Was an offer made and accepted in writing?

Was an offer made and accepted in writing?

What does the contract / receipt for the Earnest Money say? A builder seller can do anything they want if the buyer allows it. As long as it is within the law of course.

sasafras,

That helped how?

(Saltidawg: why are you always so confrontational? Again..... just curious.)

Apparently they already did it, so asking "can they? is moot.

But without knowing exactly what the receipt or any contract or other papers say, whether it's legal or not is unknowable.

If we had a clue about your location, we might be able to tell you to check your state's laws on how earnest money is handled ...

Agree, not enough info. Was the second earnest money a backup offer? If so, your (assumed) accepted offer stands as a signed agreement. If you want to negotiate for repairs, for example, the owners could just turn you down and begin dealing with the back-up buyers. A serious enough back-up offer to fork over earnest money gives the sellers negotiation leverage.

You have to let us know if you are under contract or not. And if not, then why has the deposit been turned over to the escrow agent? if you are under contract, then, no, they can not enter into another contract, unless it is in a secondary position to yours, which is the primary position.
If, as you say, there is a bidding war now, then it must be that you are not under contract, and therefore should have never given anyone a deposit.