How To Get Your Contract Counter-Signed and the Ethics of Multiple Contracts

Is it ethical for sellers to send out multiple contracts?

The real estate market is a tempest right now, and deals are dissolving for any number of reasons without warning. In this kind of climate, sellers’ agents often see sending multiple contracts out as being in their clients’ best interest. The strategy is to see which contracts come back and make a decision from those. It’s a good tactic for a seller, but hard to weather if you’re the buyer and don’t know anything about your competition.

For buyers, finding an apartment is no easy feat, and finding the right one is a worthy cause for celebration. After months of searching, negotiations, finding a lawyer, and signing a contract, to get a call saying the seller accepted a different offer and has countersigned it is frustrating, angering and disappointing. If you haven’t had that experience, chances are someone you know has told you the story. There are just as many stories of anger and disappointment on the side of the seller after potential buyers back out of signing even after their offer has been accepted.

The ApplePeeled had a provocative post last week about the ethics of sending out multiple contracts, and pointed out, correctly, that an accepted offer technically means nothing- you need to have a counter-signed contract in hand to guarantee the sale. They also offered some tips for what you can do to give your “accepted offer” the best chance possible to become an actual purchase:

1. Line up your lawyer ahead of time. Don’t wait to look for one until you need one.
2. Ensure that your broker is ready to be the liaison with everyone, can send out a deal-sheet quickly, and conveys a sense of urgency.
3. Choose your battles wisely around what you want to fight for and what you’ll accept as part of the contract.
4. In general, expect a contract to arrive 2-4 days after an offer is accepted, and another 2 days for the counter-signed contract to come back to you. If things are taking longer, ask questions and make sure you understand and accept the answers.

Photo Credit: ChourPower

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