FACTS:                    

The buyer’s agent submitted an offer using the Arizona REALTORS® Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract (Contract).  Several hours later the listing agent texted the buyer’s agent saying that the seller had signed the offer. The listing agent subsequently stopped communicating with the buyer’s agent.  The buyer’s agent learned several days later that the seller had opened escrow with another buyer.  

ISSUE:                      

Did the listing agent’s text create a contract by and between the parties. 

ANSWER:                

No.  

DISCUSSION:         

The Contract specifically provides how acceptance may be accomplished in Section 8o.  Specifically, an offer becomes a binding contract when acceptance signed by the seller is delivered to the buyer’s agent.  Here, the signed acceptance from the seller was never delivered to the buyer’s agent.  As such, the text from the listing agent does not create a valid contract.