In recent years there seems to have been a thrust to get the sale done as quickly an as cheaply as possible. In many cases that meant the realtor's hustling the buyer to sign a contract before first showing it to his/her attorney.

In other cases it was a matter of the buyer being penny wise and pound foolish...trying to complete the sale without an attorney. The "do it yourself" approach usually winds up in added expenses at a later date that could have been avoided initially. The expenses often exceed the attorney's closing fees, and the buyer winds up paying a lot more for repairs to the house which could have been addressed in a reduction of the sale price..

A sales contract should always be expressly conditioned at the very least on the occurrence a number of events.

                        1.   Buyer's receipt of a favorable inspection report disclosing no major repairs

                                    a)  No insect infestation

                                    b)  No structural damage

                                    c)  No asbestos pollution

                                    d)  No radon pollution 

                                    e)  Other conditions of the buyer's selection

                       2.    A mortgage contingency clause expressly conditioning the sale on the buyer's ability to obtain the mortgage of his/her choice, including but not limited to principal amount of the loan, interest rate, monthly payment and term.

                      3.   A requirement that the seller deliver marketable title by a specific date of closing, but no later than thirty days following the contracted closing date unless there is a time is of the essence clause in the contract.

                      4.  Some buyer's like to include a time is of the essence clause in the contract to assure a closing on a particular date.

                      5.  A guarantee of a walk through inspection of the premises on the day of closing to assure that the seller has not trashed the place. Apparently in foreclosure sales the mortgagees try to prevent the walk through by including a "Sale as Is" clause in the contract. In which case the buyer is often buying a pig in a polk, and has to make expensive repairs.