As the word implies, buildings or structures that are used for commercial purposes are known as commercial real estate. These could be offices, shopping malls, hotels, or any vacant plots that can be developed for commercial uses in future. In fact, apart from homes, nearly all properties can be classified as commercial real estate.

Agreements

All agreements pertaining sale of any real estate are enforceable in courts only when they are written. Any verbal agreement with exchange of money and handshakes is not recognized by the court. Even if the wording is not as per the statutes of law, it is recognizable. As long as the agreement contains the price and the details of the property, the agreement is valid in the eyes of the law.

Real estate contract

Since all deals pertaining to real estate are unique, it is advisable for both the buyers as well as sellers to use the services of a real estate attorney to ensure that their interests are protected when entering into any contract. Most important are the details of the property, any equipment that comes within the deal or any conditions that you may have to meet before ownership rights are transferred in your name. All details as to how the division of taxes to be filled between the buyer and seller needs to be mentioned in the agreement. The important dates are the dates of closing and the release of possession.

Option fee

This is payment of an amount by the buyer to the seller in exchange of an assurance that the seller will not sell his property to anybody else within a given time period. This fee gives an option to the buyer to buy time as well as to look for other properties in the given time frame. If the buyer feels that he should not buy the property at the end of the time period given to him, the seller has the option to forfeit the option fee.