It seems like every time I have a buyer interested in a house, they like to take time to think about the purchase before they submit an offer. This is a good thing; in fact, I encourage buyers to sleep on it before they decide to move forward. However, Nashville’s been moving a little faster lately, and a few of my buyers have been surprised to find their long awaited house can disappear off the market in as little as a day!
“How are we supposed to make such a quick decision in such a short amount of time?” they ask. “It’s too much pressure and not enough time to really stop and consider whether this is the right house.”
I fully agree.
Luckily for us, the Tennessee Association of Realtors has standardized forms that we can use to submit an offer. The offer form has a handy little “Inspection Period” clause that allows us to define a time period that we’ll use for inspections. I typically recommend a 14 day period. These days, I tell ALL my buyers, if you’re even REMOTELY thinking that this house could be “the one,” let’s submit an offer! When the seller accepts an offer, the home is reserved in our name, and then we have some time to REALLY inspect it!
It’s a big win.
This gives buyers not one night to sleep on it, but 14 nights! They can call the home inspector to take a look at the property, review the inspection report, grab a ladder and look on the roof, shine a flash light around the crawl space…. a proverbial kicking of the tires! Then, if everything checks out and they want to move forward, we can proceed to financing the home. On the other hand, if there are too many things wrong with all of the inspections, we can withdraw the offer and search elsewhere.
Thank you, Tennessee Association of Realtors, for giving the home buyer a little time to breathe!
Kevin Martelli
Affiliate Broker, Realtor
Pareto Realty, LLC
