For Sale By Owners and the New Louisiana Purchase Agreements Mandated By State
Below is unfortunately what many FSBO (For Sale By Owners) go through and I see many emails and scenarios like this. We as Realtors can only talk about our contracts as we are not allowed to give out legal advice because we are not attorneys. We never know what purchase agreement a for sale by owner used, so it's hard for us to get in the middle of this situation. It's the small stuff of our purchase agreements that get a buyer and seller in trouble. Those are the things that we are watching for to protect our clients to make sure they are following all terms on the purchase agreement.
In January, 2008 everyone who works with a licensed agent in the state of Louisiana are mandated to use the new state regulated purchase agreements. 
These purchase agreements will basically say the buyer has about 5 reasons to break a contract. In our state we have a specific performance contract. This means that what is written is what the buyer and seller must do to not be in breach of contract. In our new purchase agreements it is 10% of the purchase price and damages, etc. I would not advice anyone to use this contract on their own; my agents are retaking this purchase agreement course again with an attorney because of how complex it is. Unfortunately I am seeing buyers and sellers signing these contracts and they have no understanding of the meaning of all the terms that are written in the purchase agreement. If you don't understand something I would not sign it, but the harder part is following all the deadlines that are written in the contract. The seller also has certain rights to cancel a contract if things are not done and proven to them in a timely manner. So I would advise all For Sale By Owners to beware of just signing these contracts without help from professionals that have knowledge and experience using them.
Question From My Website - Thank you for your kind offer to help. I have a simple but stressful scenario. I have sold my house to a seller through private channels. Two Chinese brothers. Initial offer in writing, subsequent counter-offers in email. An accepted offer at $640k. With the acceptance, and prior to a deposit, i agree to buy another home. After that deals goes thru, and we are working on subject-to's, and once they get word of my deal, the brothers decide, on a whim, to cancel. Their only subject-to was financing, to which they have ample as they are buying as many homes in the neighborhood as they can. My question: once the deal is accepted, are they not legally required to complete it, or end it only by their subject-to's? And if so, do they not require proof of reasonable effort if i threaten to sue them? many many thanks for any thoughts, drew..