Realty Speaking! Inspections

Besides appraisal and the termite inspection, you should also have a professional go through the house and seek out potential problems. Of course, you will have inspected the home, but you are not used to looking at some things that a professional will find. Even if they are not things the seller is expected to repair, at least you will have foreknowledge of any potential problems.
You will want to allow yourself enough time so that once you receive the inspection, you will have sufficient time to review and approve the report. If you do not approve the report, you may negotiate with the sellers on which repairs should be performed and who should pay for those repairs. Otherwise, you can cancel the purchase without losing your “Earnest Money”, provided you have included a “Termination Option”. This gives you the unrestricted right to terminate the contract by giving notice to the seller within a stated number of days.
Before closing, you will want to revisit the property to ensure it is in the condition you have required in your offer, and to inspect that any required repairs have been performed. The contract provides that the seller will deliver possession of the property to you in the same condition as on the date you executed the contract, ordinary wear & tear excepted, and subject to any agreed repairs being completed. You should do this “Final Walk Thru” no sooner than five days before you intend to close.

Realty Speaking! Different Types of Listings

There are different types of listing contracts, but very few of them are used. The "open listing" is mostly used by people trying to sell their home by owner who are also willing to work with real estate agents. If their client buys your home, the agent earns a commission. There is nothing exclusive about an open listing. For that reason, no agent is going to market your home or put it in the MLS.

"An exclusive agency listing" allows an agent to list and market your home, guaranteeing them a commission if the house sells through any real estate agent or company. It also allows sellers to seek out buyers on their own. There is not much incentive for agents to spend money marketing and a good agent would never accept such a listing.

A " One Time Show" is similar to an open listing in many respects, as it is most often used by real estate agents who are showing a FSBO ( for sale by owner) to one of their cients. As with an open listing, agents will not be spending money on marketing your home and it will not be placed in the Multiple Listing System.

Giving a real estate agent the "exclusive right to sell" your property does not mean that there will not be other agents involved. An "exclusive right to sell" is the only type of listing an effective agent will accept. This is because they have a reasonable expectation of earning back any money they spend on promoting and marketing your property.