25th Anniversary of Arizona Association of REALTORS® (“AAR”) Residential Purchase Contractact

The original AAR residential purchase contract from the 1970s was a one-page front and back document. The only addendum to this AAR residential purchase contract was a financing addendum. Not only were there no other addendums, but there was no Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement or any other standard real estate form used in most Arizona residential real estate transactions today.

Therefore, in order to meet the demands of an expanding residential real estate market, in 1993 the AAR formed a committee to develop a new residential purchase contract.  Our law firm was appointed to be this committee’s legal counsel. This committee included not only REALTORS®, but representatives from title companies and from mortgage companies. The committee consulted with lawyers and REALTORS® in Arizona and other states, and reviewed standard residential purchase contracts used in other states. The committee then developed an eight-page AAR residential purchase contract similar in format to the current ten-page AAR residential purchase contract that is used in more than 90% of residential transactions in Arizona.

After sending a draft of the proposed new eight-page AAR residential purchase contract to REALTORS® in Arizona for comments, many REALTORS® in Arizona were strongly opposed because “it was making things too complicated.” Therefore, the committee went on a statewide tour to Lake Havasu, Flagstaff, Tucson, and Show Low to successfully explain to REALTORS® throughout Arizona the benefits of the new eight-page AAR residential purchase contract. Although there have been several revisions since 1993, including the current February 2017 revision to the AAR residential purchase contract, none of these revisions has been as significant as the 1993 revision from a one-page residential purchase contract to an eight-page residential purchase contract. Happy 25th Anniversary!