| Tip #14 in our series of 70 ways to save money | | | | back out of the deal, you would end up losing your |
| when buying a house is use a weasel clause to | | | | escrow money. |
| protect yourself. | | | | Another way to get the deal canceled is to say that |
| Even if your lender does not require a pest (termite) | | | | you did not qualify for the loan. Every offer to |
| inspection and the seller says he has never had a | | | | purchase should have the clause that if the buyer |
| problem with insects you should get one done for | | | | does not qualify for the loan, the deal is dead. But if |
| yourself anyway. | | | | you followed our earlier tip about having a |
| If the house has a pest problem, and you do not | | | | pre-approval letter it will not be possible to use the |
| discover it, it could cost you thousands in repairs and | | | | mortgage clause as a weasel clause. So we use the |
| months of agony. Spend a little money now to avoid | | | | pest inspection as the weasel clause. |
| spending a lot later. | | | | Just make sure to leave yourself a backdoor in case |
| A pest inspection is easy to do and relatively cheap. | | | | you need to get away from the deal. Maybe another |
| Just make sure you add a contingency in your offer | | | | house you like better just went up for sale, or you |
| that the offer is only good if you approve of the | | | | decide you do not like the neighborhood after all. |
| findings of the pest inspection. | | | | Whatever the reason, it is always a good thing to |
| Notice the wording of the previous paragraph. It says | | | | have an out, incase you need it. |
| that you will buy the house only if you approve of | | | | The pest inspection makes a great weasel clause. But |
| the findings. It does not say you will buy the house if | | | | even if you do not use it as such, make sure to get |
| there are no termites. This is what we in the | | | | one done before you buy. Getting rid of termites is a |
| business call a weasel clause. It lets you get out of | | | | very annoying and expensive proposition. And not |
| the contract for a stupid reason. | | | | something you want to do for your new house. |
| Even if the pest inspection comes back negative, you | | | | Spend the couple hundreds dollars and get it done. |
| can still say you do not approve of the findings, and | | | | And add it to the offer that you want to have it |
| walk away from the deal. And there is nothing the | | | | done, otherwise the seller does not have to allow |
| seller can do about it. | | | | you to do it. |
| Without this clause, if for some reason you had to | | | | |