Real Estate Contracts and Contract Law
Formation and the writing requirement
A valid contract needs offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, and legality. Nevada's statute of frauds requires a writing, signed by the party to be charged, for a conveyance of an interest in real property and for leases longer than one year. A counteroffer terminates the original offer; a rejection or a revocation communicated before acceptance does the same. Electronic signatures and records are enforceable.
What the purchase agreement controls
Study the contingencies - financing, appraisal, inspection/due diligence, sale of the buyer's home, and the common-interest-community resale package. Each has a deadline, and missing it usually waives the protection. "Time is of the essence" makes dates enforceable rather than advisory. Earnest money is not what makes the contract binding, but it is the usual measure of the seller's damages under a liquidated-damages clause; Nevada residential practice generally caps that recovery at the deposit.
Nevada wrinkles
For resales of residential property the seller's real property disclosure must be delivered before the buyer signs; if it arrives later, the buyer has a limited statutory right to rescind. "As-is" shifts repair responsibility but does not excuse fraud or a required disclosure. An option gives the holder the right to buy within a set period; a right of first refusal only lets the holder match someone else's offer.
Rule of thumb: read every contract question as a timeline - offer, acceptance, each contingency deadline, closing. Most wrong answers fail on timing, not vocabulary.