Is a verbal agreement and/or addendum ever truly binding

[Christopher Davis]

A year ago I bought a new construction property from a builder. At the time spirits and moods were high. The house was a labor of love by the builder somewhat, according to him. In our conversations he said "Now Chris if you ever sell, I get first option to buy this house back at market rate." Haha I nodded, sure thing bud. I was not sure if he was serious or not.

Well, a year later and now I want to sell. The whole relationship has gone badly as his performance as a builder was extremely deficient and this whole year I've dealt with a lot of other minor contractual and performance failures on his part. (We closed with the house unfinished, my mistake, it has led to all kinds of problems, but that's another story.) He has failed in so many ways I almost filed complaints with multiple state agencies against him.

(I seem to remember seeing this buy-back statement of his written in the contract or some addendum, though I have been scouring it line by line all day to find it again, and I cannot. I may have dreamt it. I can't remember. I can't find it anywhere though.)

Either way, would this be something he could legally hold me to? If it were indeed written in the purchase agreement?

He has already been shown to play dirty. So there is no telling if he would some after me should I sell. I believe I could defend myself by pointing out all his other delinquencies in the project. We are no longer on speaking terms.

My intention is to unload to the highest bidder on the open market, and that may even be an iBuyer. I am considering multiple avenues to selling. I have no intention in calling him up and offering him the house.  

Hope this post is clear. Thanks for any input.