South Carolina CE Shop Real Estate Practice Exam

The fundamental idea is recognizing different real estate documents by purpose. A purchase agreement (also called a sale contract or contract of purchase and sale) is the contract that sets the sale terms—price, contingencies, closing date, and what’s being transferred. A promissory note, on the other hand, is a debt instrument: a written promise to repay money borrowed. It lays out loan details (amount, interest, payments) but does not set the sale terms or transfer ownership. So it’s not another name for the purchase agreement or sale contract. The buyer representation agreement is a separate contract with a broker, not the real estate sale contract, but the term that least resembles a sale contract is the promissory note because it fundamentally functions as a loan document rather than a sales contract.