On November 5, Idaho’s attorney general announced a settlement with a realty company for allegedly pressuring Idaho homeowners into 40-year contracts with hidden penalties. The company purportedly offered small cash payments to homeowners in exchange for exclusive rights to sell their home and required homeowners to sign confusing multi-page agreements on the spot. The attorney general claimed that these contracts included concealed terms such as: (i) a 3 percent penalty on the home’s value for violating the agreement; (ii) provisions requiring the automatic transfer of the agreement to heirs; and (iii) restrictions on using other realtors. The settlement voided all such “Homeowner Benefit Agreements,” required the realty company to remove the contracts from property records, and banned the company from Idaho residential real estate for five years.  While the settlement terms were publicly announced, the full legal agreement was not released.