Gary Grice, a 35 year-old dentist, decided it was time to buy an apartment. After viewing a few places, he fotmd the apartment of his dreams-a three bedroom apartment with a beautiful big patio garden in Melbourne, owned by Jamala Truner. Jamala has owned her apartment for over 20 years and would like to nd a buyer that will love the property as much as she has. Jamala is moving because she recently inherited a home from her grandfather's estate. Jamala and Gary met several times and negotiated the terms of the sale of Jamala's apartment. After those meetings, on January 5, 2017, Jamala sent Gary an o-ail with an "agreement of sale" as an attachment. The email stated: "Dear Gary, attached please nd a copy of an agreement of sale. You may want to hire an appraiser to help in your decision. Let me lmow if you have any questions. Best, Jamala Turner." The agreement laid out all the topics they had previously discussed, including the apartments address, description, condition, sale price ($500,000), and closing costs. In addition, the document contained the following provision: "This offer will expire by Monday, 9:00 am, January 19, 2017. I must receive your acceptance by mail. My ofce address is 123 West Hastings Street. Vancouver." The same day, Gary replied by return email as follows: "Thanks for the efforts invested in writing the agreement. I plan on hiring an appraiser and will make my nal determination based on their opinion-but, of course, I am thrilled about the oer and will likely accept it. I will be in touch by the date mentioned." Gary immediately went to business. He searched the intemet and found Appraisal Solutions-a company specializing in affordable, fast, and accurate appraisals. He hired their services to appraise the value of Jamala's apartment. He sent, via Pay Pal, $1,000 to Appraisal Solutions for their fees and scheduled to meet them for their inspection on January 10, 2017 at Jamala's apartment. On January 7, 2017 Jamala received a phone message from Russell Jones' Flipped Properties, a for-prot club of seniors that buys homes and sells them for prot after renovations. The club has a poor reputation around the area for their lowequality renovations and the underhanded ways they find to purchase houses in prices lower than their market price. The club's President, Russell Jones, left the following message on Jamaia's answering machine: "I hear you are selling your apartment to Gary Grice. We can't match his offer but we can offer you $450,000 and a signich discount on renovation services for your next home, which in total savings would far exceed what Gary is giving you. Do you accept?" Rolling her eyes, Jamala called Flipped Properties and sarcastically le this message on their voicemail: "Yes, of course I'd just love to sell my half million-dollar property for $50,000 less than my current offer. It would be wonderful to sell it to a club that tears down perfectly beautiful] home; and then entrust the club to make cheap, cost-cutting renovations with my dear grandpa's house. All you need to do is, you know, hire some young people so you're not living in the dark ages, and bring me a cheque-and we are good to go." And she slams down the phone. The next morning, RuSsell hired two young temps to help out with the running of the business. Later that aemoon, Russell showed up at Jamala's apartment with a cheque of $450,000. Jamala, looking tlnough the door's peephole, said: "Is that a cheque in your hand?! I never meant to enter to any deal with you and your notorious club; I was only trying to illustrate the absurdity of the proposition!"She did not open the door and refused to accept Russell's cheque. Russell slipped the cheque and a memorialization of the deal under Jamala's door and le
