A buyer submits a written purchase offer on a Fargo, North Dakota home for $285,000. The seller counters in writing at $295,000. Before the buyer responds, the seller calls the listing agent and says he wants to withdraw the counteroffer and accept the original $285,000 offer instead. Under North Dakota contract law, what is the status of the original $285,000 offer?

Correct Answer

A) The original offer was extinguished when the seller issued the counteroffer and cannot be revived

Under established contract law principles applied in North Dakota, a counteroffer operates as a rejection of the original offer and simultaneously creates a new offer. Once the seller issued the $295,000 counteroffer, the buyer's original $285,000 offer was legally extinguished. The seller cannot unilaterally revive a rejected offer. The seller may only accept the counteroffer if the buyer agrees, or the parties must negotiate a new agreement.