Give yourself an option

Whoever invented the undo function in computer software is one of my heroes. Think about it: If something doesn't turn out the way you intended, hit Control + Z and-poof-it never happened. There aren't many places in life where you get to undo your actions like that, but the option period in a real estate contract is one of them. It lets you walk away from purchasing property, legally undoing your contract. How do I know? At my REALTOR®'s urging, I purchased an option period in the contract to buy my current home. With three days remaining in that period, my home inspector found a leak in the plumbing system that he couldn't pin to a source. The next day, I had a plumber scour the house. I was ready to exercise my termination option, to undo the contract, if he couldn't figure out what was going on. He eventually located the source: a faulty valve in the sprinkler system. No big deal. The seller fixed it, and I bought the house. If that leak had turned out to be something larger, however, I had the chance to hit Control + Z on the whole deal. That's what the option period is for, and it's right there in your real estate contract.