seller cancel contract on 2nd offer to a counter offer from 1st buyer (contingencies, negotiations)

[jamjs4]

Need to know if a seller can cancel contract to take secon counter offer for house?

[GregTraub]

Who was the last person to counter?

If it was you that means you voided the sellers last offer and that is no longer an option to you.

If it was the seller, and you did not accept the offer before they withdrew it, it is also no longer an option to you.

If another offer came in on the property the seller has every right to cancel his last offer before you accept it, and/or ignore you last counter to take the new offer. Just because you are in negotiations does not mean the seller has to take his house off the market.

Not exactly sure what your question was.

[oldmanbob]

Not sure I completlely understand your question, as most agents when a contract is under negotiation, will not entertain other offers, unless you are at a standstill, and usually works out the current offer. If a counter is on the table, then another offer comes in, then if the counter is not agreed on, the second can come into play. Sellers have somewhat of the upper hand, meaning the seller can always not choose to accept, and then move on to other offers.

[palmcoasting]

seller cancel contract on 2nd offer to a counter offer from 1st buyer

If what you are saying is... the seller was negotiating a contract from the first buyer...and then you came in and made an offer and the seller signed it and returned it, and it had no contingencies such as attorney review, and then the first buyer came back with another offer and the seller said I'm cancelling this contract and going with this offer, no. He can not do that. Not here anyway. Although, I have no clue what could be done about it, you haven't suffered any damages.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by GregTraub

Who was the last person to counter?

If it was you that means you voided the sellers last offer and that is no longer an option to you.

If it was the seller, and you did not accept the offer before they withdrew it, it is also no longer an option to you.

If another offer came in on the property the seller has every right to cancel his last offer before you accept it, and/or ignore you last counter to take the new offer. Just because you are in negotiations does not mean the seller has to take his house off the market.

Not exactly sure what your question was.

What Greg Traub said.

Negotiations are just talk.
Contract is contract.

Which did you have, negotiations or contract?

[bookera]

Originally Posted by jamjs4

Need to know if a seller can cancel contract to take secon counter offer for house?

Signed Option Contract with investor group; decided not to sell because we decided to keep in family, so I transferred everything over to my sibling. Would I still be obligated to sell the property to buyer that I signed Option Contract with?

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by bookera

Signed Option Contract with investor group; decided not to sell because we decided to keep in family, so I transferred everything over to my sibling. Would I still be obligated to sell the property to buyer that I signed Option Contract with?

If you have a signed "contract", no, you cannot just cancel it. Contracts are contracts and are legally binding between two people. It takes two people to cancel the contract, not just one. You are in default, and the buyer could go for "specific performance" to force you to close.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by bookera

Signed Option Contract with investor group; decided not to sell because we decided to keep in family, so I transferred everything over to my sibling. Would I still be obligated to sell the property to buyer that I signed Option Contract with?

Probably. If you have a signed option, you can still transfer the property if it's allowed per the option contract. Even if you can transfer the property, the option will still exist should the investment group want to enforce it on the new owner (your sibling). You should ask them to cancel it or consult an attorney if you want to try and keep it because what you did likely won't work.

[Austin-Willy]

Yes, you're still obligated under your contract unless the contract said you could terminate it, which is doubtful. So the investor group can probably sue you. They probably can't sue you for specific performance because you can't be forced to sell a house that you don't own. But they can sue you for damages.

The investor group could probably also enforce the option contract against your sibling if they could prove that your sibling knew about the option contract when you transferred the house to your sibling.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you transferred the house to your sibling simply to avoid the contract. If that's the case, both you and your sibling could probably be sued for fraud.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Austin-Willy

Yes, you're still obligated under your contract unless the contract said you could terminate it, which is doubtful. So the investor group can probably sue you. They probably can't sue you for specific performance because you can't be forced to sell a house that you don't own. But they can sue you for damages.

The investor group could probably also enforce the option contract against your sibling if they could prove that your sibling knew about the option contract when you transferred the house to your sibling.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you transferred the house to your sibling simply to avoid the contract. If that's the case, both you and your sibling could probably be sued for fraud.

I'm definitely not going to debate A-W on this. I think he's right.