Real Estate Two70

Reading an offer

A real RE-21, filled out end to end, on a deal that is not as good as it looks. Read it the way you would read one that landed in your inbox on a Tuesday.

The names are jokes. The problems are not. Everything flagged below is something that would actually cost somebody, and all of it is visible on the face of the contract if you know where to look.

Open the filled contract, all 10 pages PDF, opens in a new tab. Print it and mark it up.
Property
88 Termite Trail, Rexburg, Madison County, Lot 17 Block 13, Termite Hills Subdivision
Buyers
Chip Lowballer and Gloria Lowballer
Listing side
Nancy Nondisclose, Spitewell Real Estate
Our side
Rick Robinson, Real Estate Two70, for the buyers
Price
$429,000, conventional
Accepted
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Closing
Monday, September 21, 2026
The wall
Monday, September 14, 2026
First read

What is actually being offered

2 and 3The money
$429,000  ·  $1,000 earnest  ·  $334,000 loan  ·  $94,000 at closing
The arithmetic balances: 1,000 plus 334,000 plus 0 plus 94,000 is exactly 429,000, which is what Section 3 requires.
The earnest money is 0.23 percent of the price. On a $429,000 house the buyers have put up less than the cost of the inspection they are about to order. Section 34 makes that deposit the seller's liquidated damages if the buyers walk, so this is what the seller is protected by. Not much.
2 and 5The contingency that runs the deal
Yes, contingent on the sale of another property
Section 2's checkbox is Yes, and Section 5 explains it: contingent on the sale of the buyers' home in the Broken Promises Condo development, with the note that they have two potential buyers lined up.
Two potential buyers is not a contract. Nothing in Section 5 names a deadline for that sale, so the only date governing it is the Section 4 wall on September 14. If that condo is not sold by then, the contingency is waived and the earnest money goes nonrefundable while the buyers still cannot close.
3(C)The loan
$334,000 conventional, not to exceed 7 percent, 30 years, fixed, buyer has applied
The rate is written as a ceiling, which is correct. Has applied is checked, so the lender has been engaged.
19 and 20What the seller is being asked to pay
3 percent seller concession  ·  3 percent to the selling brokerage
On $429,000 the concession alone is about $12,870.
Add the concession to the compensation and the seller is being asked for roughly 6 percent of the price on top of a full price reduction from list, from a buyer who has $1,000 at risk and a condo that has not sold. That is the whole offer in one sentence, and it is the sentence you say to your seller.
Second read

Every date this offer creates

Counted from acceptance on Tuesday August 18, under the Section 31 rules. Labor Day, Monday September 7, falls inside this window and is not a business day.

Thu, Aug 20
Seller has utilities on for the inspection. Section 12(A), 2 business days.
Tue, Aug 25
Earnest money delivered. Section 3(A), and note they wrote 5 rather than taking the printed 3.
Wed, Aug 26
Preliminary title commitment and CC and Rs furnished. Section 11(A), 6 business days.
Tue, Sep 1
Buyer's inspection notice due, and lender approval due the same day. Sections 12(B)(1) and 3(C), both 10 business days.
Mon, Sep 14
Every contingency dies, including the condo sale. Section 4, 7 calendar days before closing.
Wed, Sep 16
Final walk through. Section 24, 3 business days before closing.
Mon, Sep 21
Closing.
Thirteen days separate the inspection notice from the wall, and the condo has to sell in that window or the buyers are committed with a nonrefundable deposit and no way to fund. Nobody wrote a deadline for the condo anywhere, which is exactly why Section 4 exists.
Page 1

