If you haven’t heard, you haven’t been reading or were away on holiday – the Calgary real estate market is in a bit of a tizzy with multiple offers on desirable properties and Buyers losing their minds to get to homes for sale.
Market Frenzy & Buyer Concerns
From the legal perspective, these are certainly dangerous times as REALTORS® and their clients are not always dotting the I’s or crossing the T’s of good solid real estate practices. It is understandable – there is little worth buying and what does come onto the market in a reasonable price point is literally attacked by Buyers desperate to solve their home concerns.
But, and this is a big concern, there are multiple situations where Buyers and their agents weren’t protective of their interests and things go seriously wrong in the transaction.
Navigating Risks In High-Demand Markets
Just in the last few weeks we have seen houses sold more than once (and no, that is not a good situation), unconditional offers where financing was denied and deposits being put at risk for major issues with the properties that make the Buyers concerned to close.
Most if not all of these situations could have been avoided and likely would have been avoided in normal market conditions where the Buyers did the proper due diligence, inserted normal conditions such as financing and ultimately just took their time to make sure this was and remained the right decision for them. However, that isn’t the case and as much as we would like to pretend it isn’t, It’s simply what we are all facing. So how can you protect yourself as a Buyer in this market?
We can say it but the reality is what it is and people will be making decisions and submitting over-list offers with no conditions so the question becomes how to provide the maximum protection you can in the face of this market condition.
Strategies For Buyers In A Competitive Market
First and foremost, if you are planning to finance the purchase and want to submit an offer without a financing condition, you are playing with fire. You can try to minimize your risk through a pre-approval but understand that this is not a guarantee of anything. Some of the B lenders require an appraisal so be aware of that and try to write in a term (if a condition isn’t an option) that a visit by an appraiser is allowed. The Seller can technically deny access if this isn’t added so it is a bare minimum strategy that could work.
For more information regarding real estate law, we are Calgary’s leading legal real estate team to help you. Contact us today, 403 245 – 3500, or email us at [email protected].
