verbal acceptance of buyer offer

What is the name of your state? Mich
I have a cottage listed for sale. I verbally accepted the buyers final offer, but nothing has been written up or signed and no deposit has been made by the buyer. I was told by my listing agent that a second offer may be presented within a day. Am I legally bound to my verbal acceptance of the buyers final offer? Can I accept another offer? I believe neither parties are legally bound to fulfill the verbal agreement since nothing has been signed, written up and no consideration has been received. Offer was for over $100,000.

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by PSBIII
What is the name of your state? Mich
I have a cottage listed for sale. I verbally accepted the buyers final offer, but nothing has been written up or signed and no deposit has been made by the buyer. I was told by my listing agent that a second offer may be presented within a day. Am I legally bound to my verbal acceptance of the buyers final offer? Can I accept another offer? I believe neither parties are legally bound to fulfill the verbal agreement since nothing has been signed, written up and no consideration has been received. Offer was for over $100,000.

**A: why is your real estate agent dealing with verbal offers? Verbal offers do not count for anything and are not binding.

We were doing verbal negotiations due to time and distance issues for both buyer and seller. The verbal acceptance was just a precursor to eventually signing a written agreement which I have not signed. I did receive a faxed written offer with the buyers initials signed at bottom yesterday. I'm expecting a second offer sometime today which I will wait for before signing any written agreement.

Thanks for your reply.

[HomeGuru]

Very poor way to handle negotiations.

Phone negotiations through an agent are a common means of coming to terms prior to signing a written agreement. Driving 5 hours each time to the agents office to sign documents would be very difficult especially during working hours. I think verbal negotiations sometimes can be useful depending on the facts and merits of each situation.

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by PSBIII
Phone negotiations through an agent are a common means of coming to terms prior to signing a written agreement. Driving 5 hours each time to the agents office to sign documents would be very difficult especially during working hours. I think verbal negotiations sometimes can be useful depending on the facts and merits of each situation.

**A: I always use fax or email in negotiations and rarely rely on verbal negotiations. That was my point. What can be done verbally could also be done via either fax or email. And it means more to get an intent to offer signed by the Buyer rather than a phone call from the agent saying "my Buyer wants to offer $300K for the property".

I agree. Thanks again for your responses.

[HomeGuru]

You are welcome.