20 Apr 07 A Handshake
One of our church members told me a story about buying a house based on a handshake. It didn’t happen in the frontier days like you might expect. It was way back in the l980’s. Seems the guy was tired of living next to the church and notified that he was intending to sell. The church members was helping out around the church office. He walked over there on a lunch break talked to the guy shook hands as an agreement to purchase. Word got out the guy wanted to sell and someone came in an offered him more money. The man said no. He was quoted as saying "a handshake is a handshake."
We arrived to sign yesterday and sealed the deal on a handshake.
Of course the handshake was with the escrow agent.
Of course the handshake occured after we signed a couple of tree’s worth of paper.
To celebrate the handshake (and the event) we went to In-N-Out and purchased a milkshake.
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Congrats on the house! Just for future reference … Carl’s Jr and Chick Filet have the better milkshakes. Of course, that place you took us to eat last November (twice) has wonderful shakes! But I’m sure the point of this blog was not, in fact, milkshakes. But the mere mention of them sent my mind on this journey . . .
Man oh man. Wish I could have been there to celebrate with you. Congratulations!!!!
Hey, congratulations. It has been forever since I was able to travel around blog land and now I come back and you are homeowners once again. Nice. I clearly have some catching up to do. Big question, though is does it have a hoop or suitable place to install one?
Also, here’s your legal trivia for the day. Did you know that with a few exceptions, an oral agreement, if it otherwise meets the elements to establish a legal contract, is every bit as binding as one in writing. In many cases a handshake has just as much legal force as a signature. Ironically, one of the most well established exceptions is a contract for the sale of land (house included) which is required to be in writing. So, while sticking to the handshake deal is certainly honorable, turns out it isn’t binding. Now a promise to buy me a milkshake at In n Out next time I’m in town in exchange for free legal advice on the legality of oral contracts, would certainly be a binding contract, which by the way, I would gladly accept.
Again, congrats.
congratulations.
Hey, congratulations. Glad this part of it is all over with. The handshake story is nice. One of our preacher friends sold a house on a handshake sometime in or about the ’80s, too, here in Memphis. He had a 4-sale sign in the yard (I guess he was selling it himself, w/o a realtor). A man came by, asked to see the house, said he wanted it, and that he’d be back the next day with the money and sealed it with a handshake. Robert agreed and though to himself (yeah, right). Lo and behold, it happened just the way the man said, and the rest is history.
What is it with you and In n Out, anyway??
Great stuff. Congrats!