ask george & chuck
July 14, 2008

Verbal contracts, title insurance
Answers to real estate questions as appearing
in the Houston Chronicle

Dear George: We negotiated for a week on the phone and via e-mail to reach a price satisfactory to us and a seller. Our REALTOR® hand-delivered a contract and earnest money to the seller's REALTOR® with the understanding that it would be signed by the seller. Less than 24 hours later, the seller's REALTOR® told our REALTOR® that another buyer had offered a better price. The house is now under contract with that other buyer. What can we do?

Answer: You've been operating upon the misconception that what was stated was a commitment of some kind. It was not. The seller's REALTOR® should have said that he expected his client to sign the contract, but that nothing was binding until the seller's signature was obtained. You don't have a deal until the offer has been signed by all parties.

Dear George: I own a one-acre lot that I purchased in 1993 from several different owners. I was able to secure title insurance on only 3/4 of the property because the original owner died intestate. When he died, half of the property went to his wife and a quarter went to each of their two children. His wife then sold the property in the 1970s to the guy I bought it from. When the title company performed a search for me in 1993, they found that one of the children has all sorts of liens and judgments against him. Is there a sort of statute of limitations that would resolve this after so many years?

Answer: Missing heirs, adverse claimants, people claiming to be family members, and subsurface rights can all cloud a property's title. Some problems like lien claims do have a statute of limitations. Missing heirs, however, are a different problem. Some titles can't be cured. Hire an attorney experienced in these matters.