Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Sale of a House

I am in the process of negotiating sale of my house in CA. I had an offer at a significantly lower priice than the listed price from buyer 1 and have been going through counter offers. Yesterday evening they had sent us a 4th Counter Offer which we had accepted, signed and faxed in the evening. So far they have not sent us any acknowledgement of the acceptance of our acceptance. They have not given the deposit check yet. We did not sign the purchase contract yet and escrow has not been opned yet.

This morning we had a written offer from a SECOND buyer at FULL PRICE. Can we accept the offer from the second buyer and cancel the first offer now??


Asked on 2/13/07, 6:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Judith Deming Deming & Associates

Re: Sale of a House

Technically, once you accepted and sent the acceptance to Buyer #1, a contract was formed. The fact that no escrow has opened and/or no deposit check has been tendered is of no help unless the contract required that those events take place already; even then, you would need to give #1 a notice to perform. So, the answer is you cannot accept the second offer without running the risk of being sued by buyer #1 for specific performance, and buyer #2 could also sue you if they were damaged by relying on their belief that you had the ability to contract with them. All that said, buyer # 1 may have had a change of heart and want to get out of the contract; it does not hurt to ask them to release you, as all they can do is say no.

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Answered on 2/14/07, 3:16 pm


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