Definition of "Duress"

Glory Bee Costa real estate agent

Written by

Glory Bee Costaelite badge icon

Keller Williams Select Realtors

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.

Comments for Duress

Grace Grace said:

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  23:25:44

 
Real Estate Agent

Hello! 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  16:14:05
 
 
image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

The term assessed value is used to define the dollar value of a property for the applicable taxes. The evaluator, a tax assessor, determines the property’s assessed value for tax ...

Geographical area for which a given governmental agency has authority and responsibility. For example, the jurisdiction of a county court is the county in which it is located. ...

Provision in a credit contract specifying that if the lender sues the borrower for late payments, the borrower accepts guilt in advance, irrespective of the reason for nonpayment. ...

A building having one house hold on the first floor and a second household on the second floor. ...

Loan such as a mortgage that the borrower has consistently made payments on when due over many years. The borrower has proven his creditor worthiness. ...

Person providing advice for compensation about real estate. ...

Money set aside for a possible loss, such as from a fire. ...

A two-by-four used for wall resilience and partitioning. Studs rest on it. ...

In conducting a real estate transaction, each party is presumed honest and fair with no deceit. The intentions are honorable and realistic. If deception occurs without prior knowledge, the ...

Popular Real Estate Questions