Contract Question of the Week: Inspection Period Length

It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s buyers or sellers, first-time homeowners or seasoned investors. When it comes to the Residential Resale Purchase Contract, we tend to get the same questions over and over.

So I thought I’d share some of the more common questions here. My intent is to have a “Weekly Contract Question” but I have to be admit that it’ll probably wind up just like my “Pic of the Week” idea did. That being instead of appearing weekly, it winds up being every 2 days to 2 months, depending on the direction the wind is blowing…

Here is this “weeks” question:

Question: How long does the Arizona Residential Resale contract allow for an inspection period?

Answer: The “boilerplate” language (see below) in the standard Arizona Residential Resale contract allows for a 10 day inspection period. (FYI, Commercial transactions typically have a 30 day “due diligence period”) However, there is an area in the boilerplate language where a longer or shorter inspection period can be written into the contract.

As with any other contract provision, the terms must be agreed to by all the parties involved. So if a buyer requests a 15 day inspection period, the seller has the right to decline the offer, accept it with the 15 day inspection period, or counter the offer with changed provisions.

Likewise, just because the boilerplate language has a 10 day inspection period, that doesn’t mean that any party is required to accept that boilerplate language.

Actual AZ Residential Resale Purchase Contract verbiage: (click image to enlarge)

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