My suggestion would be to have your lawyer write up a sentence or two to start your addendum off with…something that makes your addendum take precedence over the base contract in the event of conflicts between the two.
If you modify the contract, I would say that you’re on the right track…no references to realtors or other verbiage of that type.
Re: Modified Realtor Contracts - Posted by Ray (NJ)
Posted by Ray (NJ) on January 17, 2000 at 12:06:57:
Realtor contracts are not all alike at all!
My understanding is that each local Board has an attorney hwo first drew it up (based on general boilerplate, with specifics to the area) and they modify them all the time.
Don’t ever accept the Realtor’s contract. First, most of them are holdovers when Realtors were all “seller agents”, meaning they had a fiduciary responsibility to the seller. Thus, the contract was slanted to favor the seller (and the Realtor).
ALl you need to do is cross out/modify the parts you want and both you and the seller initial them. If your Realtor has a problem with that, find another one. Actually, the guy sitting right next to him in the same office would probably love to collect an easy commission.
Re: Modified Realtor Contracts - Posted by TRandle
Posted by TRandle on January 16, 2000 at 14:34:13:
Jim,
Do the addendums override the verbiage in the original contract? For example, our Realtor contracts include provisions for specific performance in addition to the liquidated damages clause. There are several other clauses that I don’t like as well. Rather than marking out the provisions I don’t like and including addendums, I was thinking of going the modification route.
As long as I don’t imply that it’s a standard Realtor contract and I remove all the references to such, I would think I would be in the clear. In addition, since I’m still working at this, I was thinking it would be nice to have a soft copy that I can amend as I learn more, while still retaining a look of familiarity. Your thoughts, please… Thanks…
The way I handle this is I attach an addendum…I don’t reword the contract.
If you modify the document though…I would remove the insignia and remove any reference that may be there like “approved by legal counsel for use in XYZ state”.
Re: Modified Realtor Contracts - Posted by TRandle
Posted by TRandle on January 16, 2000 at 14:35:28:
Jim,
Do the addendums override the verbiage in the original contract? For example, our Realtor contracts
include provisions for specific performance in addition to the liquidated damages clause. There are
several other clauses that I don’t like as well. Rather than marking out the provisions I don’t like and
including addendums, I was thinking of going the modification route.
As long as I don’t imply that it’s a standard Realtor contract and I remove all the references to such,
I would think I would be in the clear. In addition, since I’m still working at this, I was thinking it
would be nice to have a soft copy that I can amend as I learn more, while still retaining a look of
familiarity. Your thoughts, please… Thanks…
Thanks Jim, on this and other newsgroups I see reference to people modifying Realtor contracts and it concerned me a little so I thought I would seek the opinion of someone like yourself. Maybe your post can save someone some anguish down the road.