The time has come, you’ve seen a handful of homes and are ready to put in an offer. The offer process can be intimidating, especially for first time buyers. A typical agreement of purchase and sale is 8 pages at minimum and is filled with terms and phases that you may not be familiar with.  Similarly they are filled with different dates, and time frames that are imperative to the offer process. In a single agreement of purchase and sale you can find you’ll find at least 4 dates – offer date, irrevocable, requisition date and completion date – here is what they mean.

Offer Date

Every agreement of purchase and sale will include an offer date. It is the date the offer is submitted, and will be referenced at various points throughout the agreement.

Irrevocable Date

Is a date and time up to which the offer is irrevocable. This means that the party offering cannot revoke their offer before the specified date and time. The irrevocable clause usually states that when the time and the date passes the offer becomes null and void. In real estate an offer is usually irrevocable by the last party to ‘touch’ the offer – which can be the buyer or the seller in the case of a counter offer.

Requisition Date

The requisition date noted in an agreement of purchase and sale as the title search. A title search is an examination of public records to determine and confirm a property’s legal ownership, and find out if there are any claims or liens are on the property. A clean title is required for any real estate transaction to be completed and is completed by a lawyer. The requisition date is the date by which this search should be completed. Typically the date is set for at least 5 – 10 days before the closing date, and after any condition dates, to allow for any issues to be rectified.

Completion Date

Otherwise known as the closing date, the competition date is the date where ownership is officially transferred from the seller to the buyer. It succeeds all other dates in the offer, requiring clear a title and the fulfillment or waiver of any included conditions.

Conditional Date (Period)

Not every offer will have a conditional period and accompanying dates. If an offer does includes conditions, the conditional date is the date by which the conditions must be fulfilled or waived. A time almost always accompanies the date and in some occasions offers will include more than one conditional date, pertaining to multiple conditions.

Navigating an offer can be daunting, but that is why it is imperative that you have a trusted Realtor® by your side to guide you through it with ease. Our team of trusted agents is here to help; contact us today!