Deerfield Beach, FL asked in Contracts and Real Estate Law for Florida

Q: Can a text message be considered a legal binding contract?, I made an offer on a house via text message to the agent,

that same day she answered to me on a text saying the sellers accepted your offer,next morning she tells me she received a cash offer and they decided to go with that one instead?, can I make them liable of accepting my offer first???

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2 Lawyer Answers
Richard Paul Zaretsky
Richard Paul Zaretsky
Answered
  • West Palm Beach, FL
  • Licensed in Florida

A: Any agreement concerning real estate must be in writing, be signed by all the parties, and contain the essential terms of the agreement, generally:

Who

What

Where

When

How Much

I doubt that your text message contained all of these elements.

Further, the real estate agent is not the seller of the house and you did not have the correspondence with the actual sellers.

Therefore most likely, you did not have any binding agreement between the parties.

Jonathan A. Klurfeld
Jonathan A. Klurfeld
Answered
  • Boca Raton, FL
  • Licensed in Florida

A: Generally any communication can be a contract; a text to handwriting on a napkin if containing the terms of the agreement. BUT as pointed out, in Florida contracts for sale of real estate MUST be in writing so this is likely not a contract, and further the text very likely does not have the bare requirements to be a contract. You should hire yourself an agent as it costs you nothing (seller pays his/her agent 6% who splits that with your agent 3% and 3% each); and some attorneys are realtors too like myself who can offer both services in one.

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