Pleae teach me contract law

General Real Estate Investing
1

Dave mentioned in a previous post something about contract law. I’m not sure if I know any contract law or not. What is contract law? I know…laws regarding a contract, but what exactly?

Thanks,
Bighat

…no cattle

2

Keith Hastedt wrote an excellent post about contract law.
Maybe he’ll repost it here.
There’s a few elements to contracts in general:
Parties capable of entering into an agreement.
An agreement, either oral or written. All RE must be written.
Consideration (something of value)

Contracts may be unilateral or bilateral in nature. An example of a Unilateral Contract is an insurance policy. Take it or leave it on their terms.
Bilateral may be negotiated, like real estate agreements. There’s a give and take before a meeting of the minds.

It’s my belief that he who writes the agreement wields the power. Although bilateral,I like to give the appearance that my agreements are unilateral. The only thing to negotiate is price. This is an extremely short answer on a long topic. I’d learn as much as possible about contracts and the use of addendums; the knowledge will serve you well.
Regards,
Dave

3

Thanks for the answer, Dave.

Where do I learn about this? As I told you the othere day, I’ve been buying and selling for a few years. I usually fill out a TREC residential contract for properties that I buy.

Bighat

4

I’d just google contract law, elements of a contract and other relevant phrases and read everything that come up.
Regards,
Dave

5

Actually, that’s not quite right about a unilateral or bilateral contract. A bilateral contract is any contract where both parties have obligations, which is almost every contract. A unilateral contract is a contract where only one party has an obligation to do anything, like an option to purchase real estate.

A “take it or leave it” contract is a “contract of adhesion.”

Most contract can be boiled down to a few core principles:

Offer and Acceptance
Consideration (both parties bargain for, and receive, something of value)
Certain formalities (like any contract involving real estate must be in writing)

There’s obviously a lot more to it than that, but that’s a basic overview.

6

hey bighat,

depending what state you’re in. contracts are different in each state. pay for real estate classes on contracts in your area. the classes are priceless.

git er dun

7

Thanks for the info. I’m sure going to look for a class at the local college.

thanks

bighat