FACTS: Seller has subdivided three acres. Seller will retain two acres to live on, but has offered one acre for sale.

Seller receives a full-price offer from a buyer who wants to live on the one acre, and intends to open a trapeze school at the property, as well.  The County states the zoning of the property would allow the trapeze school.

The seller subsequently rejects the buyer’s offer because he doesn’t want to live next to a business (the trapeze school).

ISSUE: Can a seller reject an offer by a buyer based on the intended use of the property by the buyer?

ANSWER: Yes.

DISCUSSION:

A listing agreement is not a binding agreement to sell. The seller is simply making an invitation to have a buyer make an offer.

In this instance, the seller has rejected the buyer’s offer because the seller does not want to live next to a business and may therefore reject the buyer’s offer, even if the offer is full price.