A corporation or a limited liability company, a contractual obligation of an equity holder (a stockholder or member, as applicable) to offer to sell its equity to the other holders, or sometimes back to the company, after receiving a bona fide offer from a third party to buy that equity stake. The ROFR is usually described in a stockholders agreement or LLC agreement, as applicable, and the offer to the company and other equity-holders must typically be made on substantially the same terms as those offered by the third party. By contrast, a right of first offer is a contractual obligation to offer the equity stake before even receiving a third-party offer.

Real property, a contractual obligation of an owner of real property to offer to sell its real property to the holder of the option after receiving a bona fide third-party offer to buy the real property. The ROFR is usually contained in a stand-alone agreement between the owner of the real estate and the holder of the ROFR. The owner's offer to the holder of the ROFR typically must match the terms of the offer made by the third party. These terms are usually detailed in the notice from the owner to the holder of the ROFR option. There are usually explicit time frames set out in the option language for sending and receiving notices. A ROFR can also occur in a lease between a landlord and a tenant. The offer, notice, and timing requirements are typically the same as in the real property ownership context.