Beware of these deal killers

The typical real estate sales contract includes not just a price and a closing date but also a number of clauses, any of which can trip up the buyer or seller and scuttle the deal.

While contract language may vary from one place to another — not just state to state but also county to county, and sometimes even from one company to another — here’s a quick rundown of some clauses or conditions that are likely to cause the most trouble:

Financing. Perhaps the most common contract condition makes the transaction contingent on the buyer obtaining a mortgage or a written commitment in the amount required to complete the purchase within a certain time frame.

Each part of this clause is important, obviously. But according to real estate professionals, the timing aspect can be the most troublesome. The sooner the buyer can complete this condition, the better. If the deadline passes without a loan approval, the seller has the right to cancel the contract.

“Since financing contingencies can be complex and vary widely, they require strict attention to all timelines involved,” advises Sam DeBord of Coldwell Banker Danforth in Seattle.

But buyers beware of using this clause to get out of the deal. You could find yourself in default if you fail to follow through on what you agreed to.

In Virginia, making a substantive change — seeking a loan that far exceeds the amount specified in the contract, for example, or being unable to find a rate that’s lower than what’s stated in the contract — may put your earnest money deposit in danger. In Minnesota, if your financing falls through after you have satisfied the financing contingency, the seller can keep all the earnest money as damages.

On the other hand, Florida contracts are “very one-sided” in favor of buyers, reports Liane Jamason of Smith & Associates in Tampa. Twice recently, Jamason had to deal with upset sellers who mistakenly thought they were entitled to their buyers’ deposits when their financing fell apart after months of waiting to close.

Closing costs. A poorly worded clause here can cost the buyer or seller a lot of money, depending on how it’s written.

Often, the agent writes in the contract that the seller will pay X amount toward the buyer’s closing costs at settlement, when what the buyer really wants is that X amount be paid toward closing costs, points, prepaid items, lender-allowed costs, warranties, administrative costs and fees.

“Closing costs are really only those associated with closing the transaction and may be far less than the entire list of financing charges,” explains Jim Mellen of Re/Max Peninsula in Williamsburg, Va. “A buyer who shows up at the table planning to have $6,000 paid on his behalf will be awfully angry if he gets only $1,200 of his fees paid.”

Another possible issue is how the closing cost contribution is stipulated. If it is given as a portion of the selling price, say $300,000, a 3 percent contribution could cost the seller $9,000. But if it is written as a part of the financed amount, say $240,000, the seller would be on the hook for just $7,200.

Make a mistake, and there are no do-overs. “The written word on a contract will trump intentions all day long,” Mellen says.

Disclosures. The different property disclosure clauses are “some of the more difficult to navigate,” says Ralph Harbison of Re/Max Realty Brokers in Birmingham, Ala. Buyers tend to want “yes” or “no” disclosures, but sellers prefer something that says they are not aware of any issues. And that leaves buyers to wonder what’s wrong with the place.

Writing certain inspection clauses — termite, radon, mold, lead-based paint, home — into the contract should go a long way toward removing the buyer’s anxiety, but only if the buyer adheres to the contract’s timelines.

In Florida, for example, the buyer typically has 10 days in which to obtain and review a home inspection. The buyer can cancel the contract during this period by providing a written notice to the seller, or he can ask for an extension. But issues arise when the buyer tries to negotiate repair credits or actual repairs and the inspection period expires.

“If the repair issues cannot be resolved during the initial inspection period, the buyer must execute the cancellation or extension,” says Blair Damson of Coldwell Banker in Coral Springs, Fla.

In the Philadelphia area, as long as the buyer adheres to the time limit, he only has to notify the seller that he does not wish to proceed to get back his earnest money deposit. But Linda Williams, an attorney/agent with Sage Realty in Wayne, Pa., goes a step further by making sure the deposit is not payable to the seller until after the inspection period ends.

In Warren County, N.Y., broker Mark Bergman, president-elect of the local multiple listing service, writes inspection clauses with specific repair cost limitation “to prevent frivolous renegotiation.”

