No. Putting your house on the market hires a brokerage and exposes the property to buyers. Neither act obligates you to convey it, and you are free to turn down every offer that arrives. One moment ends that freedom, and it is defined in Paragraph 3(b) of the purchase contract: you are bound when the last of you and the buyer has signed or initialed the final counter-offer and that signed copy has been delivered. From then on the buyer may pursue damages or ask a court to order the sale.
What a listing agreement actually commits you to
A listing agreement is a contract between you and a brokerage covering marketing and compensation. It conveys nothing and promises no buyer anything. The duty to deliver a deed comes from a separate purchase contract that you sign with a specific buyer at a specific price.
Your agent’s obligations run in the other direction. Section 475.278, Florida Statutes, lists presenting all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, unless a party has previously directed the licensee otherwise in writing, as a duty of both a transaction broker under subsection (2) and a single agent under subsection (3). Receiving an offer and owing an answer to it are different things. Whether ending the listing itself costs you anything is a separate question, covered in cancelling a Florida listing agreement.
The exact moment you stop being free to walk
Paragraph 3(b) of the FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar AS IS Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase, form ASIS-7x Rev. 12/26 published February 27, 2026, fixes the effective date as the date when the last one of the Buyer and Seller has signed or initialed and delivered this offer or final counter-offer. Two acts trigger it. A signature sitting in your agent’s inbox binds nobody until the executed copy goes out.
Section 725.01, Florida Statutes, stands behind that requirement. No action may be brought upon any contract for the sale of lands, tenements or hereditaments unless the agreement, or some note or memorandum of it, is in writing and signed by the party to be charged. Telling your agent by phone that you accept does not satisfy it. Neither does a text message saying the price works for you.
Do I have to sell if I am not happy with the offers?
No, and rejecting an offer breaches nothing, because until you sign there is no contract with that buyer to breach. You can counter at a number you would genuinely take, let an offer lapse, or pull the house off the market entirely. The only financial exposure from saying no sits in your listing agreement, which carries its own termination terms, protection period and compensation language. Settle the number you would accept before showings begin, so that answering an offer becomes a comparison against a figure you already chose.
What a buyer can do if you sign and then refuse to close
Paragraph 15(b) covers seller default. If for any reason other than failure of Seller to make Seller’s title marketable after reasonable diligent effort, the seller fails, neglects or refuses to perform the seller’s obligations, the buyer may elect to receive return of the deposit without thereby waiving any action for damages resulting from the seller’s breach, and, pursuant to Paragraph 16, may seek to recover such damages or seek specific performance. Paragraph 15 survives closing or termination of the contract.
Paragraph 16 sets the route. Both sides attempt mediation under Chapter 44, Florida Statutes, and the Florida Rules for Certified and Court-Appointed Mediators, before a mediator who is certified or has real estate industry experience, and disputes left unsettled there may be resolved by instituting action in the appropriate court. Paragraph 17 splits any mediation fee equally and awards the prevailing party in litigation its costs and reasonable attorney fees from the non-prevailing party.
Specific performance asks a court to order the conveyance instead of awarding money. Section 48.23, Florida Statutes, names that claim by type and lets a buyer record a notice of lis pendens in the official records of the county where the property is located, which carries the pending claim on your title for the duration of the case. The timing and discharge rules are in the questions below.
The three exits the contract actually gives a seller
Read the form looking for seller termination rights and three turn up. A change of heart is absent from the list.
| Seller exit | What has to be true | Your window | Where it sits in the form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title you cannot cure | A defect rendering title unmarketable survives your reasonable diligent efforts during the 30-day Cure Period | The buyer’s elections run first; if you cannot timely cure and the buyer does not waive, the contract terminates and the deposit is refunded | Standard A(ii), and Paragraph 15(b) carves this out of seller default |
| Buyer missed the financing notice | A financed buyer delivered none of the written notices required by Paragraph 8(b)(iii) or (iv) before the Loan Approval Period expired | 3 days after that period expires, and the buyer is refunded the deposit | Paragraph 8(b)(v) |
| Force majeure past closing | A Force Majeure event continues to prevent performance more than 30 days beyond Closing Date | Either party may terminate by written notice, and the deposit is refunded to the buyer | Standard G |
The financing exit depends entirely on the buyer’s oversight, so it is nothing to plan around. The Loan Approval Period runs 30 days after the effective date when that blank is left empty, which means your window opens and shuts on a date you have to calendar in advance.
