Receipt for Consideration - Posted by Lee Allen

Posted by Ed Copp (OH) on December 05, 2006 at 19:12:04:

Good consideration can be anything, not necessarily money. Your intent to purchase can be good consideration. Your offer to purchase needs to be specific. If money is deposited with the seller it needs to be spelled out. What happens to the money needs to be spelled out in the offer to purchase. If the purchase is conditioned on other events then the contingencies need to be spelled out exactly in the offer to purchase.

Once the offer to purchase is written in such a way that everything is understandable, and both the buyer and the seller sign the offer it then becomes a contract. It is nearly impossible to enforce items in the contract that are not spelled out exactly.

So you ask if we get signed recipts, the answer is yes. The delivery of earnest money is usually a stated item in the contract, and the parties sign the contract.

Receipt for Consideration - Posted by Lee Allen

Posted by Lee Allen on December 05, 2006 at 11:27:05:

Are you supposed to get a receipt when you give consideration to a seller?

I have a seller that has decided not to sell me their house after I have spent over $800 on inspections and advertising fees.

A lawyer told me that I cannot sue for specific performance or breach of contract unless I had a signed receipt from the seller that I have him earnest money.

I told the lawyer that my contract starts out saying “FOR GOOD CONSIDERATION” and that the seller signed it.

I believe that this clause is the receipt for any earnest money paid to the seller.

Does anyone else get signed receipts for their deals?

Thanks,

Lee Allen