As real estate lawyers in Ohio, to protect the buyer, we look closely at the terms of the draft version of the contract and what is in the contract in terms of protections for the buyer. Their are important contract considerations for buyers of Ohio real estate.
Inspection provisions
One important provision relates to the inspection of the property. Many developers don’t want the buyer to have their own inspectors to be able to come out on to the property. So, we typically insist that the buyers be allowed to have their own inspectors, for example an architect and engineer, to ensure that everything has been done according to the strict requirements of the deal.
If the buyer inspects the property as it is in the process of being built, they can prevent the creation of a major construction defect before it gets worse. We tell our buyers that they want to regularly inspect the property during development. For example, you want to be there to make sure they are putting the wall in the right place because if they are not, when the project is complete, it is going to be very difficult to correct the placement of that wall.
We often get pushback from the builders because they don’t want the buyer looking over their shoulder during construction. But as a buyer, this is in your best interest, and we do what we can to ensure that you have the ability to do that.
Title insurance and liens
We also look at the title insurance documents. We want to be sure there are no liens being placed on the property or any deed restrictions. We specifically focus on the sections that are related to ensuring that the contractors to take steps to avoid any liens on the property.
As your lawyers, we are trying to ensure that the buyer’s final product is exactly as described in the contract and project specifications.