Affidavit and Memorandum of Agreement for Purchase and Sale

[Curtis M. Leidig]

I was negotiating with a seller and the seller sent me an offer and the seller said that they would not accept any changes to their offer.  I signed the offer and immediately sent it back to the seller. The next day the seller told me that they had accepted another offer.  It seems to me that I have an agreement with the seller even though the seller did not sign their offer.

I want to protect my position and not allow the seller to go around me.  I went to the courthouse in Prince William County, Virginia and the clerk at land records told me that I cannot file this affidavit because the seller did not sign the affidavit.

Any thoughts?

[Tom Gimer]

I generally agree with @Russell Brazil and @Chris Seveney about written agreements, but there certainly are a growing number of cases (thanks to text messaging, etc.) where the signed writing requirement has been satisfied by conduct other than a signature on the _______________ line at the end of the agreement.

Whether there was a binding contract formed in this instance would require an in depth review of the "contract" and all of the relevant communications surrounding it. I am not surprised that an attorney would be willing to take the case and start billing for their time. However the question is how much I am willing to invest in that attorney's bank account to possibly secure the property. If my plans were to flip it for a modest profit no way would I invest many thousands of dollars in attorneys fees just to possibly achieve that goal.