George Clements Greenville, SC Real Estate

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 19 of the Contract For Sale deals with Megan's Law and looks something like this:

19. MEGAN’S LAW : The Purchaser and Seller agree the Listing and Selling Brokers and their agents are not
responsible for obtaining or disclosing any information contained in the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry.
This information may be obtained from the local sheriff’s department or other appropriate law enforcement
agencies.

This paragraph is basically saying that it is the purchaser's responsibility to see if there are sex offenders in the area and not the responsibility of the agents involved. It explains that the SC sex offender registry can be obtained through the sheriff's office.

Here is a paragraph explaining Megan's Law taken from Wikipidiea:

Megan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it be disseminated. Commonly included information includes the offender's name, picture, address, incarceration date, and nature of crime. The information is often displayed on free public websites, but can be published in newspapers, distributed in pamphlets, or through various other means.

At the federal level, Megan's Law is known as the Sexual Offender (Jacob Wetterling) Act of 1994 and requires persons convicted of sex crimes against children to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment after release from custody (prison, psychiatric facility). The notification requirement may be imposed for a fixed period of time - usually at least ten years - or permanently.

Some states may legislate registration for all sex crimes, even if no minors were involved. It is a felony in most jurisdictions to fail to register or fail to update information.

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 18 of the Contract For Sale deals with home warranties and looks something like this:

18. HOME WARRANTY : It is understood a third-party 1-year home warranty ___ will, ___ will not be provided through_______________________________ Warranty Company at a cost not to exceed $________ at closing. If pplicable, the cost will be paid at closing by ____ Purchaser ____ Seller. No additional home warranty will be provided if one is currently being offered by the Seller.

This paragraph shows if a home warranty will be provided for the home and if the purchaser or the seller is going to pay for it. Normally, a home warranty costs between $400 and $600 just depending on what is covered in the warranty. There is normally a deductible that comes with covered items but it can be worth it if it saves hundreds of dollars on some repairs.

A seller will not care if the purchaser gets a home warranty or not as long as they get their same bottom line for selling a house. In other words, $100,000 and no home warranty is the same as $100,500 and a $500 home warranty. The sellers net price is the key. Sometimes, sellers will offer a home warranty as a way to entice purchasers but it does not really have much affect in getting a house sold. The key factors are still pricing and staging.

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Paragraph 17 of the Contract For Sale is pretty simple and looks something like this:

17. WATER/WASTE SYSTEMS: Seller represents that the Property is connected to ___ public sewer system ___ septic tank, ___ public water system, ___ individual well system, ___ other water well system.

This clause is basically just showing what the seller says the house has for water and sewer systems and doesn't need a lot of explanation. A house is most likely either going to have public water or a well and public sewer or a septic tank.

There is a place on the seller's disclosure that shows what sewer and water a property have.

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Because of the recent change in the Contract For Sale, we have shifted a little in the letters of the paragraph. I will just start in on the new one in the spot I left off in the old contract. The biggest change is 16B but the rest of the changes are pretty minor. The other bad thing is that the contract is now 6 pages instead of 5. The shorter the better in my opinion. 16H looks something like this:

(H) RE INSPECTION /MAINTENANCE: Seller agrees to allow Purchaser, or his designee, the right to re-inspect
the Property and to perform a walk-through of the Property, prior to closing, to confirm any personal property
to be transferred or conveyed is on the premises and that any required repairs or replacements have been
made. The Seller will maintain the Property in the same condition, including lawn, shrubbery and grounds, as
on the Effective Date, until the day of closing or possession, whichever occurs first, ordinary wear and tear
excepted.

This paragraph is basically just laying out the terms of the walk through before closing. The purchaser has the right to walk through the home sometime before closing to make sure that all the appliances and any personal property being conveed are there and that all of the repairs were done.

It also makes it clear that the seller is to keep the property in good condition including things like keeping the grass mowed. Normal minor things that happen to a house are expected like scuffs on the wall etc.

George Clements ~ Greenville, SC Real Estate

Well, the Contract For Sale just had a major change while I am in the middle of this series. Paragraph 16 had a clause added to it that I am not sure that I like. It looks something like this:

(B) Rig ht to Termi nate: Prior to the expiration of the Inspection Period, Purchaser ___ will ___ will not have
the unilateral right to reject the condition of the Property and to terminate this Contract, upon written notice
to Seller or Seller’s Agent. If such termination rights are exercised, Purchaser shall be entitled to a return of
the earnest money (subject to the release requirements of Paragraph 14). If such termination rights are not
exercised, Purchaser and Seller shall proceed as provided below.

This is basically saying that the purchaser can back out of the contract for any reason during the inspection period. In my opinion, this makes the rest of 16 worthless if "will" is checked. It also makes the amount of earnest money worthless. The purchaser would have to do this before the inspection period ran out so this will make sellers want that period to be as short as possible.

So how would this play out? A home goes under contract. The inspection is done. There could be no problems with the house at all but the inspection report might say that there is a small spot on the carpet. The purchaser could give written notice to the seller and say we don't want to buy the house anymore for something as small as that. In the meantime the seller has wasted precious listing time and missed out on other possible puchasers.

Of course, if I were a buyer, I would want this to be checked because it gives me a huge advantage over the seller. We'll see how this plays out but I think it is going to greatly increase the number of transactions that fall through.