Ask Bob

From the Real Estate Mailbag in today's Washington Post.

DEAR BOB: We bought a new house in April, which was under construction at the time. The builder's salesman assured us that all five adjoining houses and lots would have the same features. We closed our purchase Aug. 28. We were surprised to find that three adjoining houses got landscaping, but our house didn't. When we complained, the sales agent said the builder decided to landscape those houses. We feel cheated. Do we have any recourse? -- Donna Z.

DEAR DONNA: In real estate, everything must be in writing to be legally binding. Oral statements by the builder's salesman are unenforceable unless included in a written agreement signed by the builder's authorized representative. There is a good reason real estate agreements must be in writing to be enforceable. Without written proof, it becomes an argument over who said what. It looks as if you have no legal recourse against the builder, but consult a lawyer for more details.

DEAR BOB: About two weeks ago, we made a written offer to buy a "for sale by owner" house. The sellers had all the forms and filled them out with the price we wanted to offer, which was about $7,500 below the asking price. They said they would think about it. When I called the sellers a few days ago, they said they accepted a better purchase offer that was about $5,000 higher than our offer. Shouldn't they have given us a chance to match that second offer? -- Lance R.

DEAR LANCE: You were a victim of "offer shopping." That can easily happen when a naïve buyer such as you makes an open-end purchase offer with no expiration date. If you had been represented by a buyer's agent, that person would have suggested your offer be valid for not longer than 24 hours. A time limit puts pressure on the seller to promptly accept, reject or counteroffer. Instead, your seller obviously showed your offer to other buyers to shop for a better offer. The home seller had no obligation to ask if you wanted to match or surpass the second offer. Your situation provides a valuable lesson on how to avoid offer shopping by always specifying a short offer expiration time, such as 24 hours.

DEAR BOB: My home is listed for sale and a buyer made a good purchase offer that I accepted. Although the listing and buyer's agents told me what a superb buyer he was, he turned out to be a total flake with bad credit who couldn't get a mortgage. He paid a $10,000 earnest money deposit. After 30 days, I was entitled to cancel the sale and did so. The buyer had the nerve to demand refund of his deposit after I held my house off the market for 30 days. I refused to refund, but now I can't get that $10,000, which is being held in the broker's trust account. What do I have to do to get that $10,000? -- Evan R.

DEAR EVAN: The real estate broker holding that deposit in the broker's trust account is doing the right thing by refusing to either refund the $10,000 deposit to the defaulting buyer or give it to you until both parties agree on its disbursement. Unless you and the buyer can resolve the dispute, the broker must hold the funds. State law usually requires after a specified period, such as 12 months, if the parties cannot agree what to do with the money, it must be interpleaded into the local court. That means the judge decides who gets the $10,000. Consult a lawyer for details.