Category: Real Estate Contracts

Liquidated damages are an agreed-upon amount of damages or an agreed-upon way of calculating damages that will be used if there is a breach of contract. Typically, the liquidated damages available to a seller in a real estate transaction is the buyer’s escrow deposit. Liquidated damages provisions may not be enforceable if any of the…

Rescinding a Florida real estate contract means that the contract is cancelled, and it is as if no contract existed. In law, a rescinded contract is a contract that has “no force and effect from the beginning.” Borck v. Holewinski, 459 So.2d 405, 405 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). Mutual rescission – Buyer and seller may…

The “AS IS” Residential Contract For Sale and Purchase (the “Contract”) is the most common contract used in the state of Florida for residential real estate transactions. It was developed over many years by a joint committee of the Florida Realtors (formerly the Florida Association of Realtors) and the Florida Bar. The Contract does not…

There are standard residential real estate contracts used throughout the state of Florida. Which contract you use will largely depend on the county where the property is located. The standard contract forms used throughout the state along with the counties where they are used are as follows: Standard Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase and…

If you are selling real estate in Florida, then you may be receiving several offers at once. None of the offers may be at the price you want, so you may want to counter the offers. But can you counter more than one offer at once? The answer is yes, but it is not advisable.…

A counteroffer is a rejection and counter of the original offer. To accept a counteroffer, you must accept each term of the counteroffer in writing before the counteroffer expires. You must be very careful when accepting a counteroffer because you need to initial or sign all material terms of the counteroffer for the counteroffer to…

To make an offer, you usually sign a contract that will be sent to the seller or seller’s real estate agent for the seller to consider. The offer is good for a limited time identified in the contract. The seller can accept, reject, or counter your offer. If you are working with a real estate…

Let’s say you make a $500,000 offer on a home in Florida and you provide the owner three days to accept the offer. Before the owner accepts, you change your mind. Are you able to withdraw the offer? Yes. You can withdraw an offer at any time before the other party accepts the offer. You…

A real estate contract in Florida is considered to be so important that it is required to be in writing for it to be legally binding and it must comply with the Statute of Frauds. There are limited exceptions to the writing requirement. The Statute of Frauds requires certain contracts to be in writing and…

Real estate contracts are required to be in writing, but there are exceptions where a verbal real estate contract could be binding. But first, for a verbal contract to have a chance at being binding in Florida, it must have all the elements of an enforceable contract: (1) Offer – A buyer must make a…