Quote:
Originally Posted by Chief Rum
You won't know on other buyers either in pretty much the same time frame. What if the first guy is the only guy who ends up having the financing, and you blow him off to accept a better offer from Lady B, and her offer falls through? Or are you suggesting Lady B is coming in with a suitcase full o' cash? 
No one is saying to not continue to show the house or listen to offers (not that I have seen anyway). And I think most (including myself) would agree that shaking hands on this one was an error; should have waited for the written offer.
But since the handshake agreement was made, there it is. And since it exists, you can't, at least ethically, accept another offer unless Buyer A in some way takes action which violates the deal you two have agreed upon. You can listen to other offers and hopefully you're letting these people know of the already agreed upon deal in place. But until the first deal is violated or voided in some way by Buyer A, you can't in good faith accept another offer (at least not conscience-wise; legal is another matter).
And if mauboy agreed to no earnest money, that's not on Buyer A, that's on mauboy. |
Oh I dont disagree with much here. I even said as much in my 1st post as far as being too late to do it again and just continuing on with the offer you DO have. But I think our disagreement is on timing. If he was meeting Buyer A to sign on say, Friday...absolutely I would be entertaining offers on the property.
At this point... if lady B came in (presumably before his meeting with Buyer A as its too late after signing) that he shouldnt feel any guilt or have any issues (ethically, morally, or other) with accepting a better offer from her (if she met a set of standards that I personally would want to see from any buyer). We dont really know what set of standards Buyer A might meet (unsure whether mauboy knows). He might for all we know.
Maybe its the difference in how people from different areas view real estate. Being from Florida...I'm very used to seeing all kinds of scams, con artists, asshat investors, etc. It's just ingrained in me (as I know it is many others I know from Florida) to realize that you cannot trust people when it comes to things like this. So if (in my hypothetical...where Buyer A is signing on Friday instead of today) this lady gave him a better offer, met his set of qualification standards, and his offer was only good for 24 hrs...I'd call the 1st guy back and tell him he can match it and get a signed contract over asap if interested. Maybe I'm an ass for that...but I dont know too many people that wouldnt do that as well.