accepted an offer then higher one came in

All the above and get a signed 66w, so there's no pulling out.

 

This. & why not let the first potential buyer know there is another being considered so they have the opportunity to match/beat the second?

 

Agreed. Selling nor buying is about a warm and fuzzy feeling. It is business. The highest bidder wins.

 

Hmm. Legally perhaps but in business I am a firm believer in doing the right thing. I always try to stay true to my word. Tough choice to make on this issue.

 

Me too.
But until they have the signature, they don't have the first buyer either.

 

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. After trying to establish the conditions and situation of the people who made the second offer, they pulled out because they didn't want to answer any of the questions agent put forward... so original offer is going ahead!

 

If nothing signed then it is just that..nothing. Need to see that signature with the offer. As it is I would go for the higher offer however I would suss them out first to see who is the most genuine.
The one that is "unconditional" and not "subject to" would get my vote. Happened to us just recently where we took the highest offer as the first one was not in writing...not sure what they were waiting for ? We did give them a week !

 

so is verbal binding in WA/SA without a signature? what is the difference?

(sorry, just wanted to know as no idea about other states other than WA)

 

I'm confused as to how this has even happened with no paperwork.

When I've made offers on places its always been a bit of verbal back and forth, then you can tell its getting "real" and that its close when the agent gets it in writing with the token deposit amount. The seller then accepts by signing off their part, or counter offers and you accept by signing off.

Is it common in other states outside of QLD to do it all verbal until final signing?

 

First to sign, pay and exchange has the property as long as they do not excercise 5 day cooling off right in NSW.

 

my offers have all been on a contract thrust in front of me by eager agents duly signed then generally waited a day or two for vendors to make up their minds. if they didn't accept then I moved on.

 

Been gazumped in QLD by the developer who had a higher offer however he then offered another property which in hindsight was probably better than the gazumped

 

It wasnt signed by the developer. We had signed a contract to buy and was then given to developer to sign. I have never seen a contract with vendors signature on it it first..I wish !

 

Verbal doesn't mean anything until a contract is signed and deposit paid.

If both are unconditional offers ask for a deposit on both and see which ones goes through with it.

 

Depends, can be the same as QLD, or QLD can be the same as NSW, generally the solicitors do the exchange in NSW, prior to that you can do verbal, written or signed contract. An agent can probably do the exchange, but if your paying solicitors they will likely be doing this.

It works ok, but you could be bumped if no exchange, I had a vendor and agent & solicitor doing exactly this recently, they were delaying to see if another better offer came along, usually the agent is trying to sew up the deal, if you sign the contract and leave a deposit, it would be unusual to not then exchange as most vendors probably get talked into signing by the agent or are wanting the sale anyway, so it would happen probably same or next day if local vendor.

I do prefer if the solicitors do it, because usually they are at arms length, and once they have both been notified to act, there may be some resistance if vendor/agent tried to play games at that point, they also allow review/change of contract terms possibly before exchanging (if parties agree of course)

During the offer stage, however it is being done, is not really any different to QLD.

 

Im not sure how you got that from my post. In all cases as a buyer we have been presented with an unsigned contract of sale, we have duly signed and then sent to developer/vendor to sign. Sometimes this can take a week even longer if the other party is interstate or overseas. In that particular case where we were gazumped it took 12 working days to get an answer back from the vendor. This used to happen quite regularly in the early 2000 in QLD.