We hear this question a couple of times a year from Tallahassee buyers. Our answer is simple. The answer is always no if you do not ask, so let’s ask. However, once the sellers sign the offer contract, there is very little they can do to cancel that contract. If, as a Tallahassee buyer, you want to make an offer to beat contract price, it would be more productive to spend time asking the Tallahassee buyer to cancel the contract.
The difficulty there is that the buyer and their agent is unknown. We know who the seller is and their agent, but there is no similar information for the buyers side. This means that all offers go through the seller’s agent. However, even if the seller agrees to sell to the new bidder, the current buyer under contract may say no. If that happens the seller must stick with the current offer, or risk being sued in court.
As listing agents for a home in an extremely popular Tallahassee neighborhood, we had cash buyers approach us and offer the seller $10,000 more than the current offer. The new Tallahassee buyer didn’t even know the current offer amount was, but they provided proof of funds for significantly more than the home prices in the neighborhood. These buyers had cash and were willing to waive the appraisal and inspection contingency and give the contracted buyers $5,000 to terminate their contract and find another home.
The sellers were willing, but the buyers did not want to terminate. The contracted buyers were still in their contingency period and would not have lost their earnest money deposit. In theory, it would have worked, had the contracted Tallahassee buyer agreed. However, it does not happen very often. Check out more information our buyers and sellers pages.
