Can You Sell One House To Three Different People?

I had a buyer in town from North Carolina recently that was looking for a great deal on a short sale in Kissimmee, Florida. We made an offer on a property and couldn’t get the listing agent to confirm that he’d received it for almost two weeks. Looking back, I think this was a sign of things to come. We finally got in touch with him and got the offer accepted. I’m thinking, “Awesome, I got this deal pending and only had to show these buyers five properties.” I really can be naive sometimes. It was way too much to ask.

A few days go by and the property hasn’t been made pending in the mls yet. So I call the listing agent and he tells me he’s not putting it in pending status until the short sale is approved by the bank. UH-OH, this conversation isn’t starting well. Then he tells me that he’s had three offers and just had the seller sign all three and then submitted them all to the bank in one package.

“I see, well then what position are my buyers in?” I ask. “What do you mean?” is his response. AHHH MMAAANNNNN!!!!! Now I’m thinking, “Ok, I should have seen this coming, here we go again.” As I started to realize this deal just went down the toilet, I thought to myself, “at least I can use this experience to help someone else down the road.”

I figure this is a great opportunity for me to help educate future buyers (as well as some agents) about how this process was supposed to be handled. The problem with this scenario is that a seller can’t sell his property to 3 different people. A short sale is between the seller of the property and the buyer. The bank does not get involved until after the property is under contract. THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S A LEGAL CONTRACT.

If there are multiple offers, the seller should accept what he deems to be the best offer. The other offers can then be used as back ups. The listing agent should send along an addendum making clear what position each buyer is in. In Central Florida when any of these offers is accepted the property should be made pending, per our MLS rules.

If a short sale is not handled properly, you as a buyer could be waiting 5 or 6 months waiting for the bank to tell the listing agent that he screwed up. That’s 6 months of your life that you’ll never get back, and no house to show for it.

If you’re a buyer and want more info please visit…http://centralfloridashortsales.com/

If you’re an agent and want more info please visit…http://www.shortsalesuperstars.com/