Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania
We put our Pennsylavania home on the market for sale and received a formal offer, however we did not see it yet (it's signed by the potential buyers and is waiting at our real estate agent). There was a verbal agreement. Our realtor claims that we can't accept any more offers even before signing that offer we got, because of the verbal agreement. We suspect she just want to get it over with. Can we accept more offers before signing that first one, or are we bound by the verbal agreement?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Generally if someone made an offer and put down a deposit then you should not entertain any other offers until you reject the offer. Of course if multiple offers come in you can pick the best. The Realtor can certainly take an additional offer but the one that came in first should be rejected before responding to potential Buyer. There is no contract in real estate until both the seller and buyer sign a written agreement of sale. A verbal agreement is difficult if not impossible to enforce. However it sometimes can lead to litigation which can tie up the property. You may want to have an attorney involved because the agent though representing you many times is anxious to close a deal in order to get their commission.There is insufficient information togive you a more complete response and what i have indicated here is only the general law as all situations are distinct.