Sam: “mutually agreeable” Purchase & Sale Agreement
Take a look at your Offer to Purchase. Does it have a "weasel clause" added? Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team tells you his take on what can happen when you replace "standard form" for "mutually agreeable."
The “standard form” offers to purchase property that are commonly used usually call for buyers and sellers to execute a specific version of a purchase and sale agreement or a form substantially similar to it by a certain date. If the offer form is from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, it specifies their version of a Purchase and Sale agreement, while the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s offer specifies their version, etc. You get the idea.It’s not uncommon for an attorney or agent to modify an offer by crossing out the specified version of the purchase and sale agreement and inserting the words “mutually agreeable Purchase and Sale agreement”. That simple change appears to protect either party from getting locked into a specific Purchase and Sale format that they might not prefer. On the other hand, many attorneys have agreed that it can also open the door to a potential free for all re-negotiation of an offer’s terms, conditions and language as well as the language for the Purchase and Sale.
Ultimately, when a buyer and seller sign an offer and agree to sign a “mutually agreeable Purchase and Sale”, they may be allowing each other the ultimate “weasel clause.” When a “mutually agreeable Purchase and Sale” is not negotiated by the date specified either party becomes free to cancel the deal. The term “mutually agreeable”, makes it easy for either party to push the other out of the deal by insisting that unrealistic terms, conditions or language be added to the “mutually agreeable” Purchase and Sale agreement. That might make it easy for a buyer to continue shopping and get out if they find a nicer house or a seller to get out if they get a better offer from another buyer.While I appreciate that attorneys and agents might want to give their clients the ultimate way out of a deal by including that language, I have never understood why a buyer or seller would sign an agreement that allowed the other party a way out of the deal.
It seems to me that buyers and sellers sign offers because they want to bind each other to the terms and conditions of a deal. After all, why would buyers pay for a home inspection and an attorney to negotiate a Purchase and Sale if they weren’t sure that they’d be able to buy at the agreed price and terms?
