Does a Real Estate Purchase Agreement Need to Be Notarized?

Usually not. Most states don’t require a notary on the purchase agreement itself. The deed is different, and you’ll need a notary on it before the county will record it at closing.

Who Writes the Purchase Agreement, the Buyer or the Seller?

The buyer usually writes it. In agent deals, the buyer’s agent drafts the offer on the state form. In direct deals, the investor brings the contract to the seller.

Can a Seller Back Out of a Purchase Agreement?

Only if the contract gives them a way out. Sellers have fewer exits than buyers, and a seller who walks without cause can face a lawsuit to force the sale.

How Much Earnest Money Should I Put Down?

No fixed amount applies. You and the seller negotiate it based on the price, the market, and the competition. Put your terms for holding and refunding the deposit in writing.

Is a Real Estate Purchase Agreement the Same as a Contract of Sale?

Yes. A purchase agreement, contract of sale, purchase and sale agreement, and contract to purchase real estate all describe the same document between a buyer and a seller.

Real Estate Purchase Agreement Template (Free Download)

A real estate purchase agreement template is a fill-in-the-blank contract that sets the price, terms, and closing conditions between a buyer and a seller. You can download ours free below in PDF and Word, then fill it in with the seller in one sitting.

Whether you’re buying a rental, a flip, or wholesaling real estate, this is the document that locks up the deal. A handshake doesn’t hold a property. A signed real estate purchase contract does.

The template gets you most of the way. The rest comes from knowing which clauses to add and who has to sign, and I cover both below.

Download Our Free Real Estate Purchase Agreement Template

Our free real estate purchase agreement template covers a residential sale of one to four units, paid in cash or with a loan. It comes as a printable real estate purchase contract PDF, so you can type it up at your desk or fill it in by hand at the seller’s kitchen table.

How to Use the Template

Before you fill in anything, talk to the seller. I go through my questions to ask motivated sellers first, because the answers tell me which contingencies I’ll need and how fast I can close.

Then work through the form in this order:

Parties. Write the full legal names of every seller on title and the buyer. If you’re buying through a company, use the company’s exact name.
Property. Add the street address and the legal description. Copy the legal description from the deed or the county record, not from a listing site.
Price and earnest money. Enter the purchase price, the deposit amount, and who will hold the deposit.
Financing. Check cash or financed. If you’re using a loan, write the loan type and your deadline for approval.
Contingencies. Pick the ones you need and give each one a deadline in days.
Closing. Set the closing date and name the title company or closing attorney.
Disclosures. Attach the seller disclosure form your state uses, plus the lead paint form for older homes.
Signatures. Every party signs and dates the contract. Give each person a copy the same day.

Blank lines cause fights later. If a section doesn’t apply, write “N/A” instead of leaving it empty.

What Is a Purchase Contract in Real Estate?

A purchase contract in real estate is a written agreement in which a seller agrees to sell a property and a buyer agrees to buy it at a set price, on set terms, by a set date. It covers everything that happens between the handshake and the closing table.

People call it by a lot of names. You’ll hear purchase and sale agreement (PSA), contract to purchase real estate, contract for purchase of real estate, buy-sell agreement, or sales contract. The name changes by state and by habit. The job stays the same.

Is a Purchase Contract the Same as a Purchase Agreement?

Yes. A real estate purchase contract and a purchase agreement are the same document. Your title company won’t care which label sits at the top of your form.

What the contract doesn’t do is transfer ownership. The deed does that. The contract sets the rules until closing, and at closing the seller signs the deed over to you.

What Should a Real Estate Purchase Agreement Include?

A real estate purchase agreement should name the parties, describe the property, set the price and payment terms, list the contingencies, fix a closing date, and attach the disclosures your state requires. Here’s what each piece does.

Clause	What It Covers
Parties	Legal names of buyer and seller
Property	Address and legal description
Purchase price	Total price and how you’ll pay
Earnest money	Deposit amount and who holds it
Financing	Cash or loan, plus approval deadline
Contingencies	Conditions that let you cancel
Closing date	When the deal closes
Title and closing costs	Who pays for what
Possession	When you get the keys
Disclosures	Known defects, lead paint, state forms
Default	What happens if someone backs out
Signatures	Every owner on title and the buyer

The price line is where most new investors freeze. Figuring out what to offer a motivated seller happens before you open the template, not while the seller watches you do math on a napkin.

Contingencies

A contingency is a condition that has to happen before you’re obligated to close. If it doesn’t happen by the deadline, you can cancel and usually get your earnest money back.

You’ll see these four most often:

Inspection: you can inspect the property and back out if you don’t like what you find.
Financing: you can cancel if your lender doesn’t approve the loan by the deadline.
Appraisal: you can cancel or renegotiate if the appraiser values the home below your price.
Title: you can walk if the title search turns up liens or ownership problems the seller can’t clear.

These clauses do real work. Nationally, 14% of home-sale agreements that went under contract in July 2026 fell through (Redfin, 2026). Redfin says buyers most often use the inspection contingency to cancel, while sellers have a much harder time getting out of a contract (Redfin, 2026).

That cuts both ways. The inspection contingency is your exit. It’s also the reason plenty of sellers watched their last buyer walk.

