Can seller & buyer be one and the same?

[linlithgow]

A house inherited by a brother & sister is for sale on the open market.
The brother is trying to buy out his sister for as cheap as possible.
Though he is actually the seller of the house; as a potential buyer is he entitled to know the dollar amount of offers being made on the property?
This way he will come in with an offer of $1 more than the highest offer and thus "get" the house, without any bidding war?
Is it legal that as a seller, he will have insider knowledge of the dollar amount of offers on the house, to then use that to his benefit by making a slightly higher bid on the house for himself?

 

[NY_Shark]

Why wouldn't this brother simply buy the sister's share in the house, and then only have to take out half of the greater mortgage, and instantly have half of the home's equity paid for?

 

[jharris352]

I take it you are the sister who wants as much money as possible out of the brother. YES he is entitled to see all the bids. Just because he is a potential buyer does not mean he is not the seller. Given that logic YOU are a potential buyer. So if neither of you seller/potential buyers can see the offers what are you going to do?

You do not have to sell your interest. So he can come in $1 higher than the best offer and you don't have to sell. I know that means you don't get any money, but the actual value of a house is what someone is willing to pay for it. So the highest offer is the ACTUAL VALUE of the house. You want your brother to pay what you want to sell the house for, not what it is actually worth.

Why don't you two sit down as two related adults, stop trying to profit on each other and work it out?

 

[linlithgow]

No, it's not me! It's a good friend of mine who's brother is very greedy and is constantly manipulating the situation to his advantage. I was just hoping to find some good advice for her. She has already paid so much money to lawyers, she just can't afford to keep it going.

 

[jharris352]

The answer is still the same. He is just as entitled to see the offers on the property as she is. She does not have to sell if she disagrees with his evaluation. Good luck.

 

[linlithgow]

But, her brother filed a partition suit to force the sale of the house (needlessly; as my friend wanted to sell) so, if my friend doesn't want to sell at this time (there is no time limit in the settlement agreement) it appears that her brother can go to court and force the sale of the house at a below market price.
He has used the legal system to manipulate the situation to his benefit.

 

[jharris352]

I can't imagine a reason a judge would require that she sell her portion of the property for under market value. He can file and ask for anything, what he gets is an entirely different matter.