Should I be happy with a verbal agreement?

morris659 · Apprentice Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 1

Hi! I was living with my wife for couple of months in my parents' house. Now we have managed to gather enough money for buying a house which will be only ours. We were looking for the perfect house for long time and we finally found it. It is a beautiful house with plenty of room and the price is reasonable. I talked with the seller of that house and we had some kind of verbal agreement. I would like to know your opinion about this matter, should I be happy with a verbal agreement or should I insist on some kind of written contract?

kalindi · Apprentice Joined: 14 May 2010 Posts: 1

Finding the house of your dreams is sometimes as hard as gathering money for purchasing it. People usually rely too much on the verbal agreement but they shouldn’t. Verbal agreement which is usually done with the handshake is a long standing way of doing business but maybe in some rural places. In the real estate business there are some other rules. There is a basic saying in real estate, if it is not in writing, it was never said. You shouldn’t believe anyone in real estate business verbally. You will maybe have enough luck if you find some decent seller but this is less possible. An attorney would probably tell you all this too and I recommend written agreement.