Disclosures

For most homes built before 1978, federal law makes the seller share any known lead-based paint information before the buyer signs, and give the buyer 10 days to test for lead (EPA, n.d.). The rule doesn’t cover foreclosure sales.

Every state also sets its own seller disclosure rules. Some hand sellers a standard form, and a few lean toward buyer-beware. Look up your state’s form before you sign, and attach it to the contract.

What Clauses Should Investors Add to a Purchase Agreement?

Investors should add five things to a standard template: an assignment clause, a longer inspection period, property access, as-is language, and clear earnest money terms. Most free templates assume a family buying a house to live in. Your deal looks different, so your contract should too.

Add “And/Or Assigns” to the Buyer Line

Writing your name followed by “and/or assigns” lets you transfer the contract to another buyer before closing. Wholesalers depend on it. Buy-and-hold investors use it too, so they can close in a different entity than the one they started with.

Some sellers get nervous when they see it. I explain it plainly: I might close myself, or a partner might close, but the price and terms don’t change for them.

Check your state first. A few states now regulate assignments, and whether you need a real estate license to wholesale depends on where the property sits.

Set a Real Inspection Period

A week goes fast when you need a contractor bid, a sewer scope, and a roofer on the same house. I ask for more time up front. Then I write the exact number of days into the contract so nobody argues about when the clock started.

Get Access to the Property

An access clause gives you the right to bring people through the property before closing. If you plan to assign, you’ll need to walk cash buyers through the house, and without an access clause the seller can say no.

Contractors, lenders, and appraisers need the same access.

Buy the Property As-Is

Distressed sellers rarely have money for repairs, so an as-is clause takes a fight off the table. It tells the seller you won’t hand them a repair list after the inspection. You can still inspect, and you can still cancel. You just won’t ask them to fix the roof.

Keep Earnest Money Terms Tight

Earnest money is the deposit you put down to show the seller you’re serious. No standard amount exists. The right number depends on the price, the local market, and how many other buyers the seller has.

The terms matter more than the amount. Spell out who holds the money, usually the title company, and exactly when it becomes nonrefundable. If your contract just says “earnest money: $X” with nothing else, you and the seller will fight over it the day something goes wrong.

Simple Real Estate Purchase Contract vs. State Association Forms

A simple real estate purchase contract of two or three pages works fine for a cash deal you’re making directly with a seller. Once a lender or agents get involved, you’ll usually sign your state association’s form instead.

State forms run long because they cover every scenario an agent might hit. Agents work from them, and lenders expect to see them. Some states also expect an attorney to handle the contract or the closing, so check your local rules before you rely on any template.

Longer doesn’t mean safer. I’d rather hand a seller a clean, simple real estate purchase agreement template they can read in ten minutes than a 20-page form they sign without reading.

A seller who understands the contract doesn’t call a lawyer in a panic a week later.

Can You Write Your Own Real Estate Purchase Agreement?

Yes, you can write your own real estate purchase agreement. You need to put it in writing, cover the terms both sides agreed to, and get both sides to sign. A local real estate attorney can review it for far less than a botched closing will cost you.

Self-drafted contracts show up most in deals without agents. Only 5% of home sales went for sale by owner in NAR’s latest profile, a record low, and 60% of those sellers already knew their buyer (NAR, 2025). Investors who buy direct from sellers write their own contracts all the time, usually starting from a template like this one.

Who Needs to Sign a Real Estate Purchase Agreement?

Every person on the property’s title has to sign the purchase agreement, along with the buyer. Miss one owner and you don’t have a deal, even if everyone else signed. I pull the vesting deed before I meet a seller so I know exactly whose names need to go on the page.

On your side, if you buy through a real estate LLC, the LLC is the buyer. You sign as its member or manager, and the company’s full legal name goes on the buyer line.

The seller side gets trickier when the owner is going through something hard.

With a probate property, the executor or administrator signs for the estate. Some states also make the estate get court approval before the sale can close, and that can add weeks.

Divorce sellers usually need both spouses on the contract, even when only one of them is talking to you. If a judge has already awarded the house to one spouse, ask for the court order that shows it.

In pre-foreclosure, the owner still holds title and still signs. Your closing date has to land before the auction date, and you’ll want the lender’s payoff figure early.

Is a Real Estate Purchase Agreement Legally Binding?

Yes. Once the buyer and seller both sign, a real estate purchase agreement becomes a legally binding contract, and the property goes under contract. Contingencies give you the legitimate way out. If you walk away without one, you put your earnest money at risk, and the seller may have grounds to sue.

Other Real Estate Contracts

A purchase agreement handles a standard sale. Some deals need a different contract.

Check out our templates:

Final Thoughts

A template won’t find you a deal. It just makes sure the deal holds once you find one.

The investors I know who sign the most contracts aren’t better negotiators. They talk to more motivated seller leads.

If you’d rather skip the cold lists, you can browse verified off-market seller leads on the UndervaluedX exchange and pick the ones that fit your market. The team verifies every lead before it goes live. Then print this template and go get a signature.

References

National Association of Realtors, 2025. 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Highlights.
National Association of Realtors, 2025. Top 10 Takeaways from NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
Redfin, 2026. With Buyers Firmly in the Driver’s Seat, Home-Purchase Cancellations Hit Highest Level in Nearly 3 Years.
Redfin, 2026. Home Purchase Cancellations.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule (Section 1018 of Title X).