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By Meredith Caruso<\/div><\/div>\n

Every real estate contract includes deadlines, and sometimes one deadline \u2013 such as one for buyers and sellers to deliver an executed copy \u2013 will change. This confuses more than a few members. Hopefully this bullet-point timeline will help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Members have a lot of questions about the time-for-acceptance date in our contracts and how that applies to contract formation. Hopefully this simpler bullet-point list will make it easier to understand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Time for Acceptance: <\/strong>Each Florida Realtors contract has a section that addresses time for acceptance of the offer. In general, it\u2019s a specific date \u2013 but a party could specify a time as well. Let\u2019s take a look at the language in one of the contracts and break it down.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the language from the Florida Realtors\/Florida Bar (\u201cFR\/Bar\u201d) contracts:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Paragraph 3(a) states \u201cif not signed by Buyer and Seller, and an executed copy delivered to all parties on or before ___________, this offer shall be deemed withdrawn and the Deposit, if any, shall be returned to Buyer. Unless otherwise stated herein, time for acceptance of any counter-offers shall be within 2 days after the day the counter-offer is received.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Date applies to initial offer ONLY<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The date entered is the deadline for the seller to respond to the buyer\u2019s offer<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
I emphasized \u201coffer\u201d here because this date applies to the buyer\u2019s initial offer only \u2013 it\u2019s not<\/strong> a deadline for the parties to reach a \u201cfinal deal.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
The seller\u2019s response could be an outright acceptance of the offer or it could be in the form of a counter-offer.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
If the seller doesn\u2019t respond by this date, the buyer\u2019s initial offer is deemed withdrawn.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
If the seller responds past this \u201cwithdrawn\u201d date, the seller should change the time-for-acceptance date in their response in addition to any other changes they wish to make.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
At this point, the buyer would have to accept any change(s) including the change to the time for acceptance \u2013 but the buyer is under no obligation to do so.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Seller-buyer counteroffer<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n
What if the seller changes something, such as the purchase price, and sends the contract back to the seller before the time-for-acceptance deadline? The ball is then in the buyer\u2019s court.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Per sentence two in paragraph 3(a) of the FR\/Bar contracts, unless otherwise stated, the buyer must respond to the seller\u2019s counter-offer within two days after receiving it to keep the deal going.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Buyer accepts<\/em> the counter-offer<\/strong>: This is commonly done by initialing\/dating next to the purchase price change or other changes the seller has made; but if a counter-offer form was used, sign and date that form.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
Buyer doesn\u2019t accept<\/em> the seller\u2019s counter-offer<\/strong>: They don\u2019t have to do anything, and the transaction fails once the counter-offer deadline has passed.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
If a buyer wants to make a new counter-offer, they have two days to respond.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
The response pattern continues if the buyer\/seller continue to make counter-offers \u2013 each party needs to respond within two days. If two days pass after any counter-offer has been returned to the buyer or seller, it effectively means the deal has died.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Deadlines missed \u2013 but parties want to proceed?<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n
If either party misses any two-day deadline, the deal can still proceed if both agree. However, be sure to acknowledge the ever-important Effective Date in writing to clarify that all parties are on the same page.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Since most deadlines in contracts stem from the Effective Date, there could be potential legal issues later if the parties disagree about the actual Effective Date.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Meredith Caruso is Associate General Counsel for Florida Realtors<\/em><\/span><\/span>
Note: Information deemed accurate on date of publication<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a9 2023 Florida Realtors\u00ae<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
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\nAuthor: izaakh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Meredith Caruso Every real estate contract includes deadlines, and sometimes one deadline \u2013 such as one for buyers and sellers to deliver an executed copy \u2013 will change. This confuses more than a few members. Hopefully this bullet-point timeline will help. ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Members have a lot of questions about the time-for-acceptance date in our contracts and how that applies to contract formation. Hopefully this simpler bullet-point list will make it easier to understand. Time for Acceptance: Each Florida Realtors contract has a section that addresses time for acceptance of the offer. In general, it\u2019s a specific date \u2013 but a party could specify a time as well. Let\u2019s take a look at the language in one of the contracts and break it down. Here\u2019s the language from the Florida Realtors\/Florida Bar (\u201cFR\/Bar\u201d) contracts: Paragraph 3(a) states \u201cif not signed by Buyer and Seller, and an executed copy delivered to all parties on or before ___________, this offer shall be deemed withdrawn and the Deposit, if any, shall be returned to Buyer. Unless otherwise stated herein, time for acceptance of any counter-offers shall be within 2 days after the day the counter-offer is received.\u201d Date applies to initial offer ONLY The date entered is the deadline for the seller to respond to the buyer\u2019s offer. I emphasized \u201coffer\u201d here because this date applies to the buyer\u2019s initial offer only \u2013 it\u2019s not a deadline for the parties to reach a \u201cfinal deal.\u201d The seller\u2019s response could be an outright acceptance of the offer or it could be in the form of a counter-offer. If the seller doesn\u2019t respond by this date, the buyer\u2019s initial offer is deemed withdrawn. If the seller responds past this \u201cwithdrawn\u201d date, the seller should change the time-for-acceptance date in their response in addition to any other changes they wish to make. At this point, the buyer would have to accept any change(s) including the change to the time for acceptance \u2013 but the buyer is under no obligation to do so. Seller-buyer counteroffer What if the seller changes something, such as the purchase price, and sends the contract back to the seller before the time-for-acceptance deadline? The ball is then in the buyer\u2019s court. Per sentence two in paragraph 3(a) of the FR\/Bar contracts, unless otherwise stated, the buyer must respond to the seller\u2019s counter-offer within two days after receiving it to keep the deal going. Buyer accepts the counter-offer: This is commonly done by initialing\/dating next to the purchase price change or other changes the seller has made; but if a counter-offer form was used, sign and date that form. Buyer doesn\u2019t accept the seller\u2019s counter-offer: They don\u2019t have to do anything, and the transaction fails once the counter-offer deadline has passed. If a buyer wants to make a new counter-offer, they have two days to respond. The response pattern continues if the buyer\/seller continue to make counter-offers \u2013 each party needs to respond within two days. If two days pass after any counter-offer has been returned to the buyer or seller, it effectively means the deal has died. Deadlines missed \u2013 but parties want to proceed? If either party misses any two-day deadline, the deal can still proceed if both agree. However, be sure to acknowledge the ever-important Effective Date in writing to clarify that all parties are on the same page. Since most deadlines in contracts stem from the Effective Date, there could be potential legal issues later if the parties disagree about the actual Effective Date. Meredith Caruso is Associate General Counsel for Florida RealtorsNote: Information deemed accurate on date of publication \u00a9 2023 Florida Realtors\u00ae \u2715 ADVERTISEMENT Go to Source Author: izaakh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}