Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Please tell me what you know.
We have a buyer who signed the contract. It came back to my lawyer with a 10% deposit and we signed it today. My agent says the buyer now has 72 hours after his lawyer receives it to still change his mind and get out of the deal. She is adamant about this saying she has sold hundreds of houses and she knows.
My lawyer says this is not furniture. There is no such thing. Once a contract is signed and the check is handed over, the deal is set.

Also, my lawyer did not list exclusions in the initital contract. After we signed it today, my lawyer is going to list a second refrigerator from the basement and some light fixtures that I want to take. We will definitely put some fixtures up so wires aren't hanging, but not the same quality. My agent is saying my lawyer doesn't know what he is doing and should have put these exclusions into the initial contract. I didn't want to tell him that logically my agent makes a lot of sense. Any thoughts on who is right - my agent or my lawyer?
I think she believes I picked a bad lawyer and is afraid he will make other mistakes in the weeks ahead. I am very nervous now.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

I don't have an answer to your first question, but as far as I know, light fixtures are personal property and you are not required to leave them, you just cannot leave loose wires.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Tough call. Fixtures are a grey area. You definitely can't leave wires hanging.

But replacing fixtures with lesser quality ones is not going to make the buyer happy unless they agreed to that prior. If you wanted the fixtures why weren't these written in the original contract you sent to the buyer?

The buyer can pretty much get out of the deal after 72 hours, so I wouldn't hold any faith in that.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Depends on what is in your contract. Generally it's a clause that's added into a contract - especially a real estate contract. Both buyer & seller have the option of backing out.

If your attorney has read the contract, I'd say the clause isn't in there. Who drafted the contract?

Your attorney should have put the list of exclusions in but I also think it's fine to add in things like that - it's usually not a deal breaker if that's what you're worried about.

Message edited 5/8/2009 9:12:42 PM.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

I really am not expecting anything like light fixtures to affect the sale of the house. I wouldn't let that happen, goodness knows. I was just questioning my attorney's capabilities, based upon my agent's remarks. The fact that the light fixtures were not written in the original contract is an example of what she saw and felt he did not advise me correctly.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

If this is a ny contract there is no 72 hour window once the contracts are signed it is a binding contract. There may be a mortgage contingency in the contract which does give the buyer the right to cancel within 30 or 45 days of the contract if they cannot get a mortgage. The 72 hour window usually applies to new construction and only if so stated on the contract.

As for the light fixtures your attorney should have included it in the contract prior to sending it to the purchasers and should have asked you what if anything you werent leaving for the purchasers. That being said it may cause an issue with the purchaser.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Thank you very much Csorisi. I was starting to lose faith in my attorney. The light fixtures are not a big deal but if he was wrong on the 72 hours I would be really concerned. Again, not because I am worried about it happening but the fact that my agent implied that he doesn't know the laws.

If you don't mind me asking, do you work in law or do you have experience in real estate? You really sound experienced and I appreciate your response.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

the 72 hour right of recession ONLY applies to a refi


As for the fixtures- if you are taking them- that MUST be in the contract

I am in the middle of my REA class so this is VERY fresh in my head

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

We were told that anything attached to the structure, ie: lighting fixtures, mirrors (bolted like a bathroom vanity mirror, not hung like pictures), towel bars, hardware, curtain rods, etc. was considered included in the sale UNLESS it was specifically excluded. Soft goods, such as the curtains themselves, area rugs, etc. were not included.

After the contract was signed our seller's agent came back to us and said they had forgotten to include the dining room fixture in the contract and wanted to add it, and would replace it. No big deal for us (it was ugly) but they did replace it with the cheapest piece of god-awful crap I've ever seen which I thought was pretty lame - something from the 70's they must have picked up at a garage sale.

Our sellers were horrible people and after the walkthrough, before the closing, they came back and took down some nice curtain rods and unbolted the mirror from the master bathroom. They also came back after the closing when we were not there and took a freestanding basketball hoop they'd left. Not a huge deal in the big picture, but it really annoyed me that they hadn't mentioned they were coming back for that, and that they took stuff after the final walkthrough that should have been left.

Our attorney was great at putting stuff in perspective when the light fixture issue first came up. She said in light of the cost of the house, you're talking about a fraction of a percent of the total cost for small items like that and it's not worth making a big deal over. Just close and move on which is what we did.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Thanks Beth. One more thing just came to mind. The bathrooms don't have medicine cabinets but I have mirrors that are hung on nails that are drilled into the tiles. I will leave the mirrors in two of the bathrooms but I would like to take the third one. It's not that vital that I would want it in the contract. I can easily leave that also but the attorney says they are like pictures on a wall and to take them if I want. The real estate agent says I would have to put another mirror in its place.
Hate it when they don't agree...

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

I would leave a new mirror in place just as an act of good faith, regardless of whether or not it should be in the contract.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Thanks for the information everyone. This forum is the best!

And Csorisi, I am so happy that the signed contract is binding. Now it's just up to the bank to come through as my buyer wants. He is pre-approved so we should be okay.
Rachel, you are absolutely right. I can't help but think I may be buying another mirrow that may just go in the garbage if it's not their taste, but it certainly looks better than leaving a bare space.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

any items you plan on taking or changing are suppose to be on the sellers contract. this is at least what we were told by 2 real estate brokers. you must mention them ahead of time not after but again only going by what we were told when we mentioned gifts we planned on taking with us like light fixtures. we were told we had to replace them not with anything fancy but couldnt leave wires hanging.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

my grandfather was a real estate attorney at the same time that I was an agent- and we worked together a lot and he used to always remind me- you give the property advice, and I'll give the legal advice

so just saying- take your advice from your attorney- she/he went to law school for 3 years on this, while agents, we go for a couple weeks hth

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

I'm not sure if it changed, but our sellers (4 years ago) changed the contract after we signed (well their attorney did) and my lawyer FREAKED out. He said it was null and void since they changed it after we signed.


FYI - our friend is an architect - he mentioned that if you bolt a plasma TV to the wall - that that is now part of the structure and has to be sold with it (unless excluded I suppose)

Message edited 5/15/2009 12:46:41 PM.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Your attorney needs to send the Buyer's attorney a fax stating....the following items have been excluded from the contract of sale. Please sign below to confirm your clients are in agreement so i may release the contracts of sale. Once he gets this back from the Buyer....Contracts should go out to the Buyer. Once the Buyer's attny receives the Contract of Sale....it is a binding agreement and the Buyers do not have 72 hours to change their mind. I have never heard of this before.

Technically the Contract of Sale is Null and Void if your attorney makes changes to the contract....but its usually not a big deal and it gets negotiated.

Re: Is my real estate agent correct, or my lawyer?

Interesting! Well to follow up, it's exactly a week ago that my attorney made the changes about a couple of light fixtures that I did pay a lot for. We have heard nothing, my agent stated on their website that the house is "In Contract". She said since we heard nothing we can proceed as my attorney said.
Thanks though. I will know better if there ever is a next time, which I sincerely hope is never!