Dates. One more thing about timelines: Be explicit. Contract language should be spelled out in either calendar days or banking days, says Magda Robles of Keller Williams Properties in Weston, Fla. “Number of days is not good enough,” she says. “Specify the specific month, day and year.

“As is.” This clause can be a double-edged sword, says David Welch, a broker in Orlando, Fla. While the seller is not obligated to make any repairs found necessary during an independent home inspection under the as-is clause, the buyer can cancel for any reason if he does not like what the exam has revealed.

Short sales. Buyers need to be leery when a “seller” in a short sale commits to paying closing costs. The bank is the seller, not the occupant, warns Christy Walker of Re/Max Signature in Phoenix. As such, the bank has every right to renegotiate the fees or refuse to pay them at all.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns took some heat in February when it was revealed that he had used his city email account to reply to messages about his campaign for the Republican nomination for Kane County Board chairman. The city council declined to pursue disciplinary action against Burns. The emails contained frank exchanges about Burns’ opinions of his opponent and of others, including Congressman Randy Hultgren, who endorsed Chris Lauzen after Burns announced he had Hultgren’s support.

When it came to county politics, Kane County voters elected a new county board chairman, auditor, coroner, circuit clerk and eight new county board members in November. The turnover ushered in a new administration headed by Illinois State Sen. Chris Lauzen. Lauzen pledged a flat tax levy and an end to even the perception of pay-to-play and political cronyism in the county.

After more than a year of debate, the Kane County Board approved revisions to the ethics policy that governs their behavior. But two Kane County State’s Attorneys have ruled large portions of the code unenforceable, possibly inviting a lawsuit.

In McHenry County, voters overwhelmingly defeated in November a ballot measure — championed by state Rep. Jack Franks, a Marengo Democrat — that sought to create an executive form of county government.

Under the executive form of government, the county executive runs the day-to-day operations of the county including the hiring and firing of employees and will also have the power to veto county board decisions.

The county executive, supporters said, would add transparency and accountability to county government, and allow for a stronger county board that would be focused solely on legislative matters

But opponents of the change said the county executive form of government would give the county executive too much power.

Cities, townships and counties across the country had questions on their respective ballots asking voters whether they thought the United States constitution should be amended to keep big money out of politics. A group of Kane County residents, loosely connected to the national Move to Amend group, turned in 14,386 signatures, far surpassing the 12,000 necessary to put a question on the county’s ballot. The group may have turned in more signatures than for any other ballot initiative in Kane County history, according to Chief Deputy Clerk Stan Bond.

Huge Dominican gold abundance to accessible in country

One of the world’s better gold mining operations is about to accessible in the Dominican Republic, area the industry has a baneful bequest of abuse that decrepit rivers a afire red and bootless to lift the fortunes of this abundantly poor country.

Abandoned 13 years ago by state-owned Rosario Dominicana, the Pueblo Viejo abundance larboard abaft an ecology blend and a array of depressed abundance towns.

Now, a collective adventure by the world’s two better gold companies, both of them Canadian, is ablution a abundant beyond operation at the website aural weeks. Admiral affiance it will be radically altered from the antecedent one, and will be managed to anticipate ecology damage, in accession to underwriting the cleanup of accomplished contagion and accouterment billions of dollars for the country, abnormally in the mining arena in the forested mountains arctic of the capital.

But skeptics are afraid about the cyanide acclimated to action the ore and catechism whether the operators can acceding their assurances to accommodate actinic runoff in a country decumbent to above flooding, abnormally during hurricanes.

“We are not adjoin mining in the Dominican Republic necessarily, but the industry has been its own affliction adversary here,” said Luis Carvajal, a biologist at the University of Santo Domingo and a arresting critic. “Without a doubt, the appulse of the abundance will be significant.”

Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corp. has waged an all-encompassing attack to avert itself, acknowledging the accomplished problems that mining has acquired in the country but contrarily absolution what it says are abundantly unfounded fears.

