Put the pressure on the Seller

Orlando,

Thanks for the post. I agree completely. Seller's should respond with a counter upon receipt of an offer rather than sit on it. I have such a seller, whom I have just informed that the best offer to date is on the table and not to take it would be regrettable.

AMEN!

Make the offer and stand behind it.  Don't let them shop around.  I presented an offer yesterday asking for a response today, even though I knew the sellers were in China.

Setting a response time shows that the buyer is ready to move forward.  Allowing the seller more than 1 day allows him to shop the offer around to previous lookers.

However, do not, not, NOT write the deadline into the contract.  We see this sometimes here, and it's totally ineffective except as an annoyance right off the bat.   Consider:  until the Seller has agreed to the terms of the contract and signed it, there IS no contract, so the "deadline" written into the contract is meaningless - it could simply be stricken out by the Seller - and simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of what a contract is and is not, on the part not only of the buyer but of their agent.  Setting a deadline in a cover letter might work - but, remember, you could lose the house for your buyer if the seller decides that your attitude means that you will be difficult during the transaction and doesn't want the bother.  You are asking the seller to make a serious decision about one of the more important financial transactions in their life, remember, and they may need to consider all the aspects of your offer, unless it is squeeky clean with no ifs, ands, or buts.  One day is not sufficient for that in the case of most offers.  I usually advise my buyers that it might be two or three days before we hear back from the Seller, for that reason - and most of them understand that, as they would like the same consideration for themselves. 

 

Interesting. In that case, it would still become a contract only after the seller agreed and signed it, correct?  I know contract law is different from state to state, but I didn't think any state allowed contracts to be decreed by fiat of one party or the other - both parties still have to agree to and sign off on all conditions in Florida? 

 

In Arizona, the deadline is a required part of the contract. Yes, an expired deadline can be resurrected, but it is best to try to live within it. In addition, if you are concerned about the listing agents ability to locate the seller, find out first and factor that into the deadline.

In Texas, we do have deadlines contained within the contract, the option period deadline, the financing contingency deadline, the closing date deadline, and so forth, where "time is of the essence", but the clock doesn't start ticking until there is a contract, and there is no contract until all parties are agreed on all terms and they have been signed, sealed, and delivered - in our case, to the title company.  I know it's not the case, but it sounds like you are both saying that the buyer can declare that there's a contract and the seller, who has not agreed to ANY of the conditions of the offer as yet, is bound by that declaration.  Puzzling and curious.  (Probably only to me because I was a legal assistant in a former life and such things interest me.)

 

 

Thanks for clarifying.  So the clause in your contract serves pretty much the same purpose as a similar paragraph in a cover letter saying that the offer is good until such and such a date?  (Picturing in my mind the case that must have set the precedent that that appears in the offer itself as an official part of the offer.)