Clear, mutually-acceptable agreements are an essential component of the legal transference of ownership. In the practice of real estate, contracts are the instruments used to describe and record the agreements surrounding the conveyance of property. Some type of contract is nearly always involved, whether a salesperson is promising to sell a property within a specified period of time, a prospective buyer is placing an offer on a house or a seller is considering an offer on property. Before entering into a legally binding agreement, real estate professionals must fully understand the contracts that govern their industry. Failure to understand contracts opens a licensee to various kinds of liability and can seriously damage ones professional reputation. Therefore, it is vital that real estate professionals learn this material so that they can protect themselves against errors, oversights and misunderstandings. In this module you will learn about the types of general contracts as well as the different kinds of real estate contracts. The module provides the student with an overview of the various types of contracts: bilateral, unilateral, implied, express, executed, executory, valid, void, voidable and unenforceable. Once the student is introduced to the different types of contracts, he or she learns what makes a contract legally enforceable, this being the five components that make a contract valid: mutual assent, legally competent parties, consideration, lawful objective and adherence to a statute of frauds. This module includes the following lessons:Types of Contracts Features of a Legally Valid Contract Contract Fulfillment Real Estate ContractsThe fifth and concluding lesson in this module presents real-world dilemmas and concrete applications of the information presented in the rest of the course. As the student completes this module, he or she should try to develop a broad picture of environmental issues and how they fit into the larger practice of real estate; the last lesson will help with this project by presenting comprehensive content questions, practice problems and case studies.
