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so the first thing we're going to talk about is the definition of a contract what's the definition of a contract well the definition is pretty simple it's a voluntary agreement between two or more parties to either perform or not perform and they come to a meeting of the minds regarding the subject matter so what does that mean well it means that the buyer and seller for example agree that once the purchase contracts agree to that both parties are going to perform they're going to follow through with what they said an example of non-performance would be a no compete clause in employment law the employer says i'll hire you but you're going to sign this no compete clause that says that if if you quit then for the next two years after you quit you cannot compete against us so that is where uh the agreement to not do something meaning meeting of the minds that's a term you have to know a meeting of the minds simply means that the buyer and seller have agreed for example to the terms of the contract or the landlord tenant has come to an agreement on the terms of that lease agreement and the subject matter is the reason for the contract okay so that's the definition of a contract now there are two more terms you have to know implied contract and expressed contract now an implied contract simply means that the the terms of the contract or the meeting of the minds have occurred through actions they were not verbally or written it was the act of the parties let me give you a real live example several years ago here in omaha a contractor put up siding on the wrong house and when the owner of that house discovered what was going on the owner did not say anything so by implication the owner agreed for the sighting to go up and when the contractor was done and gave the con the invoice to the owner the owner said no i didn't agree to this so the contractor sued because they said it was an implied contract an express contract is real easy it means expression so the the two parties express their intent now an express contract can be oral or verbal or it can be in writing all right so a purchase contract a lease agreement the landlord tenant they are expressing their intention uh in the contract so the tenant says for 500 bucks a month i'll rent your place and the landlord says great here are the keys now whether that's oral or written the uh they have expressed their intentions and and uh they have agreed to it so an express contract is where the parties express their intentions two more concepts you have to know bilateral and unilateral now bilateral means buy more than one this is where once a contract is agreed to that it is binding the way i remembered the difference is bi bilateral means binding on both parties once it's agreed to common real estate contracts that are bilateral are lease and the purchase contract both of those are examples of bilateral contracts a unilateral means uni or one common contracts that we see in real estate are options and listing contracts now unilateral contracts means that it's binding on one party but not necessarily the other giving example an option contract so the owner is bound under the option contract to not sell the property for a certain period of time however the holder of the option has the option to either exercise the option and purchase the home or when that contract expires says i'm walking away i'm not going to buy it so it's binding on the owner but not the person holding the option so that's why it's unilateral and the same with the listing contract two more concepts executory in exec executed contracts an executory contract means that the terms of the contract are not completed yet give you an example the um the the purchase contract at the point that the buyer and seller agree to the terms and they they sign their name that is a legally binding contract but it hasn't closed yet so that period between contract and close the contract's status is considered executory it the terms have not been completed or fulfilled yet but once closing happens then the contract is executed meaning all the terms of the contract have been completed so that's the difference between those two and the last one i want to talk about is a dual contract simply because the licensing exam folks have been asking this question dual contract means two or more contracts typically it's two and here's what it means so the buyer and seller agree to a purchase price of a hundred thousand dollars and they write up a purchase contract but then they write up a second one for a hundred and twenty five thousand now this contract goes to the lender now the real purchase price is a hundred thousand but the lender believes it's 125 000 because that's the contract that the lender gets this is fraud and it is not legal dual contracts and i point this out because anytime you see dual in a licensing exam question you have to determine whether they're talking about dual contracts or dual agencies which are totally two separate concepts