Be careful what you text because you may end up a party to contract. %CUT% A court in Massachusetts held that the texts between two real estate sales agents resulted in a binding contract. In most states, contracts for the sale of real estate have to be in writing. This is called the Statute of Frauds. The writing has to be signed by both parties and contain sufficiently complete terms and an intention to be bound by those terms. The court held that the e-mails and texts between the agents filled all of the requirements of a binding written contract.