California Real Estate SalespersonContractsMedium
A seller offers to sell a home for $450,000. The buyer responds in writing, "I accept, but only if you include the refrigerator." Under contract law principles tested on the California exam, this response:
- AIs a counteroffer that terminates the original offer
- BCreates a binding contract because the buyer used the word "accept"
- CConstitutes acceptance with a minor addition that does not affect the contract
- DIs void because it was not communicated in the same format as the offer
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Is a counteroffer that terminates the original offer
Under the mirror-image rule, an acceptance must match the exact terms of the offer. Adding a new condition (the refrigerator) changes the terms, making it a counteroffer that rejects and terminates the original offer.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Using the word "accept" doesn't matter if the terms are altered.
- C. Any change to the terms, even a small one, prevents it from being a valid acceptance.
- D. Format of communication is not the issue; the changed terms are.
Mirror Image Rule / Counteroffer
An acceptance must exactly match the terms of the offer; any change constitutes a counteroffer that terminates the original offer.
- Counteroffers act as a rejection of the original offer
- The original offeror becomes the offeree
- Only exact acceptance creates a binding contract
Memory trick: Mirror it back exactly, or it's a counteroffer