34. A buyer wrote an offer to purchase a seller's property, which was listed at $175,000. The listing stated all appliances came with the sale. The buyer's offer was $165,000 with all appliances. The seller countered $170,000 with no appliances. The buyer countered the seller's counteroffer at $162,000 and did not reference the appliances; the seller then countered the buyer's latest counteroffer at $165,000 and the buyer accepted. Which of the following is true with regard to the appliances?
Answer: C
The appliances were removed in the counteroffer and never reinstated in subsequent offers.
The seller's counteroffer of $170,000 explicitly stated that there would be no appliances included, which effectively removed them from the transaction. As the buyer then made a counteroffer of $162,000 without referencing the appliances, they were not included in the negotiation going forward.
A) The buyer can expect the appliances to be included in the transaction because they were listed in the advertising.
This option is incorrect because the initial advertisement is irrelevant once the negotiation process has begun. The seller's counteroffer clearly indicated that appliances would not be included, which supersedes the original listing.
B) The appliances would be included as they were mentioned in the earlier $165,000 offer.
While the appliances were mentioned in the buyer's initial offer, this is not sufficient to ensure their inclusion after the seller countered with a different term. The seller's counteroffer removed the appliances from consideration.
C) The appliances were removed in the counteroffer and never reinstated in subsequent offers.
This statement is correct. The seller's counteroffer clearly stated that there would be no appliances included, and the buyer did not address the appliances in their counteroffer, thus solidifying their exclusion from the final agreement.
D) The appliances will have to be included as they were not excluded in the final counteroffer.
This option is incorrect. The final counteroffer of $165,000 did not mention or include the appliances, meaning they were not part of the agreement reached between the buyer and seller.
Conclusion
Option C is definitively correct because it accurately reflects the sequence of negotiations where the appliances were excluded by the seller's counteroffer and were not reinstated in subsequent offers. All other options fail to recognize the critical impact of the seller's terms during the negotiation process, which established the final agreement without the appliances.