Mario, The Counter that you signed is not official until the seller signs Paragraph 8 Confirmation of Acceptance. The agent, if authorized can sign that section too. You should be able to keep the deal you were offered unfortunately this market tends to pruduce a lot of situations like yours. If you feel the agents acted unethically, you can call the assocation (Pacific West Assoc of Realtors...see link) and file a complaint. If you don't want to do that, you can decide to but the house at the higher price. It's really your decision and I wish you best of luck in your decision. Sorry that this happened to you.

Hi Mario,

We hoping you'll give us an update, if you get a chance, to let us know how things turned out.

Mario, On your copy of the Counter Offer read section 2 and 3 then have your agent get in touch with the listing agent. Ask for verification of the new offer and when it was received. This might help you. Section 2 gives the seller the right to continue to receive offers but it could come down to when they were notified of your exceptance..

If your signature back to the seller was not followed back by a signed acknowledgment, then it probably wasn't a completed negotiation.