9. Which of the following are relevant in advising the seller of his legal position?

The Statute of Frauds is applicable in all states to any contract for the sale of land, or for the sale of any interest in land. Therefore, either the contract itself, or a memorandum of it, must be in writing. For a memorandum to satisfy the writing requirement, it must state with reasonable certainty the following: (i) the name of each party to the contract; (ii) the land to be conveyed; and (iii) the essential terms and conditions of the deal. The signature of the party to be charged (i.e., the party against whom enforcement is sought) must appear on the memorandum or contract.

When buying and selling property, parties can, theoretically, complete the transfer in a single step. The seller could tender the deed, and the buyer could simultaneously hand over the purchase price. If the buyer and seller did this process all at once, there would be no need for land sale contracts.

However, nearly every land transfer will be preceded by a land sale contract. Parties to these conveyances will sign the land sale contract, which is followed by a gap in time before the actual conveyance of the title to the property. During this gap, parties usually arrange financing and check the title. Land sale contracts normally provide a settlement date for the «closing» (passage of title from the owner to the buyer) to occur. If a party wants to enforce specific performance for a failure to close on the exact date specified, there must be an express provision in the contract making time of the essence, or such a provision can be inferred. The party that wished to enforce specific performance (the transfer of land on the exact date stated in the contract) will only be able to sue for monetary damages because specific performance is no longer possible, due to the temporal nature of the contract.

D is correct. To answer this kind of question, it's helpful to use a process of elimination. Here, the seller is faced with the purchaser's inability to close due to a third-party's actions (the bank). The call of the question is asking which legal concepts or doctrines would be relevant to the seller's goal, which is to rescind the contract. The parol evidence rule, the Statute of Frauds, specific performance, and whether time is of the essence are all relevant concepts in determining whether the seller can do that.

A is incorrect. As explained above, this question is asking which legal concepts or doctrines are relevant to the seller's goal to not go through with the real estate contract due to the purchaser's failure to secure financing from the bank before the transaction closed. Whether «time is of the essence» is relevant because where a sale contract indicates that time is of the essence, failure to perform on the scheduled closing date negates the failing party's right to enforce the contract at a later date. The Statute of Frauds is always relevant to land sale contracts, as it requires that all such contracts must be in writing. However, this is not enough to determine the seller's legal position.

B is incorrect. Like the previous answer, this choice also does not discuss all the relevant legal concepts or doctrines to the seller's position. It may be relevant for the seller to introduce parol evidence relating to the purchaser's mortgage application in order to show that the seller's duty of performance is excused by the failure of a condition precedent (this, however, depends upon whether or not the contract stated that «time is of the essence»). Further, specific performance is relevant as it is one of the two remedies (the other being damages) available to the purchaser if the seller attempts to get out of the contract. However, this answer does not include every legal concept relevant to determining the seller's legal position.

C is incorrect. As explained above, whether time is of the essence is critical to the seller's position. This answer choice does not include everything the seller needs to know to support his position, so it is incorrect.