Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: buying a house

You'll find the answer to that at the conclusion of litigation and trial, or by negotiated settlement. Consult an attorney if you need help now.

Re: buying a house

It depends.

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

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Re: buying a house

This is the usual way parties get into binding contracts - offer and acceptance. Doesn't matter if the offer that's accepted is a counteroffer; that's just another kind of offer.

Having said that, I'd note that most real-estate purchase agreements have contingencies in them, such as passing inspections, obtaining financing, sale of the buyer's present home, and others. Unless these contingencies are met or waived, the contract may not be binding. However, a buyer or seller may not use the existence of a contingency capriciously to avoid working in good faith with the other party to remove the contingency and get the deal closed.

So, the bottom line is that a lawyer could probably read the subject papers here and give you an opinion with 80% or so certainty whether the agreement is binding now, and by asking some serious questions about the deal and the parties' conduct could maybe increase his or her degree of certainty to 85% or 90%, assuming the usual contingencies are present and fraud is not.