The Compound Effect of Going First

An addendum is a short document, signed by both parties, that changes or corrects an agreement they have already signed. It is the ordinary tool for fixing a mistake in an offer to purchase, and whoever reaches for it first usually decides how the mistake is remembered.

Take a property description that gives the wrong erf number, the neighbouring stand instead of the one being sold. Someone will notice, because the conveyancer has to match the description against the title deed before anything is lodged. The only open question is who tells the buyer and seller.

If the conveyancer raises it, the parties hear about the error from a stranger and start wondering what else in the file was done carelessly. If the agent who drafted the offer phones them the same day, explains plainly and sends the addendum for signature, the error becomes a correction. The first route saves some pride for a few days. The second keeps trust, which is far harder to rebuild than pride.

Property paperwork passes through so many checkpoints, from the bank's attorneys to the examiners at the deeds office, that errors nearly always surface in the end. Hiding them is rarely an option. Being the one who announces them is.