It looks that there was no contract at all. First, let's assume that he made an offer first and you rejected, and you made a counter-offer. A counter-offer terminates the orgainal offer so that his original offer would never revive. Now, the tricky part is that he accepted the counter-offer, BUT said that he needed to see the house one more time. I don't know how a court should explain this. To me, I would interpret that his acceptance of the counter-offer was conditioned on the final inspection or visit. Technically this is NOT a good acceptance and there was still no contract between the two of you. However, this conditional acceptance does not terminate your counter-offer so that he could still accept it and so did he by faxing. At this point there is a contract formed between the two of you, although it can NOT be enforced due to violation of Statute of Frauds.
No wonder he was angry.
If he wishes he could claim reliance damage. However, the key is good faith. He must prove that he actively looked for another house but was unable to find a similar house within a raesonable time. He must also prove that he actively tried to secure a loan but could not get anything below what he's gotten right now, within a reasonable time. If he is sitting idle no court will allow him to recover anything. Other than these, his recovery would be limited to the reasonable and foreseeable expenses he paid, such as document fee and maybe fuel expenses. Since the expenses will not be involved with a huge dollar amount, I don't think any lawyer would be interested in a case like this. In contract case emotional distress is not recoverable. Nor is punitive damage. I think the guy is bluffing.
To make sure, consult an expert, who is from the realtor company and who is familiar with the realty law.
No wonder he was angry.
If he wishes he could claim reliance damage. However, the key is good faith. He must prove that he actively looked for another house but was unable to find a similar house within a raesonable time. He must also prove that he actively tried to secure a loan but could not get anything below what he's gotten right now, within a reasonable time. If he is sitting idle no court will allow him to recover anything. Other than these, his recovery would be limited to the reasonable and foreseeable expenses he paid, such as document fee and maybe fuel expenses. Since the expenses will not be involved with a huge dollar amount, I don't think any lawyer would be interested in a case like this. In contract case emotional distress is not recoverable. Nor is punitive damage. I think the guy is bluffing.
To make sure, consult an expert, who is from the realtor company and who is familiar with the realty law.
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