Our First Offer... was this normal?

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by nwdiver

I agree with many above:

1) if you were paying asking price you were paying too much
2) The seller and his broker have no ethics, because:

It sounds like someone else was interested also, maybe before you and your faxed agreement gave the scum sucking broker the ability to crank up someone else's offer as he had yours in writing............. this is a massive breach of ethics and your agreement should have had an 1) exclusivity clause and 2) a time frame to complete with timing on the deposit and other things mentioned above and if these were not in the papers you faxed the broker is even a bigger scum bag............... but he sees it as just getting his client ( and of course his pocket) more money.....

If they had multiple offers, why wouldn't they have told the buyers to come in with a "best and final offer"?

I've seen unscrupulous behavior by brokers, but this doesn't seem all that unusual.

[knot smart]

Rejection is God's protection.. boats are a dime a dozen.. I must have put 10 bids on 10 different boats & were rejected before my bid was accepted & the boat I got was 10 times nicer & less expensive then the other's..

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[valhalla360]

There is the legality and the practicality:

A verbal agreement is completely legal and binding. The problem is if there is a later disagreement, how to prove it. It's your word vs thiers unless you have witnesses.

In this case, there is an email trail which makes it a written contract, so all the discussion about verbal contracts is irrelevant. You don't need signatures to make a legally binding contract. If they (or in this case thier agent) sent you an email stating that the offer is accepted if you agree to X, Y & Z and you send an email back agreeing to X, Y & Z, you have a legally binding contract.

There is still another practicality issue. You would probably win if you took the owner to court but it's likely not worth the trouble and even if you intimidated him into taking your offer, you could expect him to be difficult thru the entire sales process. Better to walk away.

PS: As others have mentioned, make sure any offer is contingent upon a full survey. That way if something bad turns up, you can get out of the deal.

[socaldmax]

A few years ago, I decided to buy a Honda Accord off of Craigslist for my ex-GF so I wouldn't have to drive her around to job interviews. Every day I'd look on CL for a Honda Accord under $3600, every time I called an ad the car was long gone, the seller many times not even bothering to answer the phone.

After a couple of days of getting nowhere, I decided to get serious. I went to the bank and pulled out $3600 cash. I did a search and found a CL app that gives you an instant notification as soon as a new ad popped up. I made up a couple of blank Bill of Sales that only required names, dates and vehicle particulars to be filled in. Sure enough, the next day an Accord popped up for $2975, I called the guy instantly, he was amazed I called so fast! I got his address and got there in 20 min. I test drove it and looked it over and it was perfect! Well worth $3600, but we settled on $2900. After signing the BoS and giving him the cash, a flood of buyers swamped him.

Moral of the story: if you really want that smokin' deal, you have to get a leg up on the competition and have your cash in hand, not in the bank, a contract with all of your stipulations ready to sign, and be ready to jump as soon as the right one comes up. I've given paypal deposits for stuff I really wanted, then negotiated the final price when I saw it in person. This way I locked it in with a deposit and had time to look it over closely without other buyers rushing me.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

There is the legality and the practicality:

A verbal agreement is completely legal and binding. The problem is if there is a later disagreement, how to prove it. It's your word vs thiers unless you have witnesses.

Only if a) the law doesn't require a written contract for that type of transaction, AND b) some consideration is given.

There was no consideration in this case, so it isn't binding.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

Only if a) the law doesn't require a written contract for that type of transaction, AND b) some consideration is given.

There was no consideration in this case, so it isn't binding.

No, the law may require a written contract to complete the transaction (they want documentation of the sales price so they get thier pound of flesh when it comes time to pay taxes) but that in no way invalidates a verbal contract. You just have to fill out the paperwork at some point before the process is complete.

Then again with email, she does have a written contract offer. As long as she met the terms, it is a valid agreement.

Likewise, you don't have to include a deposit (consideration) to make a binding contract. Ever hear of a zero down car loan? It's not good buisness practice to skip the deposit but in no way is it a legal requirement.

The problem with both of the items you brought up is not the legality but the practicality. Now if this was a multi-million dollar corporate deal, you could justify bringing in the lawyers and she would win (at least based on what she told us). The problem is there isn't enough money involved to justify that kind of action. The lawyers would cost more than what she would gain by winning.