Going to discuss more with realtor tomorrow, but want to make sure I bring up any questions.

Buyer made an all cash offer and we have gone back and forth a little bit on price and what items we want to keep vs. they want. After going back and forth on price they proposed a no option period as a "deal sweetener", I think so we wouldn't think they would try to renegotiate even lower after inspections for any repair items found.

I was thinking that by them not having an option period they would be accepting the house as is with no inspections and it would be 100% a done deal or we would keep the earnest money no matter what. Doing some reading online it seems like this isn't necessarily the case. Some sites online are saying they can still inspect the property even if there's no option period and even back out of the deal while getting back their earnest money. If that's true I don't really see the upside of them coming back and saying no option period.

Can anyone provide any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Seriously you eliminate a huge out with no inspection. So good for you. Nothing eliminates risk in a deal but sounds like you got as low a risk deal as you can get.

Anyone can dispute and claim some kind of out, whether legit or not. For example you intentionally hid a defect. That could be claimed even if false. What is your first gut feel? It usually is right.

Just yanking your chain a bit.

SteveBott said:

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Just yanking your chain a bit.

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No worries, I know how crazy I can be at times

Buyer can still do an inspection. Why couldn't they?

In reality, they can also get their earnest money back for any reason or no reason at all. The title company will not release the earnest money until both parties agree. So they'll either use the third party financing excuse or simply tie up your house forever where you can't sell it until you do release it.

If no inspection is done does that potentially increase our liability? If something we don't know about turns out to be wrong with the house down the line and therefore wasn't disclosed in the seller forms how does that work?

At least with an inspection it could be said they did their due diligence and everything checked out. Or is it understood that the house is as is at this point if no option period/inspection?

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Buyer can still do an inspection. Why couldn't they?

In reality, they can also get their earnest money back for any reason or no reason at all. The title company will not release the earnest money until both parties agree. So they'll either use the third party financing excuse or simply tie up your house forever where you can't sell it until you do release it.

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Yeah I think I was reading some stuff like this online, makes me question how valuable earnest money really is if it's potentially so flaky.

Regarding inspection, wasn't sure. I haven't really done real estate transactions before and pretty much assumed they were always done during the option period or not at all.

An all cash deal with no option period is as sweet a deal as you can get.

HomeFinderCody said:

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TREC contract is very Buyer-Friendly. There are other ways out. Examples would be objecting to exceptions on title commitment, or HOA Addendum (if it applies).

You'd be better off telling them you want them to have a ONE DAY OPTION PERIOD with a huge amount of $$$$ as the Option Fee. That way, after one day, if they terminate for any reason you keep the Option Fee.

Tell them to reverse the Earnest and Option Fee amounts....if they were offering $10k Earnest Money and $300 Option Fee, tell them to change it to $300 EM and $10k Option.....if they close on the property, it's still their money. If they terminate, you keep the $10k.

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I think this is good advice.

Thanks.

Getting a cash deal with no inspection is about sweet as it gets! As long as your sellers disclosure is good, you shouldn't have any liability.

The buyer knows what they are getting into with that kind of deal.

E said:

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Getting a cash deal with no inspection is about sweet as it gets! As long as your sellers disclosure is good, you shouldn't have any liability.

The buyer knows what they are getting into with that kind of deal.

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They haven't agreed to waive an inspection as far as I know, only no option period.

Ridge14 said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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Buyer can still do an inspection. Why couldn't they?

In reality, they can also get their earnest money back for any reason or no reason at all. The title company will not release the earnest money until both parties agree. So they'll either use the third party financing excuse or simply tie up your house forever where you can't sell it until you do release it.

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Yeah I think I was reading some stuff like this online, makes me question how valuable earnest money really is if it's potentially so flaky.

Regarding inspection, wasn't sure. I haven't really done real estate transactions before and pretty much assumed they were always done during the option period or not at all.

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TREC contract 7.A.

ACCESS, INSPECTIONS AND UTILITIES: Seller shall permit Buyer and Buyer's agents access
to the Property at reasonable times. Buyer may have the Property inspected by inspectors
selected by Buyer and licensed by TREC or otherwise permitted by law to make inspections.
Any hydrostatic testing must be separately authorized by Seller in writing. Seller at Seller's
expense shall immediately cause existing utilities to be turned on and shall keep the utilities
on during the time this contract is in effect.

Says nothing about the option period. It's just most people do them during the option period so they can know if something is wrong and back out with minimum loss (just the option money).

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Ridge14 said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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Buyer can still do an inspection. Why couldn't they?

