house sale went bad--update
After waiting 3 weeks for all of the contingincy's to be ment and yesterday at 5:00 pm was the dead line, our realtor called and said that the buyers sent a e-mail to them and wanted to cancel the contract that they had signed, or lower the selling price by 30,000.00 .
** Update--Sale of house is done, buyer is getting escrow back. We are so upset over this that we are just dropping everthing and not suing anybody. The realtor admitted listing the property wrong as having 1 - 2 acres and it only has alittle less than 1 acre. The buyer thinks that they were being cheated or lyed to. When we listed the house we told the realtor that it had 1+- acre but we furnished her with the survay that didn't stated the acrage but was told that she would figure out the acrage and list it correctly. I guess she didn't and just listed it as 1-2 acres. The home inspection brought to light the difference and the buyer went nuts and dropped the sale.
There is over 900 feet of water front and there is something called riparin rights that was not figured into the acreage that would have brought the total acreage to over 1 acre. The buyers are so mad at their realtor that they are not talking to them anymore so we can't explain the total acreage to them, they just want out. So its over and we start again. We started listing the house at 480,000 and had dropped the price to 375,000 just to sell it so we could go to Tenn.. so that my wife could take care of her parents that are in there 80's and we were not going any lower on the price, we just wanted a quick sale. The house should sell for 600,000 to 700,000 if we wanted to wait.
** Update--Sale of house is done, buyer is getting escrow back. We are so upset over this that we are just dropping everthing and not suing anybody. The realtor admitted listing the property wrong as having 1 - 2 acres and it only has alittle less than 1 acre. The buyer thinks that they were being cheated or lyed to. When we listed the house we told the realtor that it had 1+- acre but we furnished her with the survay that didn't stated the acrage but was told that she would figure out the acrage and list it correctly. I guess she didn't and just listed it as 1-2 acres. The home inspection brought to light the difference and the buyer went nuts and dropped the sale.
There is over 900 feet of water front and there is something called riparin rights that was not figured into the acreage that would have brought the total acreage to over 1 acre. The buyers are so mad at their realtor that they are not talking to them anymore so we can't explain the total acreage to them, they just want out. So its over and we start again. We started listing the house at 480,000 and had dropped the price to 375,000 just to sell it so we could go to Tenn.. so that my wife could take care of her parents that are in there 80's and we were not going any lower on the price, we just wanted a quick sale. The house should sell for 600,000 to 700,000 if we wanted to wait.
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Sue them for non-performance (Breach of contract) 0 -
If they cancelled the contract before the deadline, and the contract allowed them to do this, the deal is off.
If the contract stated that once all the contingencies were met, the contract could not be cancelled, then you can sue them and force them to buy the house. I know of a case in Atlanta where this very thing happened.
If the contract gave the buyers three weeks to fulfill all the contingencies, such as inspection, getting financing, then you need a new realtor. That is way too much time. I wouldn't give them more than a week.
If the contract allows you to sue them, it is unlikely that you would have to go ahead with a full fledged lawsuit. If they get a letter from your lawyer, and it is a good chance that they would lose the lawsuit, why would they blow $20K on legal fees when they are going to lose anyway? If they thought you were going to sue them, they would probably fold and go ahead and buy the house.
I suspect that they are playing some hardball, down and dirty negotitiating tricks. Wait until the seller is in a bind, and then at the last minute try to knock off $30K from the price.
You need to take your contract down to a real estate lawyer. Don't take your realtor down there, because you are getting bad advice from this realtor.0 -
I am not a lawyer but the best that I can read the contract it says that if all of the contingencies are met then it can not be canceled. We were informed that all of the contingencies were met a couple of days before the dead line for all of them to be met, so I am under the impresion that at the time they were all met it was done. For some reason they wanted to cancel the contract then they made a lower offer after all of the contingencies were met. Is this legal or normal? 0 -
Sounds to me like the "buyer" wants to put you over the barrel. If you have a binding contract make them follow through. 0 -
. "Is this legal or normal?"
If you are reading the contract right, it is not "legal", at least, it is a violation of the contract.
It is not exactly normal, but funny stuff happens during real estate deals. Read my first post about the lawyer.0 -
I will contact a lawyer on Mon. and see what they can do for us. 0 -
first stick to them like they tried to do to you...then relax, if the house was saleable once it will be so the second time, just extra chit for you...seems like there is a lot of this type of business dealings anymore...ethics & value of a persons word has pretty much disappeared nowadays....i know...get a vicious lawyer & new realtor that is working for you, not just grabbing your wallet 0 -
Notice he said a REAL ESTATE Lawyer!....Very important!
