seller may had bad experiences with arbitration. Perhaps you should open conversation and understand why.
And most lawsuits are brought by the buyer, so you should ask yourself if you are type of person who want frivolous lawsuits. If there is no intent to sue, you are hang over some thing imaginary.
How old is the house?
It is probably the seller’s agent who doesn’t want arbitration. When I recently sold my house, the agent tried to get me to forego the arbitration clause but I refused. I think there is lore out there that an agent is more likely to be found liable for failure to disclose in arbitration.
Anyway, The primary benefit of an arbitration clause is that it makes it easier to sue if there are undisclosed defects. Doesn’t seem worth blowing the whole deal over in a seller’s market. There are arguments for why a buyer might prefer to go to court; it is not clear cut, at least in my mind. And, in any event, if a dispute later arises the parties could always agree to arbitrate then.
Seller is in an assisted living facility. Supposedly she needs the money from the sale.
The seller keeps saying she wants a fast close.
The deal will close in about three weeks from when there is an agreement.
The seller said she was going to accept the original bid and the orginal bid had arbitration.
Then…the broker left that section blank when he replied to my daughter’s bid. Then said he meant to check no arbitration.
The house is vacant.
I don’t buy the bad experience with arbitration argument. Most brokers push arbitration. My wife is in the real estate business and has never heard of anybody not choosing arbitration. Obviously it happens but it must be rare.
I doubt this woman has ever been involved in arbitration.
We aren’t bending on this.
There is also a little other nonsense occuring.
I think this arbitration disagreement is a way to stall and hope for more bids.
Of course, my daughter’s bid is still the best after several days and she has been told twice the house is hers. This time, she doesn’t believe the realtor because there really is no deal. 
At least you have to find out why. Otherwise, you just keep on looking.
An empty house does not mean it does not have a buyer. Not sure if you are buying in San Mateo or Santa Rosa, but there is a seller’s market here.
My daughter is the high bid.
The seller wants to keep shopping.
My daughter is going to walk in an hour.
The bid expired again. Twice the seller’s realtor said there was a deal.
And then there wasn’t.
I think that’s it now.
The seller’s broker better hope he gets an overpriced bid like my daughter’s bid.
No word from DS. Guesssing they got outbid again.
Tough market for buyers.
you scored… sort of… and then you didn’t…
We were played.
The seller is going to be a loser though.
The bid was too high and my daughter was going to eat the section 1, 2 and 3, work from the pest report.
That was over $10,000.
Jym626, your son’s bid was aggressive?
The market is too hot right now, perhaps it’s wise to wait.
Doubt interest rate will be much higher.
My son just went to Houston to assess the low oil price situation. Said Houston RE is going down…
Companies there are offering early retirements…just like 2008.
My daughter was considering a move to Austin. I don’t like that.
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/arbitration-pros-cons-29807.html
Arbitration pros and cons
His bids have been aggressive. There were 14 offers.
dstark, I thought your daughter’s bid had been accepted. Grumble…
Nothing is “accepted” until they sign on the dotted line.
That’s correct.
The original bid expired. The seller did not respond in time. The seller’s agent wrote an email and said they would accept the original bid as written if it was rebid. The original bid had arbitration. The seller’s agent then sent us a signed contract but the arbitration page was blank.
Then we sent a signed contract with arbitration, same as the original. The seller’s agent said they want lawyers instead and because the original bid expired, there is no deal and they have another bid.
Remember, the seller’s agent wrote an email that said they agreed to the original terms as written.
Now the two bids were presented to the seller along with a third bid. For some reason, the seller was given 8 hours to decide.I think that is ridiculous and gave the seller unneccesary time.
The seller met with her agent after 3 hours.
After 6 hours… With 2 hours to go…before the bid expired…the seller’s agent sent our broker an email. Congratulations. You got the house. Then the broker sent us a 10 page dcument without the arbitration. That was part of the bid.
So… Our broker sent back an email and said no we don’t have a deal. Then the deal expired.
Just want to add that between our first bid and second bid… Which were identical as the seller wanted… We received the pest control report from the seller. Section one was $9,000.
Our agent said it was unethical, if we rebid, knowing what the pest control said and didn’t ask for a credit on the second bid, if we intend to ask for a credit later.
Asking for a credit for something you already know about and didn’t ask for earlier is unethical.
So…no credit was asked for. My daughter decided to eat the $9,000.
Technically, we didn’t have a deal. That’s true. My wife works for a real estate developer. She deals with lawyers and brokers all the time. She said the broker wants our bid around because it is a good bid. There is a very good chance my daughter’s bid is going to be the best bid. The broker is trying to stall so he can see more bids. It is a hot market. The broker is also sleazy. Twice he said he accepted my daughter’s bid.
Jtm626, 14 offers and these places are not cheap.