Learn the Florida Contract for Sale and Purchase
CRSP-17 – Don’t Flub the Start
This post is part of a full breakdown of the Florida CRSP-17 Contract.
Today we’re covering Section 1 – Parties and Property Description.
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🔹 Section 1: Parties and Property Description
“This is a Contract (“Contract”) between [SELLER NAME] (“Seller”) and [BUYER NAME] (“Buyer”) who together are the ‘Parties.’”
From there, Section 1 continues with what looks like basic information:
Street address, city, legal description, tax ID, and a list of what’s included or excluded in the sale.
It’s meant to be the easiest part of the contract. But even here, I see agents get casual—and that casual attitude often leads to extra paperwork, awkward amendments, or unnecessary confusion.
Let’s keep it simple, clean, and correct.
🔸 Spell Names Correctly — And Use "Assigns" When Needed
Start with the buyer and seller names. This is a legal contract—not a nickname roster. Double-check spelling and make sure the names match title records.
Pro Tip:
If your buyer might end up closing in an LLC, a trust, or another entity they haven’t formed yet, you need to write their name as:
“John Smith and/or assigns”
CRSP-17 is not assignable by default. Leave that off, and your buyer won’t legally be able to transfer title to their entity at closing because technically a seller can say “you never said this was to be assigned”. Usually, however, you need and addendum, you are carrying on with other activity and you get the call from title “hey we need a buyer name addendum”. That’s not a fun call to get from the title company three days out.
Also, do your part to get the seller’s name right. Pull it from the property appraiser site, title, or the last deed. Don’t assume the MLS is correct—sometimes it is, sometimes it’s lazy copy/paste.
🔸 Don’t Use the Inclusions Box Like a Holiday Shopping List
Fixtures (appliances, built-ins, ceiling fans, etc.) are automatically included. You don’t need to list them again. You can—but there’s no need to restate the obvious.
Where this gets messy is when agents start listing non-fixture personal property:
Sectionals
Rugs
Artwork
Golf carts
Wine collections
If it’s a cash deal, knock yourself out.
But if it’s financed, this stuff will kill the underwriting or cause unnecessary delays. Just don’t do it.
Handle that separately in a bill of sale, addendum, or side conversation between agents to present to the buyer and seller. Keep the contract clean. Engage a simple property transfer agreement that your team’s retained attorney drafted for filling in the blanks and get is signed.
🔸 Pull the Real Legal Description and Tax ID
There’s a box for the full legal description and tax parcel ID. You’d be surprised how many contracts get submitted with this section blank or half-filled.
Get it from the property appraiser site, the last recorded deed, or title company prelims.
If the legal is too long to fit, just write:
“See Additional Terms”
Then paste it there. We’ll cover that section later in this series.
🟡 Summary: Don’t Sleep on Section 1
This part of the contract is like wearing a clean shirt to a job interview. Nobody’s giving you bonus points for getting it right, but everyone notices when you get it wrong. Why not just be Great at what you do for your buyers?
✅ Spell names right
✅ Use “and/or assigns” if needed
✅ Don’t put furniture on financed contracts
✅ Fill in legal + tax info from the right source
Next up:
👉 Section 2 – The Price Is Right… Until It Isn’t
And hey—if this helped you, give it a like, share it, or send it to another agent who needs to step up their contract game.
This is free work, but your support means a lot.
🔗 The Series So Far – Learn the Florida Contract for Sale and Purchase (CRSP-17 Sections 1–20)
✅ Section 1 – Parties and Property Description
✅ Section 2 – Purchase Price