I agree about the realtor. The realtor is supposed to be working for you. He/she knows exactly how the contract reads! You may have a complaint against the realtor depending on state requirements to be certified as a realtor. If you do BURN EM! There are some sleazeballs out there! I had one try to keep my 10% "earnest money" that they demanded for a CASH sale! (the same gal wanted me to use the sellers lawyer at closing to "save time and money" and did her best to keep me from meeting the seller!) Jeeez!
Good luck I hope it reads the way you read it!
Allen0 -
You probably will get to keep the earnest money in which the realtor has in escrow. Time they put out their fees not much will probably be left. Sounds like the buyer's got cold feet. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by select-fire
You probably will get to keep the earnest money in which the realtor has in escrow. Time they put out their fees not much will probably be left. Sounds like the buyer's got cold feet.
Sounds like a slimy realtor realized you were moving and tried to get his client some extra spendin' money. Happens all the time.0 -
Do not discuss this with your real estate agent. He may be in cahoots with the buyer! Seek an opinion on the law from a realestate lawyer. You real estate agent may be on the other side of the table if it comes to push and shove.
The buyer may have offered the agent 10 grand to put a 30K lower price on the table. It is best to relax, enjoy the game don't suffer from what if and make the call at 9:00AM monday morning.0 -
Your realtor is legally bound to represent your best interests. He
should have collected earnest money and should be threatening legal action against the buyers for breach of contract. If this is not the case, ask the realtor why.0 -
I was involved in a contract dispute here in western North Carolina. Just to give you an idea of the fees involved, I found a lawyer who, on the phone, said it sounded like I had a good case.
I went down to his office and he read the contract. He said that if it had to go to court, it would cost $10,000. But, he thought that the other party would fold if threatened with a lawsuit. The lawyer agreed to write them a letter that demanded they go ahead and comply with the contract, and if they didn't, they would get sued. The consultation and the letter cost $200.
I talked to another lawyer on the phone. He said he would not just write a threatening letter, but that he would go ahead full bore with legal proceedings, and he wanted $5,000 up front.
I decided to use the first lawyer. The letter was sent, and the other party decided they would go ahead and honor the contract. They folded so fast, I doubt that they even wasted money on a legal consultation, they pretty well knew they were in the wrong.
It can really help a person to get their mind right to get a letter like that. Imagine, they are at home, and that certified letter arrives. They have to sign for it. They see the return address is a law firm in the town where you live. Before they even open that letter, they say to themselves, "Oh Sh**"!!!0 -
Tuesday I have an appointment with the best real estate attorney in town. He will send one of those letters to the owner of the title co. ( who is an attorney ) to have a lien satified that they missed. Should get interesting. 0 -
Get a lawyer and tell them that the price goes up $10,000.00 for every day they are in breech of the contract... 0 -
I remember you posted this case a while back, select-fire. Keep us updated.
Lawyer threatens to sue Lawyer, that will be good.0 -
What bpost 1958 SAID!!!
DO NOT DISCUSS your legal options with the realtor!!! EITHER REALTOR (neither your listing agent nor the buyers' agent).
Get a free legal consult first. Take it from there and understand !))% how any legal fees incurred by you will be paid and how much. Weekly-Biweekly invoices from your lawyer would be nice as legal fees/billing hours can accumulate FAST!!! [;)]
Brad0 -
I went through this very situation about four years ago. My wife sold her home and we met all the items on the list that had to be repaired. The seller had put up 4K to bind the sale.
We had to file a claim in small claims court and go to court to get the money. It went back and forth a few times but we walked away with half of the money. The judge felt sorry for the buyer because he was an old guy in his 70's. But we at least got some comp for our delay of sale.
We put the property back on the market and sold it within two months.
In Oregon you have to get a judgement in order to take the money out of excrow.0 -
quote:Originally posted by BlueTic
Get a lawyer and tell them that the price goes up $10,000.00 for every day they are in breech of the contract...
It is always best not to make threats that seem very difficult or even impossible to make happen.
