Q: I have a back up offer in on a house. Can I offer the person in the first position money to buy them out of the contract
A:
Here's what you want to avoid: getting sued for interference with a contract. The buyer and seller have a contract, and you step in and stop that contract. To avoid this type of lawsuit, anything you do needs to result in making both the buyer and seller happy.
One option is to pay both of them more than they expected. If they are both happy with your offer to them to cancel their contract, you are fine.
If you only make one of them happy and the other is angry when you get the contract cancelled, then you have a possible lawsuit on your hands. If you pay the buyer to get out, but you pay the seller less than the buyer offered, now the seller is angry. A lawsuit like this would seek to get what they would have had without your influence on the original contract. If state law allows, they may also be able to sue for extra funds to punish you.
If you make the seller happy, but not the buyer, then the buyer might be able to sue to purchase the house for themselves anyway.
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