IT IS IN WRITING AND SIGNED. It is just that simple. This is very important why I like negotiations to go quickly. If a purchase agreement is not signed by both parties it is not a contract that can be legally enforced. The courts won't enforce.
If you are a Michigan home buyer or a first time home buyer this is important to understand.
It is never a deal even if both sides agree verbally. It doesn't mean anything. Let me give you a case in point. My clients had submitted an offer on a Canton condo via fax. The seller countered after 4 days via email and text. My client took two days to counter back. The seller countered back via text and email after 2 days. My buyer accepted the offer via text.
But here comes the trouble. The seller's agent was on vacation as this was going down. She was having her assistant handle the paperwork. She said she would get the PA signed and back to me and she would be in tomorrow night. Whether the acceptance was sent to the seller in a timely manner or even sent at all is a question. Because 32 hours later the sellers agent texted me to say they now have a higher cash offer. And the seller has the right to accept.
Unfortunately we were blindsided by this agent. She could have the signed agreement and just never had time to fax it over to me. She may have never gotten the PA signed by the seller yet. We don't know and can't prove anything.
The bottom line the buyer has no recourse. We can't prove anything. The bottom line is that we don't have a signed contract.
It happens once in a while where the seller gets cold feet. It happens sometimes when the agent is just delaying the process in order to get a higher price. It happens. Unfortunately like the scenario above the buyer can get the short end of the stick. No matter how much it upsets me (and my buyer) we don't have any recourse.
Some agents do the right thing and some give the business a bad name. It boils down to the ethics of the agent sometimes.
But the moral of the story is: Whether you are buying Farmington real estate or a Canton condo try to keep the negotiations going as quickly as possible. We need to get the signed purchase agreement back as soon as possible.
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