BTW, I side with gjshaw although I wonder why he doesn't seem to have a clue as to the exact reason (real or lied about) that the buyers are offering as their reason for backing out. I hope they had to put up a large amount of earnest money along with the offer they made. And I hope the buyers will lose their earnest deposit to gjshaw. However, from reading the information posted I suspect they either put up a very small amount of earnest money and/or they included a "weasel clause" in their offering contract that will allow them to recover their earnest money. Although I believe that if gjshaw doesn't sign a release for that earnest money, then it must by law remain in the escrow bank account of either the REALTOR or the title company until something happens (legal action, agreemeents, etc.) allow the money to be paid out from that account.0 -
The buyer had to put up 5,000 in earnest money up front and another 5,000 at contract signing. All of the 10,000 is refundable, not hard money, they put that in the contract. I have read and reread the contract all day and it does give me 30 days to correct any problems that may arise by law. I can not find anywhere in the contract anyplace that just lets them say that they want to end the contract and walk away with out first letting me have 30 days to correct what ever they think is wrong. The home insp. was perfect and nothing was wrong there and they had 5 days to notifiy me of any problems that the inspector found and that time has passed so all of the contingency's were met. The wife wants to let it slide and let them out of it and I said no, we are in a legal contract and I plan on making it stick. For everybody's info. we are talking about 375,000. house, not a 100,000 fixer upper. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by gjshaw
The buyer had to put up 5,000 in earnest money up front and another 5,000 at contract signing. All of the 10,000 is refundable, not hard money, they put that in the contract. I have read and reread the contract all day and it does give me 30 days to correct any problems that may arise by law. I can not find anywhere in the contract anyplace that just lets them say that they want to end the contract and walk away with out first letting me have 30 days to correct what ever they think is wrong. The home insp. was perfect and nothing was wrong there and they had 5 days to notifiy me of any problems that the inspector found and that time has passed so all of the contingency's were met. The wife wants to let it slide and let them out of it and I said no, we are in a legal contract and I plan on making it stick. For everybody's info. we are talking about 375,000. house, not a 100,000 fixer upper.
What is the sense of a buyer putting up an "earnest money" deposit if the contract states the buyer can have the deposit back if they want it? That is nothing more than just basically showing you the money and then basically putting it back in their pocket. I don't call that a legitimate "earnest money deposit".
You didn't use one of the "for sale by owner" type REALTORS did you?0 -
did you talk to a lawyer yet. you'll have to keep us posted on this 0 -
Sue for Specific Performance. You have met your duty and they had met their burden of proof by having all contingencies satisfied. The "key" to me is their saying they'll go through with the deal if you drop $30,000. Sue them for damages + COSTS!! 0 -
Buyer did not have an ACCURATE representation of what he thought he was buying (1 or more acres of land with a house).
Unfortunately, the error is YOURS since the agent, who you hired, represents YOU.
In effect, your contract is deficient and does not meet the legal test of a meeting of the minds--it did not describe what the two parties agreed to.
In these cases, the buyer has the right to refuse to carry out the deficient contract and has the right to suggest a different price to correct YOUR (agent) error.
Try to negotiate an acceptable price with the buyers; you might be able to salvage something out of the deal that went sour. (Call the agent's broker and ask him/her to call the buyers on your behalf.)
Ask yourself how many months of waiting for another buyer would eat up that $30,000 in payments for insurance, heating, taxes, and mortgage.
Sorry to hear about your situation but it does happen.0 -
I am a lawyer, and if the sale was for 2 acres, and you don't have 2 acres, the deal is off. You either adjust the price, or everyone gets out of the deal. 0 -
I don't pretend to know what your payments are but if I thought I could make a couple hundred grand more by waiting a year or two, I would hold on & rent a place where you are going. You might be able to rent out your current house as well.
I always sold one house when I moved to another but looking back, I should have kept both of my prior homes and rented them out. But that's just me.... do what's best for yourself.0 -
Another thought strikes me. If your agent has both sides of the deal, you can, with luck, have him contribute some money towards what the buyer is asking--after negotiations. Example: Buyer now wants $30,000 off the price. You and he settle for $25,000. Gross commission for the agent is 6% of original sales price: $22,500. Agent kicks in $15,500 and you kick in $9,500 and close the sale.
You might need the agent's broker to agree to this (they should; after all, part of a loaf of bread is better than no slice at all).
Good luck.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
I am a lawyer, and if the sale was for 2 acres, and you don't have 2 acres, the deal is off. You either adjust the price, or everyone gets out of the deal.
Now wait for his bill.0 -
OK, your realtor blew it, listing it at 1-2 acres.
But this is no reason for the buyers to become so irate.
If the listing was 1 to 2 acres, then the lot could have been as small as one acre, and the listing would have been accurate. You are just under an acre, so the difference is slight.
This buyer either has a chip on their shoulder, or they were looking for any excuse to get out of the deal.
Hairy can correct me, but it seems to me that the other mistake your realtor made was in giving the buyer 3 weeks to meet contingencies. Seven days seems more like it to me. First, you should already KNOW if you are qualified at the bank for $375K house before you go house shopping. If you don't know, you can find out in one day at the bank.
I have gotten lots of house inspections done. Even a person from out of town can call up a qualified inspector and get that inspection done in five business days.
Giving the buyer three weeks benefits them and hurts you.
Ditch that realtor, and if they give you any crap about still being under contract, tell them that you are thinking of suing THEM for blowing this deal. That ought to get your deal with this realtor dissolved.0 -
Who buys a 375,000 piece of property without having it surveyed. Survey would say how much property it is. Something stinks on this sale. Buyers were looking for an out on the agreement. Any chance the Realtor showed them another property? or they found something that fit them better? 0
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