In reality, they can also get their earnest money back for any reason or no reason at all. The title company will not release the earnest money until both parties agree. So they'll either use the third party financing excuse or simply tie up your house forever where you can't sell it until you do release it.

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Yeah I think I was reading some stuff like this online, makes me question how valuable earnest money really is if it's potentially so flaky.

Regarding inspection, wasn't sure. I haven't really done real estate transactions before and pretty much assumed they were always done during the option period or not at all.

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TREC contract 7.A.

ACCESS, INSPECTIONS AND UTILITIES: Seller shall permit Buyer and Buyer's agents access
to the Property at reasonable times. Buyer may have the Property inspected by inspectors
selected by Buyer and licensed by TREC or otherwise permitted by law to make inspections.
Any hydrostatic testing must be separately authorized by Seller in writing. Seller at Seller's
expense shall immediately cause existing utilities to be turned on and shall keep the utilities
on during the time this contract is in effect.

Says nothing about the option period. It's just most people do them during the option period so they can know if something is wrong and back out with minimum loss (just the option money).

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Cool thanks for info.

Based on other posters comments still not sure about value of option period/earnest money if you can do things outside of the option window and then still find a way to get your earnest money back.

Just as an update

Talked with realtor and they agreed with Cody, they could back out in two weeks due to HOA or other loop holes and keep their earnest money

We just recently sold our house and ours was a deal with a waived option period.

The buyer asked if they could still do inspections saying they wanted it for their own personal benefit. It was annoying, but we said sure.

We closed last week. No issues.

RJ3 said:

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We just recently sold our house and ours was a deal with a waived option period.

The buyer asked if they could still do inspections saying they wanted it for their own personal benefit. It was annoying, but we said sure.

We closed last week. No issues.

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Good to know, thanks.

AggiePlaya said:

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An all cash deal with no option period is as sweet a deal as you can get.

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We sold our house in March this way. 13 days to close with 2 month free lease back. The guy could have done an inspection but he chose not to. He basically said he would just fix anything he needed to once he got into the house.

It was amazing.

He literally never saw the house till after he bought it. His friend here told him to buy it so he did. They came about a week after close to see what they got.

coolerguy12 said:

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AggiePlaya said:

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An all cash deal with no option period is as sweet a deal as you can get.

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We sold our house in March this way. 13 days to close with 2 month free lease back. The guy could have done an inspection but he chose not to. He basically said he would just fix anything he needed to once he got into the house.

It was amazing.

He literally never saw the house till after he bought it. His friend here told him to buy it so he did. They came about a week after close to see what they got.

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That does sound awesome.

When was this? A handful of months ago? From what we have seen the market has definitely shifted.

March 2022. Pretty sure we sold at the peak. Bought at the peak too unfortunately.

coolerguy12 said:

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March 2022. Pretty sure we sold at the peak. Bought at the peak too unfortunately.

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Better than what we're doing

Buying at the peak and selling on the way down

Ridge14 said:

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coolerguy12 said:

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March 2022. Pretty sure we sold at the peak. Bought at the peak too unfortunately.

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Better than what we're doing

Buying at the peak and selling on the way down

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Same for me. Actually in retrospect I think I did get a pretty good deal on my new house even though I bought at the peak. But I am for sure trying to sell on the way down now, and it sucks. The market is absolutely crashing right now.

On the TREC contract you can put in the objections to title section that the buyer has 1 day to object to title issues (agents/realtors regularly put a 3-7 day time period or leave it blank, making the closing date the default objection date). This will speed up the title objection time. If the buyer gives a legitimate objection - which most of the time they can't because it is a residential home transaction - you can quickly attempt to get the objection cured; in the earnest money and termination option section, you can have the buyer deposit "additional earnest money" at a specified date after the effective date which will put more potential funds in the transaction.

Regarding buyers being able to opt out at any time and tie up the earnest money by not agreeing to release the funds after all condition time periods have expired, that can be a dangerous proposition for the buyer . I would talk to an attorney who handles real estate to discuss the powerful options the seller has against a buyer in such a situation that can be pursued prior to full blown litigation.

Recent example - buyer was past the option, title objection and financing condition periods. The buyer's lender waited until the day before closing to tell the buyer that some rental funds that were used to approve the loan had been recalculated. Apparently buyer fudged on the rents. After the recalculation, the buyer didn't qualify for the loan. The buyer attempted to back out under the financing condition - even though their realtor didn't agree. Buyer and Seller sent in conflicting demands for release of earnest money to the title company. Buyer thought this would tie up earnest money funds indefinitely and cause the seller to agree to release the earnest money. The buyer got a rude awakening.