You’re not “buying” anything just yet. You have a certain time period where you can walk away from an offer with nothing lost other than your time. An “offer” in CA is worth the paper it’s written on and no more.
Your broker fills out a standard form and 3-4 addenda, you sign, send proof of funds/proof of mortgage approval, and the seller either accepts or declines. You then have a certain time period written into the offer to do due diligence, waive contingencies, and put a deposit down.
This is less true on the East Coast, but in CA, people seem to throw out 20 offers on short sales in a month and see what sticks.
O’ya, and check the HOA financials and meeting minutes really carefully. If those can’t be provided and/or there’s a history of random special assessments, run screaming. Don’t walk.
