Hello: I understood that only one offer should be signed by a short sale seller at a time which is then forwarded to the short lender for review all other offers are put in back up status until the first buyer offer is cancelled. However in California we have a short sale addedum C.A.R. Form SSA, 11/10 specifically clause 6 which if signed buyer and seller apparently gives the seller the right to continue to market their property, sign more offers if they wish, and forward those offers to the short lender. The seller is required only to notify the 1st buyer that the seller has signed more than one offer and has forwarded those offers to the short sale lender for review. Has anyone had any experience sending more than one signed offer to the lender using the short sale addendum wiggle clause? It seems to me that the seller is still the owner of the home and could potentially run into some legal problems if more one than one offer is approved by the lender?? What if a second, third, fourth buyer tries to force the issue by quotating this short sale addendum inorder to get their offers reviewed by the lender instead of being put into back up offer status. The seller ultimately could get a better offer that might have a better chance of approval by the lender in this scenario without having to start the whole review process all over again. However I wonder if this is legal, any suggestions??
Thanks
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Agreed on all accounts with the prior responses. Also... have you ever tried to submit more than one offer to a lender? They don't like it. And with Equator, you simply can not do it.
Keep it simple. One contract, one submission. All others as backup.
Now... just to cover YOUR ass, you may want to send a quick email to your negotiator letting them know you have a backup offer. I have had to produce an email trail between myself and the negotiator because a Buyer thought I had not submitted their offer. I showed them where my negotiator told me that they only work with one offer at a time.
WOW. I'm glad I'm not in California. That has lawsuit all over it. Imagine being the buyer on the first contract, patiently waiting, giving up your residence in anticipation of closing only to find out another offer was submitted. NO WAY...that buyer could sue all day long. No thanks. I could think of a thousand scenarios why only ONE executed contract should be submitted at a time. I see big time lawsuits if not.
I 100% agree with Bryant on every level of this.
James. Paragraph 6 in the CAR SS ADD is foolishness. It is your board trying to cover their agents asses. Just because it gives the seller the "right" doesn't mean they must. If I were a broker in CA I would be scratching this clause from the addendum. Always remember that our boards are there to protect realtors. In the process of doing this they are notorious for harming the consumer. these ridiculous addenda are one of the mail reasons why there is so much confusion amongst agents when it comes to short sales. Seek the advice from a COMPETENT short sale attorney in your area. We have quite a few on this site.
We submit a signed contract to the lender not an offer. And it should be the highest and best deal you can get. Once the seller has accepted an offer it is signed and becomes a contract and the property is under contract. However, just as in any real estate transaction the seller can accept more offers that then become secondary contracts contingent on the primary contract.
If you forward those to the lender you are creating confusion and placing the seller in a position that could create a huge legal issue. The seller already has a valid contract and CANNOT EVER submit another contract to the lender until the fist contract is no longer in force.