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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buschmaster: LOL 0 -
quote:
Originally posted by mlincoln
Keep in mind that whenever you think about suing somebody, it's going to cost one heck of a lot of money and there's no guarantee that you'll win. Somebody will win: your lawyer and the other guy's lawyer. They'll have lots of steady work and they will get paid and you'll be amazed that you have to pay $1.50 per photocopied page.
Think about what your ultimate goal is: you want to sell your house. These people now no longer want to buy it. Perhaps if you came to them with your hat in your hand and offered them $10,000 off the price, they might. Perhaps you might want to try to sue them. I imagine you could roll up $10,000 in legal fees no problem at all, and you might get $15,000 from them, and so you've gained $5,000 and it has only taken you two years and God only knows how many phone calls and letters and so forth.
In short, it's a buyer's market and this kind of BS happens. It happened to me. Guy walked out on a contract, and I wanted to SUE! My realtor told me I was being stupid, that I needed to move on and find another buyer, and once he laid it all out to me I realized he was right.
Pretty realistic. However, if the part in red had a good clean and tight purchase agreement and your buyer walked in violation of that agreement, then the buyer should have lost a sizeable earnest deposit to you. The earnest deposit should either now be in your possession or the buyer should have had been the one to launch the long, expensive, drawn out legal battle in an effort to recover his earnest deposit.
Once an earnest deposit is deposited in the trust fund, in all cases I know of, it stays there until certain conditions are met by all parties. This usually has the effect of generally causing the buyer to remain fairly cooperative rather than lose their earnest deposit or to have to spend $5,000.00 in legal bills to recover a $1,000-$5,000 earnest deposit.
___________________________________________________
Getting back to this way late, but here's the rest of details: A guy puts down a $4000 deposit on the house I was selling, and we start the process rolling around. Then my agent can't get a letter from his bank saying his money is verified. My agent calls his agent, and his agent--and the man seemed embarrassed by it all--first said his client told him that he was going to buy the house and was just looking for a different loan, and then said he wasn't interested in the house and wanted his $ back.
Well, that's when I said I want to keep his deposit. And my realtor told me that if I did keep his deposit, technically I was accepting his offer and he was still buying the house. So the ding-dong says he's not interested, but I can not relist the house until we actually all sit down at the closing and he doesn't show up. That was 30 some days away. And, under VA law, he can show up at the closing and point out that I've accepted his money and say that he's still in the process of getting his $ together, and he can get an extension. Oh, and, if I keep his money he can say OK, fine, see you at closing, and a week before closing can always get out of the sale on the homeowner's documents. Yes, buyers can say, "Oh, I can't paint my door with purple and pink stripes? Well, I want out of this sale." And the seller has to let them out.
So, and let's all keep this is mind, in a market that I could easily tell was quickly headed south and picking up steam, I can spend 50 days brawling with this clown for $4000 I really can't get and then sell my house for $20,000 less that I could have in the first place, or I could let him go and find another buyer. I let him go.0 -
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
.... or I could let him go and find another buyer. I let him go.Smart move on your part. And to think you didn't need a lawyer. [;)][;)]0 -
quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
quote:
Originally posted by mlincoln
Keep in mind that whenever you think about suing somebody, it's going to cost one heck of a lot of money and there's no guarantee that you'll win. Somebody will win: your lawyer and the other guy's lawyer. They'll have lots of steady work and they will get paid and you'll be amazed that you have to pay $1.50 per photocopied page.
Think about what your ultimate goal is: you want to sell your house. These people now no longer want to buy it. Perhaps if you came to them with your hat in your hand and offered them $10,000 off the price, they might. Perhaps you might want to try to sue them. I imagine you could roll up $10,000 in legal fees no problem at all, and you might get $15,000 from them, and so you've gained $5,000 and it has only taken you two years and God only knows how many phone calls and letters and so forth.
In short, it's a buyer's market and this kind of BS happens. It happened to me. Guy walked out on a contract, and I wanted to SUE! My realtor told me I was being stupid, that I needed to move on and find another buyer, and once he laid it all out to me I realized he was right.
Pretty realistic. However, if the part in red had a good clean and tight purchase agreement and your buyer walked in violation of that agreement, then the buyer should have lost a sizeable earnest deposit to you. The earnest deposit should either now be in your possession or the buyer should have had been the one to launch the long, expensive, drawn out legal battle in an effort to recover his earnest deposit.
Once an earnest deposit is deposited in the trust fund, in all cases I know of, it stays there until certain conditions are met by all parties. This usually has the effect of generally causing the buyer to remain fairly cooperative rather than lose their earnest deposit or to have to spend $5,000.00 in legal bills to recover a $1,000-$5,000 earnest deposit.
___________________________________________________
Getting back to this way late, but here's the rest of details: A guy puts down a $4000 deposit on the house I was selling, and we start the process rolling around. Then my agent can't get a letter from his bank saying his money is verified. My agent calls his agent, and his agent--and the man seemed embarrassed by it all--first said his client told him that he was going to buy the house and was just looking for a different loan, and then said he wasn't interested in the house and wanted his $ back.
Well, that's when I said I want to keep his deposit. And my realtor told me that if I did keep his deposit, technically I was accepting his offer and he was still buying the house. So the ding-dong says he's not interested, but I can not relist the house until we actually all sit down at the closing and he doesn't show up. That was 30 some days away. And, under VA law, he can show up at the closing and point out that I've accepted his money and say that he's still in the process of getting his $ together, and he can get an extension. Oh, and, if I keep his money he can say OK, fine, see you at closing, and a week before closing can always get out of the sale on the homeowner's documents. Yes, buyers can say, "Oh, I can't paint my door with purple and pink stripes? Well, I want out of this sale." And the seller has to let them out.
So, and let's all keep this is mind, in a market that I could easily tell was quickly headed south and picking up steam, I can spend 50 days brawling with this clown for $4000 I really can't get and then sell my house for $20,000 less that I could have in the first place, or I could let him go and find another buyer. I let him go.
Whatever works best for you is what is best for you. However, I have to question why REALTORS even ask for earnest deposits if such a deposit is nothing more that playing some kind of game with money. As you were finally told.
I bet all people who advise you about how hard it is to seize the buyers earnest money (REALTORS, GB.com members, etc) will still, when selling, demand a sizeable ernest deposit in their future sales. But if earnest deposits can be quickly and easily recovered by the buyer, for little or no reason, then why would such people even care about earnest deposits?
I sold real estate for 7 years and I saw many an earnest deposit be forfieted by the buyers and then the house quickly put back on the market and sold to another buyer.
Fact, not fiction.0 -
quote: I sold real estate for 7 years Were you a licensed Realtor? If so, in which State for for which company? 0
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