The counter-offer clock Standard F does not extend
Standard F makes time of the essence and computes time in calendar days based on where the property is located. It extends any period or date that would end or occur on a Saturday, Sunday, national legal public holiday as defined in 5 U.S.C. Sec. 6103(a), or a day on which such a holiday is observed, to the next calendar day that is none of those. Then it carves out two items with the phrase other than time for acceptance and Effective Date as set forth in Paragraph 3. Paragraph 3(a) allows 2 days after the day a counter-offer is delivered for acceptance unless the form states otherwise.
Work it through. You deliver a counter-offer on Monday, November 9, 2026. Acceptance is due within 2 days after that day, landing on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. November 11 is Veterans Day, a legal public holiday listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), and the Paragraph 3 carve-out means the deadline does not roll to Thursday. Your counter expires that Wednesday if the buyer has not signed and delivered.
Contrast the financing window, which Standard F does extend. An effective date of Monday, November 9, 2026 puts the default 30-day Loan Approval Period expiration on Wednesday, December 9, 2026, and your 3-day termination right under Paragraph 8(b)(v) on Saturday, December 12, 2026, extended to Monday, December 14, 2026.
Before you sign anything
- Decide the price you would genuinely accept before the first showing, then counter to that number rather than somewhere near it.
- Find the effective date line on any offer or counter-offer before you sign, and confirm when the executed copy was delivered. Delivery is half of what binds you.
- Confirm every required signature. A spouse, co-owner, trustee or personal representative missing from the signature page can leave you unable to convey marketable title.
- Calendar the Loan Approval Period expiration the day the contract goes effective, because your financing-related exit is only 3 days wide.
- Keep acceptances in writing and deliberate. Section 725.01 shields you only while nothing signed has been delivered.
- Handle the listing agreement as its own question, with its own termination terms and protection period.
Frequently asked questions
Does my agent have to show me every offer?
Yes, unless you have said otherwise in writing. Section 475.278, Florida Statutes, imposes the duty of presenting all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, unless a party has previously directed the licensee otherwise in writing, on transaction brokers under subsection (2) and single agents under subsection (3). Section 475.278(1)(b) presumes transaction brokerage unless single agency or no brokerage relationship is established in writing, so the duty applies by default. Being shown an offer creates no obligation to respond to it.
Is a verbal acceptance binding on a Florida home seller?
No. Section 725.01, Florida Statutes, bars an action on any contract for the sale of lands unless the agreement, or some note or memorandum of it, is in writing and signed by the party to be charged. Paragraph 3(b) of the AS IS contract adds delivery, setting the effective date at the point the last party has signed or initialed and delivered the offer or final counter-offer. A spoken yes leaves you outside both requirements.
Can a buyer stop me from selling to someone else during a dispute?
Effectively, yes, by recording a notice of lis pendens. Section 48.23(1)(b)1, Florida Statutes, names actions filed for specific performance and provides that such an action has no effect on title except between the parties unless that notice is recorded in the county official records. Once recorded, your title carries the pending claim. Section 48.23(2) expires the notice 1 year after the action commenced unless the relief rests on a duly recorded instrument or a chapter 713 part I lien, or a court extends it for good cause, and section 48.23(3) lets the court discharge it as it would dissolve an injunction.
Where to go from here
The seller questions that follow this one are about money. For the deposit fight when a deal collapses, see who actually decides a contested earnest money deposit, and for the compensation side, see whether a Florida seller pays the buyer’s agent.
If you are weighing a listing and want your price floor settled before offers arrive, book a strategy session with our team at mvphomegroup.com/nelsoncruz. We set the number you would accept first, because every deadline above runs from a signature you control. This is general information about Florida contract forms and statutes, not legal advice.
Nelson Cruz, P.A.
Founder & CEO
MVP Home Group, Real Broker LLC
Nelson brings nearly two decades in law enforcement to his work in real estate. View Nelson’s profile or contact our team at 407-901-9939 or [email protected].
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration of a thick stack of printed contract pages open on an oak desk, showing an empty signature block with unsigned ruled lines, a slim black pen resting across the page, a paper clip and a brass desk clock. Not a particular property, contract or transaction.