Contracts, Purchase Agreements, and Contingencies
Formation and Virginia wrinkles
A valid contract needs offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, and legality, and must satisfy the statute of frauds-in writing and signed by the party to be charged, including leases longer than one year. Virginia purchase agreements are commonly written on Virginia REALTORS® forms, but the exam tests concepts, not form numbers.
Mandated disclosures and rescission rights
Virginia is a caveat-emptor state softened by statute. The Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act requires the seller to deliver a disclosure statement or a disclaimer; it is not a warranty of condition. The Property Owners' Association Act gives a buyer a short cancellation window after receiving the resale disclosure packet (three days if hand-delivered or delivered electronically, six days if mailed), and the Condominium Act gives a comparable three-day right after the resale certificate. Federal lead-based paint disclosure for pre-1978 housing adds a 10-day inspection opportunity.
Contingencies
Financing, appraisal, home inspection, sale-of-buyer's-home, and document-review contingencies shift risk and create deadlines. A contingency is a condition, not a promise-miss the deadline and the right disappears, though the contract does not automatically.
Traps
Assuming Virginia gives every buyer a three-day "cooling off" (it does not); treating the seller disclosure as a guarantee; starting the POA or condo cancellation clock at signing instead of receipt; confusing a final walk-through with an inspection contingency.
Rule of thumb
Deposit, deadlines, disclosures: money goes into trust, every deadline is written, and each disclosure runs its own clock.