Do It Yourself
By Jim Palmer Jr.

When I first became a Realtor® almost thirty years ago, the standard Purchase and Sale Agreement was only one page (legal sized, in triplicate carbon paper).  Since then, those forms have been revised many times.  The standard agreement now averages about 30 pages.  Some think that is a disgusting trend, because they think as a society we should be more trusting and things should not be that complicated. 

Even though I’m a trusting-handshake-sort-of-guy, I believe that the evolution and proliferation of our forms is a good thing and is important and necessary.  It shows that the real estate industry, within the ranks of Realtors® at least, has responded to the clarion call from consumers for more fairness and protection and less liability in a real estate transaction.  The fact is that while the volume of the contract verbiage has expanded, the percentage of transactional disputes has decreased exponentially. 

Some folks want to do it themselves, thinking that the whole process will be simpler and less expensive that way.  Many of those folks ask the question, “Do you really need all of those pages to have a legal contract with a buyer?”  The answer is no.  You don’t have to use a plethora of legal language!  You could write a legally binding contract on an onion skin or cocktail napkin, so long as it has four essential components; 1) the names of the parties, 2) the legal description of the property, 3) the purchase price and 4) the payment method.    But one of the most compelling reasons to use the services of a Realtor® is that they have the best proven tools and business practices available to shield buyers and sellers from damage.   Should things go wrong in a do-it-yourself transaction, you are on your own! 

The state-wide Realtor® generated forms are proprietary, meaning that you cannot purchase them for your own use.  When you use the services of a Realtor® to coordinate your transaction, you have the advantage of these forms with state-of the-art business practices that suit virtually every type of situation.  Each carefully crafted word of their Purchase and Sale Agreement is the result of the collective experience from thousands of Realtors® and many thousands of transactions over a period of a hundred years.  You should put the power of that experience to work for you!  The savings are worth cost!