Email Exchange Binding?

I plan on contacting my attorney tomorrow but thought I’d throw this question out to the group. Is an accepted offer via email exchange binding? After weeks of negotiating, the seller emailed me saying, “please email a purchase agreement as we will take this offer.” I signed the purchase agreement, emailed it to the seller and waited. Called the next day and was told that “the other buyer countered” and we have already signed his agreement. This was actually the second time they did this to me. Obviously, I’m furious but I’m trying to determine if this is worth a legal fight. I don’t want to drop thousands of dollars just trying to make a point. If anyone has any experience with a similar issue, I’d love to hear some advice.

Thanks,
Jon

You will lose. The statue of frauds says all contracts must be in writing. I get you feel wronged but this happens everyday in real estate. There’s a difference between wrong and illegal.

Jon, on this subject you are most likely to get as many conflicting opinions as there are people on the forum.

Print out a complete set of pages of the threaded email (both times), take them to see your lawyer and let him/her advise you. I doubt that a good lawyer will charge you thousands to file a simple case to enforce the contract or recover damages.

I have bought many properties, both physical and virtual and most of the time everyone honors the email communications of an offer / acceptance. Some courts consider electronic communications (email) the same as a letter / contract through the post office, others will not.

Jd585,

Thanks for the reply. I did contact my attorney and provided all the documentation. His recommendation was to move on as the chances of winning a case against the seller is unlikely. On to the next one…

Jon