Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Generally, no, an agreement to purchase real estate must be in writing. This is one reason it is often best to take control of the transaction yourself. If there is not an agent to assist, have your closing attorney prepare the offer for you to present promptly and get the deal locked.

Let's put it this way: I agree w/ Mr. Repay that normally a written contract for the sale of real estate comes on paper with a whole lot of terms and conditions that are customary and usual, and each party signs off on the paper. In today's electronic world, most everyone agrees that contracts can be formed via email, via "electronic signing". Texting takes things one step beyond, however, because of the difficulty of downloading the texts to a transcript, which takes special software. In addition, while it is not an absolute requirement, customarily earnest money is put up on signing a contract, and if the texts required that and you did not post the money, that could also be an issue. So if this property is that good of a deal, I would say you need to take your device to an attorney to review all related texts, because if a contract was formed with enough terms and conditions and the prospective seller has breached it, you're most likely looking at a lawsuit at best even to enforce it, and if the texts don't have or suggest the right to "specific performance" as a buyer remedy, enforcing the deal is extremely uncertain.