Parties, price, and the money

Line 7Responsible Broker
Rick Robinson
Filled in, which is the point. This is the line that sits alone with no section number and gets skipped constantly.
1Buyer and property
Chip Lowballer and Gloria Lowballer  ·  88 Termite Trail, Rexburg, Madison, 83440
Legal description typed into the form as Lot 17, Block 13, Termite Hills Subdivision rather than attached, so the exhibit blank is correctly n/a.
3(A)The four earnest money columns
Wire  ·  Closing Company  ·  within 5 business days  ·  upon receipt and acceptance
All four answered, which is more than most contracts manage. Held by the closing company, so the money never touches the brokerage.
3(B)All cash
No
Financed, so 3(C) carries a real number and 3(D) is n/a.
Page 2

The wall, the terms, and what conveys

4Contingency deadline
7 calendar days  ·  exception line: n/a
The printed default, written in rather than left blank. September 14.
The exception line is where the condo sale contingency could have been carved out of the wall, and it says n/a. So the wall applies to it.
6(A) and 6(B)What stays
Included: range and oven, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator  ·  Excluded: seller's personal property
The refrigerator is written in, which is right, because a freestanding one is not an attached fixture and does not convey on its own.
Seller's personal property as an exclusion is doing no work. Section 41 already requires the seller to remove everything not transferred. A useful exclusion names the thing: the chandelier, the mounted television, the shed.
Pages 3 and 4

Title and inspection

11(A)Title windows
6  ·  2  ·  2  ·  2  ·  Flying S Title and Escrow, 535 First American Circle, Rexburg
All four windows written in at the printed defaults, and the title company named with its address.
Two business days to object to the title commitment and the CC and Rs. On a subdivision lot, tell the buyers before it arrives what to look for, because they will not open the PDF otherwise.
12(B)Inspection
10 business days primary  ·  all five reserved inspections n/a
Ten rather than the printed five, which is the right instinct. The reserved lines are n/a because this is a subdivision lot on city services, with no well, septic or survey question.
12(C)The response chain
3  ·  3
Seller responds in 3, buyer then has 3 to obtain a modification, proceed, or terminate.
Pages 5 and 6

The association, and the costs

18Homeowner association
Dues $57.00 per month  ·  transfer fee $5,612.00
Both figures written in rather than estimated, which matters because Section 18 makes the seller pay anything above what is stated here.
A $5,612 transfer fee against $57 a month dues is worth a phone call to the management company before anyone signs. If that number is wrong on the high side the seller has agreed to it anyway. If it is wrong on the low side the seller pays the difference.
19Costs and the repair line
Grid answered throughout  ·  concession 3 percent  ·  lender required repairs: n/a
The cost grid is filled row by row, which is the part most agents skip.
The lender repair line reads n/a. That line's printed default is $0, a quantity rather than an absence, so n/a there is claiming lender required repairs do not apply to a financed purchase. On a conventional loan with an appraisal still to come, write a number, even if the number is zero on purpose.
Pages 8 and 9

Agency, closing, and the two blanks with no default

39Representation
One box checked on each side
Different brokerages on each side, so each is an agent for its own client. Section 39 confirms what the signed paperwork already established.
40Closing
September 21, 2026  ·  Flying S Title and Escrow, 535 First American Circle, Rexburg  ·  long term escrow n/a
Date filled, company and address filled, and the closing company matches the title company named in 11(B).
42 and 43Possession and prorations
Both n/a
Prorations survives this, because Section 43 carries a printed default of upon closing.
Section 42 does not have a default. Possession is the one place on this form where writing n/a is worse than writing nothing, because it states affirmatively that possession does not apply to a sale where somebody has to get the keys. Check upon closing, or give a date, a time, and A.M. or P.M.
49Acceptance deadline
August 19, 2026 at 10:00
The next morning, which is a tight and deliberate window.
The A.M. or P.M. box decides whether the seller has fourteen hours or twenty six. On a deadline this short that is the whole question, and it is one checkbox.

Teaching example. The parties, property and figures are invented for training. This walkthrough describes an offer written on the Idaho REALTORS RE-21; the form itself controls, and this does not replace it. Legal questions go to the client's attorney.

Checked against the March 2026 edition on August 18, 2026.

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