10-01-2011, 10:42 AM
What constitutes legal varies state to state, because different states have different laws. Real estate agents that wish to practice across state lines must get licensed in each state because of this, just like lawyers must be approved in each state they practice. In some states, when both parties sign the offer letter, it becomes a binding contract. In other states (and it sounds like the case in NY), it only becomes a binding contract after a lawyer reviews and confirms it.
Ethical or unethical falls in another category of murky water. I definitely see your annoyance and frustration from a buyers' perspective. If viewed from a seller's perspective, though, their goal is to get the most money for their sale as possible, and in today's buyers' market, that can be tough. If NY has laws that do not make it a binding contract until the lawyer signs, and during that wait a higher offer came in, they were probably in a serious dilemma and, unfortunately for you and your family, decided to go with the other. I may not win friends or influence people with this statement, but they treated it like a business transaction, which it is. It is an emotionally-invested business contract for buyers, but it is a business transaction either way.
We went through a few rounds of similar issues when buying our house. Our home's seller accepted our offer, and literally twenty minutes after I received the signed letter back, my realtor called to say to freeze because the seller had received a higher offer minutes after they faxed and were considering it. Luckily, that other offer was for more money but included a lot of clauses that made the seller pass in favor of our simpler (albeit slightly lower) offer that was already signed. They could have backed out, and I'd have been annoyed, but we had it happen twice before and were prepared. At this point, I'm glad the other two did what they did; the house we did finally get is much better for our family. It worked out in the end. It will for you, too.
Ethical or unethical falls in another category of murky water. I definitely see your annoyance and frustration from a buyers' perspective. If viewed from a seller's perspective, though, their goal is to get the most money for their sale as possible, and in today's buyers' market, that can be tough. If NY has laws that do not make it a binding contract until the lawyer signs, and during that wait a higher offer came in, they were probably in a serious dilemma and, unfortunately for you and your family, decided to go with the other. I may not win friends or influence people with this statement, but they treated it like a business transaction, which it is. It is an emotionally-invested business contract for buyers, but it is a business transaction either way.
We went through a few rounds of similar issues when buying our house. Our home's seller accepted our offer, and literally twenty minutes after I received the signed letter back, my realtor called to say to freeze because the seller had received a higher offer minutes after they faxed and were considering it. Luckily, that other offer was for more money but included a lot of clauses that made the seller pass in favor of our simpler (albeit slightly lower) offer that was already signed. They could have backed out, and I'd have been annoyed, but we had it happen twice before and were prepared. At this point, I'm glad the other two did what they did; the house we did finally get is much better for our family. It worked out in the end. It will for you, too.
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