Definition of "Duress"
Act of forcing an individual or business to do something against their will. It is a legitimate defense in court to reserve the effect of the compelled act.
Popular Real Estate Terms
The assessment sales ratio is a way of measuring the accuracy of a property’s assessed value when compared to the property’s selling price. This measurement gives the ...
Contractual provision allowing an individual or business to renege on a commitment in certain cases without being penalized. ...
A married partner. Property may be jointly held by spouses. ...
High quality, premium wood to be used in construction such as for home building. ...
If escrow is the legal “moment” where assets are held by a third party (an escrow agent) hired by both the buyer and the seller of goods like real estate and insurance until the ...
Sale that is finalized only in the case of a particular occurrence or eventuality. ...
Revocation comes from the verb "to revoke", which means to take back the validity of something. The definition of revocation is detrimental to contract law. It gives the person making the ...
Governmental body having the responsibility for planning the future development of a jurisdictional area. A planning commission is responsible for developing and managing a zoning ordinance ...
Present worth of the property which is different than the price paid for it or its book value (cost less accumulated depreciation). The current value may be determined through appraisal. ...
Comments for Duress
I would like to know why a law does not exist that forces real estate agents to say to vendors to take sale contract home or to their lawyers to verify. They always place contracts in front of people and point a finger to the signatory spor and say "sign here". I once said "I need to take contract home to think about it" and the agent immediately said "No, you can't, the purchaser will place an offer elsewhere". Is this action not considered duress. They are pushy and play on people's emotions.
Aug 20, 2019 23:25:44Hello! Thank you for bringing up this issue. There must be clients who have the same question. However, the answer is quite simple. Don't go alone! Whenever you have to sign a contract, ask a professional to join you - ideally, a lawyer. There is a lot of jargon and many real estate terms that you may not fully understand. If you want to study the contract, I'm sure that nobody would mind if you actually took the time to read it. If they didn't feel comfortable with this, then it would be a good idea to leave and do business with somebody else. Contracts are very powerful documents and both parties must know exactly what they are getting themselves into. As for the fact that agents play on people's emotions, this is true for all businesses. Emotions are the essence of marketing.
Aug 26, 2019 16:14:05Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.