- Real Estate Sales -
The typical first step in selling your home is to put it on
the market, either privately or through a real estate agent.
A serious prospective purchaser will make an offer to buy
your home. This offer should be on an official Agreement of
Purchase and Sale form. If you are not satisfied with the
price you have been offered, you may stroke it out and write in a
higher figure (a counter offer) and then return the form to the
prospective purchaser (or through your real estate agent).
Once you and the purchaser agree on the price, the closing date, and any conditions that may
be part of the offer, the signed form becomes a binding contract
on both parties: the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
A purchaser will often make his or her offer conditional on
obtaining mortgage financing or on a home inspection. In
this case, the Agreement of Purchase and Sale is not yet
binding. Within a few days, the purchaser will forward a
Waiver of this condition to you or your agent, which would make
the Agreement a binding contract (unless there are other
conditions that have not been waived). The vendor should
then contact a lawyer.
The lawyer performs several functions when acting for the
vendor of a home:
- answers any concerns
("requisitions") that the purchaser's lawyer
may have,
- drafts all necessary documents to complete
the sale,
- coordinates the exchange of documents,
keys, and money with the purchaser's lawyer,
- ensures that any outstanding vendor
mortgages are paid off out of the sale proceeds, and that
the mortgage is discharged.
It is my practice to personally attend to all of
these functions to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Legal Fees:
My fee for a sale transaction is $599.00 plus HST +
disbursements. There will be some items that a lawyer must
pay for which the vendor must reimburse him or her
("disbursements"); which are in addition to legal
fees. It is rare for disbursements on a home sale to exceed
$200.
Please feel free to contact my office if you have any further
questions and for a breakdown of the disbursements.
Send E-mail to David Fysh at david@davidfysh.com