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Another New Real Estate Contract Debuts...

I had the good fortune this afternoon to be retained in another Chicago condominium purchase. After an introductory phone conversation, I asked the client to forward his contract for review.

Much to my surprise (and delight) I immediately recognized that the newest local form contract is finally in circulation.

Ladies & Gentlemen of the real estate community, I give you "Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 5.0.

A more complete exploration of the Multi-Board 5.0 form will follow in another post or two.

I know that a lot of realtors do not like the form for its shear heft (14 pages compared to the Chicago Board's 4 pager), but I like this one and encourage everyone to at least give some consideration to "trading up"

These two features alone make it the best available contract for local transactions:
  1. A new font and larger type make this one emminently more readable, even if faxed 3, 4, or 7 times back and forth during negotiations.
  2. The electronic form (5.0e) is based on the Adobe PDF file format. It is easy to navigate from field to field and page to page when making offers or counters. it even allows for easy digital signature (you do have one of those, don't you?)
Oh and substantively, this one solves my most severe criticisms of the 4.0 and prior versions and of the several CAR forms.

A big thank you to the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, the Will County, DuPage County and Northwest Community Bar Association members who draft this gem and to the several local Real Estate Boards that have given it their seal of approval.

Call me if you want to learn more about how 5.0 is going to make your deals work better

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Peter said…
I'll have to put up a review too. Just got our first 5.0 earlier this week too.
August 19, 2009 at 9:26 PM
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