for a valid contract, in general, to exist there must be 3 elements present: 1) offer (by one party to another party; 2) acceptance (of the non-offering party); and 3) consideration (some time of monetary value or other type of value that will be exchanged for the inducement of the parties to contract). Conversely, a real estate contract requires at least 5 elements for a valid real estate contract to exist: 1) legal capacity of the parties; 2) mutual agreement; 3) consideration; 4) lawful purpose; and 5) written agreement.

In the case of a contract in general, all requirements must be present and there is no way to salvage the contract if all 3 requirements are not present. E.g. if there is an offer by Allen to contract to buy widgets from Barry for $30 and Barry decides that he will only sell his widgets if Allen pays $35, then there is no contract. Barry's response of $35 for sale of his widgets acts as a counteroffer in that scenario. However, if Allen agrees to pay the $35 and Barry accepts, then a new contract has been entered into between the parties.

Conversely, if all 5 requirements of a real estate contract are not present; the contract to purchase real estate is invalid and unenforceable. Discuss whether or not there is any way to salvage the real estate contract that does not have all 5 requirements present. You will need to go to your Chapter 6 to really get into a discussion and come up with the correct answer. I'm interested in your thought process so answering by a mere yes or no will not suffice. Good luck with the discussion.