Vendor

In depth

Vendor is the contract-law term for the seller in a real estate installment contract. The vendor keeps recorded legal title as security and delivers a deed only when the contract is fully paid. The vendor has duties to maintain insurable title, deliver possession, and convey at payoff, plus rights to receive payments and enforce default remedies. Misconception: vendor is not synonymous with grantor; the vendor only becomes a grantor at the moment of conveyance, which may be years after contract signing. Practically, vendors should keep clean records of payments, taxes, and insurance, and avoid encumbering the property in ways that impair their ability to deliver clean title later. Vendors also need to evaluate Dodd-Frank applicability when the vendee is a consumer-occupant.