Important Real Estate Documents Every VA Should Understand

PART 2: IMPORTANT REAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS EVERY VA SHOULD UNDERSTAND

There are many documents involved in real estate transactions.

The exact documents you encounter will depend on factors such as:

• The type of real estate your client handles
• Whether the transaction is residential or commercial
• Whether you are supporting the buyer or seller
• The state in which the property is located

A VA supporting residential transactions may encounter different documents from someone supporting commercial real estate.

Forms may also differ from one state to another because different states have their own regulations, associations and requirements.

For example, the training refers to California forms and explains that agents working in other states may use different forms.

Although the names or structure may vary, there are common types of documents you should understand.

1. Residential Listing Agreement

A Residential Listing Agreement is an agreement between a property seller and a real estate agent.

It allows the agent to represent the seller in selling the property.

The document may contain information such as:

• Seller information
• Property information
• Listing terms
• Agreement dates
• Other terms relating to the listing

Your role as a VA

Once the signed listing agreement is received, your responsibilities may include:

• Creating the client's folder
• Saving the completed agreement
• Organising transaction documents
• Updating the CRM
• Updating the database
• Recording important dates
• Beginning any required deadline tracking

Once that signed agreement arrives, the administrative side of the transaction begins moving.

2. Residential Purchase Agreement

A Residential Purchase Agreement is generally connected to the buyer's offer to purchase a property.

It may contain:

• Buyer information
• Purchase price
• Closing terms
• Conditions of the purchase
• Important dates
• Contingencies

Your role as a VA

You may be responsible for:

• Organising the signed agreement
• Monitoring documents sent for signatures
• Checking that required signatures have been completed
• Creating the transaction folder
• Recording important dates
• Tracking deadlines
• Making sure documents remain accessible to the team

Your responsibility is not necessarily to decide what should be written into the agreement.

Your responsibility is to help make sure the administrative process around the agreement remains organised.

3. Seller Disclosures

Seller disclosures provide information about the condition and history of the property.

They may contain details such as:

• Known property issues
• Previous repairs
• Property history
• Other information the seller is required to disclose

Your role as a VA

You may help by:

• Tracking whether disclosure forms have been completed
• Following up when forms remain outstanding
• Checking whether required sections have been completed
• Organising completed documents
• Saving files in the correct transaction folder
• Alerting the team when documents are missing

The goal is to ensure that the administrative side of the disclosure process does not fall through the cracks.

4. Inspection Report

Once an inspection has been completed, an inspection report is produced.

The report records findings relating to the condition of the property.

As a VA, you may need to:

• Save the inspection report
• Review it for important information relevant to your administrative responsibilities
• Flag important findings to the agent
• Keep the report organised
• Track repair discussions
• Update the transaction record
• Help coordinate communication between the relevant parties

Think of yourself as another set of eyes helping the agent stay organised.

Agents can have many things happening at the same time.

Part of your value is helping make sure important information is noticed and followed up.

5. Appraisal Report

The appraisal report provides the estimated value of the property.

Using the example from the training:

A property is under contract for:

$1,000,000

The appraisal returns at:

$980,000

There is now a:

$20,000 difference

The parties involved may need to decide how to address that difference.

Depending on the situation, this could involve further discussions or another appraisal.

Your role as a VA

You may need to:

• Monitor when the appraisal is completed
• Save the appraisal report
• Check that the team receives the update
• Flag important discrepancies
• Update the transaction record
• Keep internal communication organised

Again, the VA is not necessarily the person deciding how the issue should be resolved.

Your role is to make sure the right information reaches the right people and that the transaction remains organised.