Having a piece of real property in New York, on the one hand, means that you are a lucky one. However, what if you want to change your life, move to another area, and sell everything that ties you with New York? Selling real estate in New York and any other American area is not a simple task.
It does not matter who will buy the property, under which conditions, and for which amount of dollars; signing the New York real estate purchase agreement is a step that no buyer or seller can avoid when dealing with real property sales transactions.
This contract is important and irreplaceable for both a buyer and a seller. It declares both parties’ obligations and rights, reveals the main info about the deal, and serves as proof of the transaction. The document can be used in the court of the relevant New York district (where the property in question is located) if some kind of fraud occurs. All the deal conditions should be included in the form, from the price to the property description.
In our review, we will tell the main details one shall know about real estate purchase agreements in the state of New York, disclosures that sellers should provide to buyers when transferring properties, the agreement’s mandatory content, and so on.
We will cover the topics of both residential and commercial real property. It is not a secret that people sell and buy not only residential premises where they plan to live but also commercial estate where they plan to work and open an office (or a store, for example). The contracts for these types are similar; however, there is a couple of small details one should know before drafting this or that agreement.
New York Real Estate Purchase Agreement: What to Add
Regardless of the property type (residential or commercial), your real estate purchase agreement in New York and other American states shall have a similar structure and information. There are some crucial things that you must insert in your agreement to make it full and lawful.
Anytime you deal with the real estate sales transaction in New York and draw your own agreement template, ensure that you have added:
- Parties names, signatures, and details
Drafting any contract, regardless of its topic, normally means that you shall include both parties’ full legal names, their signatures, and contact info or addresses. The real estate purchase agreement is not an exception: when you make one, you should add all the above-mentioned points. Besides, both a buyer and a seller should leave their signatures on the contract to demonstrate that they agree with everything written in the form. The date of signing is necessary as well.
- The selling price
This, of course, is an important point: you must include the price in the contract. Besides the price, you should insert additional details about the advance payment (if there was any; remember to mention its date as well), about the payments’ schedule, and so on. Specifying what payment method is preferred by both a purchaser and a seller is useful, too.
- The info about the sold object
Each such contract should have the property’s description (or at least type), its full address, and ID number. The last may be found at the local assessor’s office (the one which is located in the same area as the property). Sometimes a seller decides to sell something more than just a property: for instance, the furniture and other premises like a garage. If this is the case, remember to add a full description of all additional items and properties that go with the initial real estate.
- Other terms and conditions
Typically, a real estate purchase agreement is a large document that consists of around ten pages, and most of these pages are full of different conditions that a seller and a purchaser have discussed and agreed on before finishing the property transfer. Bear in mind that you have to talk through all the tiniest details and items related to the deal. After the agreement draft is ready, you and another party should read it carefully to avoid problems and misunderstandings in the future.
Briefly said, this is the list you should take into account when making your own agreement template. When selling either commercial or residential premises, you should insert all of the list’s points into your document. There are also some necessary details you should know if you sell properties that should be used for commercial purposes. Check them out below.
Additional Points for Commercial Property Contracts
When the deal is about selling and buying commercial real property, there should be a special period for inspection. This period should be determined by the seller and given to the buyer so that the buyer can arrive at the place and understand whether the property fits the business plans or not. In New York state, having such a period to ensure the correctness of the deal is compulsory.
Also, when creating the contract, remember to define what type the estate has. You can indicate that the property shall be used for retail purposes, or office, or industrial, or any other which is relevant.
Disclosures
In the US, every real estate purchase agreement is associated with various disclosures. Different states have different regulations and require different disclosures. In the state of New York, the situation is not that bad.
When you sell commercial property, you do not need to provide any of the disclosures; at least, currently, there are no rules obliging you to do that. When you transfer residential property, there are only two disclosures you shall bring to the one who buys the object:
- Lead-Based Paint Disclosure
This is a mandatory disclosure that sellers in all American states provide to their properties’ buyers if the sold premises are constructed prior to the year 1978. The reason for that disclosure is using lead when constructing; lead, in turn, was then considered dangerous for people (if they stay for a long time in the premises with traces of this metal). This federal requirement is reflected in the US Code, Section 4852d: check it out to find out more info.
- Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement
Through this statement, the purchaser gets all possible information about the bought real estate’s current condition and possible flaws from the buyer. In many US areas besides New York, buyers will surely get this disclosure when completing the deal. There is no unified template for all states, but the questions covered are more or less the same.
In the form, the seller tells all the truthful details about the property’s state, condition of water, plumbing, and air conditioning systems, electricity supplying system, security system, floors and ceilings, chimney, patio, and other points. The Real Property title of the New York Consolidated Laws, Section 462, has the example of this disclosure and describes all the topics sellers need to cover.
If the seller decides to hide some important info about the property and the buyer later discovers it, the seller may face trouble and even penalties. It will be possible for the buyer to apply to the local district court in the state of New York and provide the given disclosure as proof.
Laws
If you prefer to study the local laws before creating any legal forms, we must say that it is an extremely smart decision, and you are absolutely welcome to check the New York Consolidated Laws, the title “Real Property,” also referred to as RPP. This title suggests all of the info relevant to the topic of real property in the state of New York.
The official template that realtors often use in New York when completing their deals is issued by the Elmira-Corning Board of Realtors. You can check it before creating your own agreement or when getting one from another party or your realtor.
Lastly, the laws that tell readers about the required disclosures in New York state are mentioned in the previous section of this review.
