Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
In California if you have an offer on a short sale property (only the seller has accepted the offer) and the bank has not yet approved, is the buyer allowed to submit offers on other properties?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Of course. An offer can be withdrawn at any time until accepted. So the buyer is free to put out as many offers as they want and then take the one that is accepted. There is some risk of multiple acceptances, but since real estate contracts are conditional, the buyer really isn't committed until the contingencies are removed.
Be sure your offer is made subject to the bank accepting the sale, your full inspection of the property, your getting a loan, other contingencies, etc. so that you can back out of any offer without losing the deposit.
I agree with Mr. McCormick, but you may want to proceed cautiously. You could potentially have more than one offer accepted.