woodcourt said:
Thank you for your prompt and concise reply. I'd also like to know where buyer 2 stands - is their contract legal? Do they have a claim against the seller? This is a new construction (not yet completed) if that makes any difference.
Thank you.
My response: the reason my response was Buyer one was due to the fact that the parties to the contract did not sign a release to mutual termination. Even if they agreed to verbally, that does not count. Based on the statutes of frauds, all real estatet contracts must be in writing to be enforceable. Also the Buyer's deposit has not been returned and you state that the contract was still in force.
I am not sure if this second offer is legal. I do know that there is no way that the Seller can accept two offers at the same time without noting one as a backup offer.
Now on this offer, the Seller probably messed up and accepted this offer by mistake with no language in the contract to the effect of "this is a backup offer only or this offer subject to termination of the first offer" or something similar.
The Buyer may have a claim
against the Seller if said Seller did not disclose the existence of the first offer and state an acceptance contingency due to this first offer.
