The new real estate contract, coming out in January 1, 2012 will make the housing sell in AS IS condition. I believe that this will result in prices falling. It will change the way we do business.
Seller of prime property will really benefit from offering a home inspection as part of the marketing package to show that their properties are "move-in ready".
They are planning to change the way we sell real estate here in Northern Virginia. The homes are to sell in AS IS condition, not in normal working order. This will change a lot of the ways that we do business. I do believe that this will result in prices falling more than they would have without this change.
The expectations of what the buyer is getting will be lowered. We have already seen the market be particularly brutal to the older, single family homes. And indeed the older homes all seem to have aged disproportionally in the past year. Just one year ago, the homes that were built in the 1980s or newer seemed to have features which the market wanted. They had master bedroom baths, good closets and generally less maintenance. Indeed the townhouses have been pulling ahead in the marketplace. Now the homes seem dated when they were built before 1995. The extra rain storms have taxed roofs and basements. The droughts have been hard on trees.
Earlier today, we saw a preview of the new real estate sales contract to be used in Northern Virginia. For 30 years we have been transferring in real estate in "normal working order". That is, that the buyer could expect all the items in the house to basically function as expected. And so all parties could argue about what is "Normal", and what the buyer should expect to get. Now all the buyer is told is "WYSIWYG" what you see is what you get; the house sells AS IS. However the appliance, equipment or structure is operating is what you are buying. We have already seen the market be particularly brutal to the older, single family homes. Seller of prime property will really benefit from offering a home inspection as part of the marketing package to show that their properties are "move-in ready".
