Chapter 7: Contracts and the Statute of Frauds (Mandatory) Contracts are the essential part of all real estate transactions and no real estate can be transferred without the use of a written contract to prevent fraudulent practices and to be enforceable in a court of law. All real estate transactions are subject to the statue of frauds law. The law stems from British common law and was first established in 1677. (This chapter’s primary purpose is the discussion of a basic contract and later on in the course we will add the necessary elements for real estate transactions.) Please outline and briefly discuss the 5 elements of a generic legally binding contract. Which element of the contract do you consider the most important as related to real estate? Justify. What is your opinion of the Statue of Frauds? Does it slow down the contract process?

The five elements of a generic legally binding contract include a legal purpose that typically describes an offer and acceptance as part of the agreement under legal conditions as the deal cannot be considered valid if the status of the proposal is not within the law. Mutual acceptance is another element as a contract ought to be entirely accepted by both the parties engaged in the deal. Also, all the parties must mutual admit that the contract has mutual value and that the amount has a counterpart since the value of any contract is assumed by the contracting party that acknowledges the proposal. The fourth element is voluntary acceptance where every party engaged must embrace the agreement freely, and the offer must be vivid to all parties (Friedman & Lindeman, 2013). The fifth element is competent parties who can hire since restrictions involving age, and physical state is likely to make a contract ineffective.

Among the five elements, a legal purpose is considered the most essential when it comes to real estate since in real estate; this is highlighted by an offer to purchase a given property by a buyer and the acceptance of the proposal by the owner or the seller. On the other hand, according to Friedman, J. P., & Lindeman, J. B. (2013), a statute of frauds describes the requirements that a given kind of contracts is kept alive through writing and be signed by the party to be charged with enough content to evidence the deal. Personally, the statute of frauds slows down the contract process due to the technicalities it is typically associated with thus making the process complicated.

Reference

Friedman, J. P., & Lindeman, J. B. (2013). Dictionary of real estate terms. Barron’s Educational Series.