2 contracts out there: situation

[Property Meister]

Im in a bit of an interesting situation at the moment
made a verbal+email offer on a property, agent called me to say they would accept, and to send contract through,

sent contract with 90 day settlement as agreed,

24 hours later, agent calls me and says another party has made an offer which is slightly higher with less favourable conditions

so I counter offer, with +$500 and 30 day settlement instead, agent says they will accept and to fax through contract over the weekend,

so I call up agent, who is not available and speak to PA/secretary whether she got the fax, she then proceeds to tell me that she may have made a boo boo and the vendor has both signed contracts in their posession,

so im fine with either contracts been signed, however, i much prefer +$500 with 30 day settlement,

What are the legal rammifications in this situation, both contracts have been signed by me, luckily both of them are fine for me

 

[kathryn d]

If the vendor signed your original, have the second one destroyed.

 

[Property Meister]

If the vendor signed your original, have the second one destroyed.

oops, I think ive confused people,

what happened is that, I put in an offer verbally, followed by an email pretty much at the same time, agent called me with good news, so I signed a contract and faxed it,

in the meantime, they received another offer and gave me the opportunity to counter, so I counteroffered by email, apparently this was also accepted, so over the weekend i faxed through a signed contract,

apparently the assistant has accidentally faxed both signed contracts to the vendor,

so the vendor now has 2 contracts, both signed by me, 1 with 90 day settlement (original offer) and 1 with $500 higher with 30 day settlement (latest offer), I prefer the latter

 

[Ergophobia]

Are they dated the same?

I would get the agent to explain their screw up and withdraw the first offer.

Lucky it's win win

 

[Truly Exotic]

Lucky its a win win then

What are the implications of having 2 signed and sealed contracts?

 

[Ausprop]

oops, I think ive confused people,

what happened is that, I put in an offer verbally, followed by an email pretty much at the same time, agent called me with good news, so I signed a contract and faxed it,

in the meantime, they received another offer and gave me the opportunity to counter, so I counteroffered by email, apparently this was also accepted, so over the weekend i faxed through a signed contract,

apparently the assistant has accidentally faxed both signed contracts to the vendor,

so the vendor now has 2 contracts, both signed by me, 1 with 90 day settlement (original offer) and 1 with $500 higher with 30 day settlement (latest offer), I prefer the latter

for real estate there is no such thing as a verbal offer. So I am trying to get to the substance of this... in your possession what do you have in the way of written contracts, fully executed by both parties ?

 

[Ausprop]

oh I see - you have nothing signed by the vendor. Well they will just sign whichever one they feel they like the best

 

[Property Meister]

oh I see - you have nothing signed by the vendor. Well they will just sign the highest one and send it back if they wish to proceed

well, im pretty sure they like the latest offer better since its higher, which is fine by me, but what would happen if they decide to sign the original one which for example, did NOT suit me , eg settlement period, where I wont be in teh country or similar? would the original one still be valid?

all my email offers have expiry dates on them, however, the standard contract documents have no expiry section to fill in

 

[Ausprop]

all written offers remain valid until either the offer expires (i.e. from its own terms) or you withdraw it. If you no longer want to make an offer you should, to be safe, send written advice to the agent thta the offer is withdrawn. you can wothdraw at any time up to acceptance

 

[Terryw]

An offer has been made, and then a counter offer with the second contract.

 

[Ausprop]

An offer has been made, and then a counter offer with the second contract.

no he is saying he has submitted 2 offers, each with differing terms. The "counter offer" was just the secretary babbling on

 

[Terryw]

The second offer could replace the first.

 

[Ausprop]

well it could, but this hasn't been stated yet. And if it does the first offer needs to be withdrawn.

the point I am illustrating here in a round about way is... you can go make 10 offers on a property all with differing terms. You can then make offers on other properties - all whilst only being able to do one of the offers. As soon as one is accpeted the others can be withdrawn. There is no need to to put time limits on offers other than as a negotiating tactic, as any offer can be withdrawn at any time until accepted anyway

 

[Terryw]

If it is the same property, then a second offer means the first is withdrawn. But since this is land and the vendor has signed contracts then they could possibly accept either.

I suggest the purchaser fax in something withdrawing the offer he don't want to proceed with.

 

[Ausprop]

you can have multiple offers open on land, I think you meant this except there is a typo? "vendor has signed contracts" should read "vendor hasn't signed contracts ".Once the vendor accepts one offer, the rest fall away

 

[Terryw]

Ah, yes, I meant hasn't. Sorry, big typo.

 

[Property Meister]

im a bit confused now,

so does resubmitting a new signed contract automatically void all previous ones?

it would be pretty unfair if you signed a contract for $300k, then found out something significant, and then signed another contract for $250k, to only find out after you submitted the new one, that the vendors deliberately signed the old one

 

[JWR]

U have cooling off period so u can pull out of one. Just ring agent and find out what's happening saying u prefer 30 day settlement

 

[Terryw]

im a bit confused now,

so does resubmitting a new signed contract automatically void all previous ones?

it would be pretty unfair if you signed a contract for $300k, then found out something significant, and then signed another contract for $250k, to only find out after you submitted the new one, that the vendors deliberately signed the old one

You should withdraw the offer if you don't want it accepted.