Q: What Is an Attorney Review Period?

                    Here’s why we don’t suggest you have an agent write your sale agreement.

Why should you get an attorney to prepare your agreement of sale?

Right now in New Jersey, there’s a three-day attorney review period. This means that once you have a real estate agent prepare the sale agreement, all parties sign and agree to the terms, then receive the fully executed agreement. At that point, there begins a three-day period where the parties can take the agreement to an attorney and make modifications or cancel the deal. However, for example, if today is Wednesday, you have Thursday, Friday, and Monday until the deal becomes legally binding. This leaves you wide open to other offers coming in on the home and/or another bidding war could occur.

With inventory as low as it is and buyer demand so high, almost every house in our market receives multiple offers and frequently has a bidding war arise. I’ve seen this exact negative scenario happen many times: During the attorney review another buyer outbids the first, and the seller cancels the deal to take the newer, better offer.

Due to this, we don’t recommend you have an agent prepare the sale agreement. We suggest you have an attorney do this (though we send them the main points). This waives the three-day review. This way there aren’t any extra days of uncertainty, including a weekend.

This saves you a lot of time and a bunch of money. This is why it’s crucial to work with a Realtor who strategically knows how to keep you protected and have an attorney prepare the sale agreement.

If you have any thoughts or questions about this or you’re looking to buy, sell, or invest, reach out to us via phone or email right away. We would love to help you.