period and an appraisal contingency period. Uh, if. Any of those contingencies fails, meaning you cannot get your financing and the appraisal comes in too low.
You will have the ability as a buyer to terminate the transaction during those time periods if you have a due diligence period, and let's say that due diligence period is seven days, and you have seven today days to do any inspections or investigations into the home that you choose to do, and within that seven.
You have the right to terminate for any reason, or you have the right to terminate for no reason. So if I'm your home buyer, you're the home seller. I decide before the seven days is up that I don't want to buy the home. I send you a unilateral notice. My agent sends you the notice either. Via eFax or via email confirms receipt.
And I just tell you, I don't wanna buy the house. I don't even have to give you a reason. I have to tell you the, the paragraph under which I am terminating in the agreement now that is at the top of a unilateral termination says the buyer's terminating. And here's the reason, and here's the notice at the bottom.
You do need two signatures to release the earnest money. So, That 10,000 or $5,000 in earnest money that I paid you as a seller, either you as the seller are going to sign saying, yes, I agree that this is what we're going to do with the earnest money. We're gonna give it back to the buyer. But it could be that you as a seller, disagree.
Meaning you don't think I should be entitled to get the earnest money back in this case if I terminated during the due diligence period, I don't think there would be any way for you to be able to keep the earnest money. But once we realize there's a dispute, then the holder of the earnest money, which is typically either.
The broker representing the seller. More commonly, the broker representing the buyer. Although sometimes brokerage firms don't want to hold earnest money, in those cases, they ask the closing attorney to hold it. I don't necessarily like closing attorneys holding the earnest money because I don't think there is accustomed to dealing with it as real estate brokers are.
But what would happen is we would notify the holder that there was a dispute, that there was a disagreement over who was entitled to the earnest money, and then the. Would interpret the agreement, would read the agreement, would read all the facts, and make a decision as to who was entitled to the earnest money.
Would send notice to both parties and give both parties up to 10 days to respond to object. If neither party objects, then they would release the earnest money as indicated in the 10 day letter. If one or more of the parties objects than the broker. Can go back and interpret the contract again and try to make a decision as to who the earnest money should go to.
Or he could file an inter plea or meaning. He could go and ask a judge in the county of jurisdiction to make a decision on who was supposed to get the earnest money. In many cases though, when someone files a unilateral termination, it's very simple. The seller actually agrees to give them the earnest money back and they, everybody moves on with their life.
A mutual termination is used when one. Or the other does not have the right to do a unilateral termination. A one-sided termination and a mutual termination includes some agreement by the brokers. Let's go back to the scenario that I mentioned just a second ago where I've paid 5,000 or 10,000 in earnest money and I've terminated within the seven day window for the due diligence period.
Let's say I missed that due diligence period, and now it's 10 days and I decide I want to terminate. Well, as the buyer, I don't have the right to unilaterally terminate. I have to get the seller's permission to terminate. So a mutual termination is when the buyer and the seller agree together that the agreement is terminated, and then the broker's involved.
Also agree as to whether or not any party in that transaction owes any money. It could be that if I decide as a buyer to cancel a contract after I have the ability to cancel it, it could be that I'm in default and I might wind up owing the brokers some money. So a mutual transaction mutual between the parties also typically includes an agreement from the brokers as to whether or not they will pursue any type of commission or expense recovery.
Unilateral termination is when one party has the right to unilaterally one sidedly terminate the agreement. Carla, I don't know if I cleared that up for you or I made it clear as mud. If you have any questions, 7 7 0 4 9 7 0 0 0 0. every new year brings new opportunities, especially for people who decide to sell a home and possibly buy a new one.
In many cases, people are overwhelmed with the thoughts of what they need to do in order to move forward selling their home. Michael and Linda, who live in Canton said, we're excited about the possibility of buying a new home. But they're a little bit overwhelmed. Any suggestions on how to ease this feeling of being overwhelmed?
I've got three best practices for selling your home this year. Number one, price your home, right? The housing market shifted in 2022, as we've discussed in this show as mortgage rates rose, buyer demand eases, and the number of homes grew. For sale grew and as a seller, you'll wanna recognize things are different now and price your home appropriately based on where the market is today.
As you heard in our prior segment, home prices today are higher in metro Atlanta than they were this same month in 2022. Number two, keep your emotions in check today. Homeowners are living in their houses longer in 1985. The average time a homeowner remained in a home was five years. In 2022, the average time a homeowner remained in a home is 10 years.
People are staying in houses twice as long as they were in them before, and this is several years longer than what it used to be. The the historic norm. When you stay in one place for so long, you may even get more emotionally attached to your space. I know I've lived in the same house for 23 years.
Gonna sell and move this year, and that thought does not sit well with me. I know I need to do it, but I'm certainly not looking forward to it. So for some homeowners, it makes it even harder to negotiate and separate the emotional value of the home from the fair market price. Number three, stage your home properly.
It is so important to make sure you focus on your home's first impression so it appears or appeals, if you will, to as many buyers as possible. Buyers want to envision themselves in the. So it truly feels like it could be their own. They need to see themselves inside with their furniture and keep steaks, not your pictures and your decorations.
So it's very important for you to spend time putting your home in Tiptop shape to get your home sold. This segment of the show is brought to you by the law firm of O and Sore Hand. They are a full service law firm, 26 offices throughout Metro Atlanta. They special. In residential real estate closings, including home purchases and refinance closings, corporate relocation and real estate, contract review and title insurance matters.
They can be reached by calling seven 70. 4, 9, 7 1 8, 8 0 7 7 0 4, 9 7 1 8, 8 0. If you're looking to sell your house anytime in the next three to six months, we believe we can sell your house for $28,000 more than your neighbor sold his or her home for. You might be thinking, man, that sounds too good to be true.
There must be some kind of gimmick. In fact, we got a call from somebody a couple of weeks ago who said, what is the gimmick and there is no gimmick. If you call us or you go to go gaddis radio.com, click on sale for $28,000 more. Put in just a little information so we know how to contact you. I'll reach out to you myself.
You will get two things that, in my opinion, you won't get anywhere else in Metro Atlanta. Number one, you will get a customized maximum value plan, which is like an appraisal on steroids. It is the best way to understand just how high you can push the price. Of a home in today's market in metro Atlanta.
And then number two, you will get to participate if it makes sense for you in our r and r program where you rest and relax while we rehab and refresh, while we make minor cosmetic improvements where if you invest a dollar, you can get two back or three back or four back. We make the best investments so your home will sell for top dollar.
You can get up to $15,000 in allowance to use for this all without any add. Charge. We're gonna take a quick break when we come back in our neighborhood. Spotlight, Lennox Lennox Park in Sugar Hills. Being featured heating, heating your next home efficiently will also be on our topic list. And buyer must haves, what are buyers in 2023 saying they must have Stick with us.
We've got those subjects and more we'll be back.