Verbal Agreement?

[Biscuit]

My wife and I are in the process of buying a home. We have a realtor that is helping us find our home and last weekend we placed our first offer on a house. Since then we've gone back and forth a couple of times with counter-offers. The house is owened by 4 people (parents and son/daughter-in-law). The parents live in the house and the son lives in a different state. Our agent submitted our offers to the seller's agent and that agent has been coming back to ours with counteroffers via email and telephone.

Yesterday we thought we had reach an agreeable price and we were made aware of it by our realtor after she had spoken with the seller's realtor supposedly. It was a matter of finalizing the deal by signing the contract. Today we got a call from our realtor stating that the son (also an owner) contacted his agent and mentioned that now he wants more money for the house. In return his agent contacted our agent to tell her that and she in turn told us. Our agent says that she's shocked and actually fought with the seller's agent for a while because she thought yesterday we had reached an agreement. We are beyond mad because we thought that these counteroffers, although they were taking place verbally, they were still concrete offers. Basically one of the owners (the son) now feels that since we're asking for $5K from the sellers at closing, that he's not only going to jack up the price that much but also going to ask for the original listing price. Nevertheless we are outraged by this!

Our agent says that she has emails going back between her and the seller's agent and we don't feel that they have the right to back out of a deal that it is very obvious their agent had cleared with them before offering it to us, so right now we're just arguing with our agent, that in our opinion should be fighting this as well. She said she will do that, but I'm not too confident at this time.

So my question is, can anyone tell us if we have any recourse on this? Isn't the verbal agreement good enough?

Any help will greatly be appreciated!

[Goknights]

verbal does not mean a thing in Florida. "he said she said" doesn't work well in real estate. It is always a good idea to handle all offers, including counters, in writing. This happens often when dealing with multiple sellers and it sounds like your agent is doing everything he/she can do when dealing with this type of situation.

[SELLITNOW]

You say, up to now, she has been fighting for your terms . . . What makes you think the agent is not aruging and fighting for you ?

[RESteve]

Unfortunately, verbal agreements are not enforceable in court. My advice is to consult with a real estate attorney.

[NealRM]

As the song goes...Don't mean nothing until it's signed on the dotted line.

[Malok]

Theres a big sign hanging in our office:

If it isn't in writing, it doesn't exist.

[SELLITNOW]

In the final conclusion, in writing is the only thing that is real. But I still ask, why do you think your agent is not trying to get those terms agreed upon and in writing? When you said, " It was a matter of finalizing the deal by signing the contract." . . . at that point, the verbal agreement was put in writing for signatures - everyone of the owners HAD the chance to review the written terms and sign or not to sign - . . .

I guess what I am getting at is, as the Realtors are "duking it out" over the phone and via email - those are the attempts to get agreeable terms - once the REALTORS have something that sounds good - their clients HAVE to agree to the terms . . . ANYONE can back out before the contract is signed . . . BUT you seem to at least slightly suggest that YOUR realtor is not looking out for YOUR interests . . . WHY?

[SLP-NYCT]

I'd save yourself attorney fees. Its a buyers market. There are hundreds of houses to choose from. Just as they can change their mind, so can you. Go find someone more serious about selling.

@Sellitnow: Good Eye. It does seem like the person feels their agent is no longer fighting for them. I tell my buyer's This isn't a boxing match. There is No Fighting. There is mutual negotiation. If it gets to fighting, Walk Away.

[Saodavi]

That's a fairly common scenario in those situations. The Listing agent should have had enough foresight to get ONE person in the family to have a limited power of attorney to negotiate the deal. Whenever you get more than on party on the same side of the transaction, it never goes well. There's too much infighting, greedy family members, some know-it-all relative living out of state. I'd just walk off and find someone normal to work with. It's a buyer's market and there's lots to choose from.

Also, verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on ... especially in Real Estate.

[Justin Havre]

Seems like we are all on the same page here. No verbal agreements will hold up in court when it comes to real estate. Ink on paper.