As real estate agents, it is our duty to understand the contracts we use line for line. If you don’t, you can’t be a good agent, even if you’re great with people and negotiations. Not understanding what the contract actually says can get you AND the clients you represent in a lot of trouble. Not only that but you’ll also lose the respect of an agent who represents the other side.
Obviously studying contracts isn’t exciting work but you’ll thank yourself down the road. These are the three best ways to understand what the contracts we use, say, and mean.
- Read the contract over multiple times. This is the most boring way to learn the contracts but it’s effective. Unfortunately, this won’t be a one-time thing. Most Realtor associations change the contract every year so you’ll want to get into the habit of doing this the first month of every year.
- Go through the contracts with a title attorney. Ask the title attorney at your favorite title company to go over the contracts with you. They are some of the most helpful people in this industry and I guarantee you they’ll be thrilled if you ask them to help you with this.
- Have your principal broker go over it with you. You have a broker for a reason and there’s nothing a broker would enjoy more than helping you understand the contracts. After all, it’ll keep them from getting in trouble too. A great idea is to get your broker to have a title attorney host a class for the entire brokerage one day.
The resources are out there to learn whatever you want as a real estate agent. Take advantage of them for not only you but more importantly for your clients!