“People accept been scared, humans accept in fact had a bad acquaintance and now it’s up to us to prove we can in fact do the contrary,” said Manuel Bonilla, admiral of the collective venture, which is 60 per cent endemic by the Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto and 40 per cent by Goldcorp Inc. of Vancouver.

The collective adventure has said the Barrick Pueblo Viejo activity will activate processing gold in the additional bisected of this year, and that it will yield 12-18 months to ability abounding assembly of about 1 actor ounces annually. It aswell affairs to action silver, copper, nickel and added metals.

Several added companies are exploring for underground metals abroad in the Dominican Republic as able-bodied as in neighbouring Haiti, area all-embracing academic mining is acceptable years away. The Dominican Republic has addition abate gold and chestnut mine, and mines that aftermath nickel and bauxite.

Each with a citizenry of about 10 million, the Dominican Republic and Haiti are awfully different. The Dominican Republic, application the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, is wealthier and added stable. It has a chargeless barter acceding with the U.S. and Central America and is a top tourism destination in the Caribbean.

Metals mining can accomplish ecology problems in even developed, abiding countries because of the industry’s assurance on chancy materials, said Payal Sampat, all-embracing affairs administrator for Earthworks, a U.S.-based babysitter organization.

“Even in the United States, metals mining is a sliver of the gross bread-and-butter accomplishment of the country and it’s still the amount one baneful communicable industry,” Sampat said. “So that’s aliment for anticipation for countries like the Dominican Republic and Haiti that are on the bend of all-embracing all-embracing mining afterwards all the regulations and actual experience.”

The Dominican Republic lacks able ecology regulations, a above acumen the state-owned mining aggregation could could cause such abolition and why there was no absolute accomplishment to apple-pie up the mess, said Virginia Rodriguez, a co-ordinator for SalvaTierra, a bounded nongovernmental alignment whose name translates as “Save the Earth.”

Rodriguez said Barrick’s affairs to use 24 bags per day of cyanide in the aerial centre of the Dominican Republic, antecedent of some of the country’s a lot of important rivers, makes her nervous. “There is a actual top accident abnormally with an island like ours with a actual brittle ecosystem,” she said.

Supporters of the activity agenda say Pueblo Viejo will be a huge bread-and-butter benefaction for the Dominican Republic. The about $4 billion absolute adopted investment is by far the better in the Caribbean nation’s history. Barrick will be the Dominican Republic’s better exporter and add 2 per cent to the nation’s GDP.

The abundance itself will alone aftermath about 2,000 jobs but the aggregation says about 11,000 workers were complex in the architecture and there will be added than 10,000 jobs alongside created by the project, aggregation and government admiral say.

“This is a above automated accomplishment for the country,” said Dominican Mining Administrator Octavio Lopez. “Imagine what this will do for our abridgement abreast from the corruption of the gold, with some 10,000 jobs, 83 per cent of them for Dominicans.”

If gold prices authority up, mining eventually will beat tourism as the country’s better assets earner, with royalties and added acquirement authoritative up about 5 per cent of the government’s budget.

The aggregation will pay a 3.2 per cent per ounce ability on net sales afterwards assembly begins, assets taxes and a net accumulation tax of about 29 per cent afterwards it has recovered its investment additional 10 per cent. The aggregation projects it will accord about $7 billion over the estimated 25-year activity of the abundance to the government, with 5 per cent allocated for municipalities about the mine.

The aggregation says that the ambiance about the abundance has been the project’s a lot of actual beneficiary. Barrick spent $4 actor charwoman up alone machinery, barrio complete with asbestos and added bits larboard abaft if Rosario shut down in 1999 afterwards it accomplished a akin of sulfide ore that it did not accept the technology to profitably mine.

Much worse were the apparent abundance pits and bags of alone sulfide rock, which leached acerbic and abundant metals such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury into the watershed. Barrick’s investment is paying to apple-pie up the site, $75 actor so far, and the aggregation says it has chock-full the baneful runoff from the capital website and the red cast in bounded rivers is fading. Bonilla estimates it will yield about a decade for the ambiance about the abundance to absolutely recover.