Reading a purchase contract: the four clauses that bite

Real estate contracts are long, but the trouble concentrates in four places. The financing contingency: check the deadline and what happens if your loan terms change, not just whether you are approved. The inspection clause: know whether you can negotiate repairs, walk away, or both, and by what date. Title exceptions: the deed you receive is subject to whatever the title commitment lists, so read Schedule B rather than skimming it, because easements and restrictions live there. And default remedies: understand what happens to your earnest money and whether the seller can force the sale. Every one of these is negotiable before signing and nearly immovable after. An hour of review before you sign costs a fraction of what any one of these clauses costs when it fires.