THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF REAL ESTATE IN FLORIDA:

THE CONTRACT:
The real estate sales transaction begins with the offer. The offer is generally made in the form of a real estate purchase and sale contract signed by the party presenting it for the other's consideration. A real estate purchase and sales transaction must be in writing to be enforceable. Any document that names the parties to the transaction, identifies the property, and states the price will suffice as a real estate purchase and sales contract. There are, however, two contracts that are widely used. The first is the FAR/BAR contract which is created jointly by the Florida Bar and the Florida Association of Realtors.The FAR/BAR contact should bear a blue imprint of the state of Florida. The second contract, more widely used in Broward County, Florida is created by the Realtors Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale and the Broward County Bar Association. This contract should bear the names of the aforesaid associations in red ink diagonally across the front. Review the legends for authenticity before assuming that the contract you are signing is a "standard" contract. There has been at least one instance in the author's experience of persons attempting to use contracts "forged" to look like these contracts, but with very different terms. The best practice is to review any contract word for word. If you do not care to do this, you may assign the task to your real estate attorney.

Two important points to be aware of at this stage are first that every term of the contract is negotiable and second that once the contract is signed by both parties its terms generally will be enforced no matter how unfair. So have your attorney review the terms before the contact is fully executed. One way to allow for this is to add to a contract "subject to attorney review."

Note that if the other party makes a change to the "contract," signs it and returns it to you, it is still an "offer " and not a contract. You may accept the offer by signing it without alteration, or make additional changes and return your "counter-offer" back to the other party. It only becomes a contract when the party receiving the offer signs without making any changes.
Be sure to date and initial all changes, and if the "contract" becomes confusing because of numerous changes, start over with a fresh one.
The contract controls how the transaction occurs so it is very important that there is no confusion as to what the parties agreed to [..cont..]