Can you lose your house before closing the sale? (Baltimore: real estate, lawyer)

[QUERIOUS]

Hello,

I have some friends who are closing on a property in about a week. I was concerned for them that there still may be things that could stop them from getting the property during this time. Is this true, or is it that while you are waiting to close it's pretty much your house?

They have done the inspection, etc.

Thanks!

[james777]

They can't lose the house before the closing because they don't have the house. While they are waiting to close, it is not their house at all. The house becomes theirs at the closing, not after they have set their eyes on it.

[QUERIOUS]

So there can be multiple buyers waiting to close or bids still being accepted during this time?

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by QUERIOUS

So there can be multiple buyers waiting to close or bids still being accepted during this time?

Your friends should have a contract which spells out the conditions of the sale. Normally, if they have put down earnest money and have a contract, the seller can't accept another bid, except maybe, a "backup bid".

If your friends don't qualify for financing, that's another story, and then they can "loose the house". But as the PP said, it was never theirs before closing.

[EHCT]

When the seller accepts an offer from a buyer the 2 parties will have entered into a legally binding preliminary contract on the home. Therefore, the seller cannot legally entertain any more offers on the house once they have accepted an offer. Depending on what contingencies were written into the preliminary contract I suppose that the seller could renege if he/she is willing to deal with the penalties involved but I've never heard of this actually happening. By the way, I'm not a realtor. This is just the info given to me at the time I was purchasing my home.

[cjmeck]

No another buyer cannot just come in and take the house, that's why they are under contract. Assuming they are financing, that is the only part that could still go wrong. Likely? Not necessarily but it does happen. Appraisals are tricky too. Its not over til they have the keys in their hands. Its a stressful process but hopefully they have the right people in their corner putting out fires as needed.

[trickymost]

In Maryland, anything is possible.

I was under contract on a property I owned last year in a very nice part of Baltimore County, and killed the deal 3 days before closing. On top of that, I kept the buyers' good faith deposit.

They were a couple and were using an agent from L&F who was friends with one of the buyers' mother. The agent threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn't fix something cosmetic, not in the contract, and brought up past the home inspection.

I told the agent to pound sand, I wasn't fixing anything else, take it or leave it. The agent told me if I didn't take it the buyers would sue and close anyway.

I hired a real estate lawyer for $500, gave him all the information he needed to send a couple letters to the buyer and their agent. A week after the scheduled closing date, I had a $5,000 check from L&F in my hands.

The buyers were completely stunned and shocked. They wrote a very long and apologetic letter for the actions of their agent, asked me to return the money, and even offered to sign a contract with no contingencies for slightly more money, but I did not return their money.

This is a much shorter version of the story, but transactions don't generally require lawyers in Maryland, so until you have the keys in your hand, you don't have a house to lose.

I laugh my butt off every time I see the face of their agent on a L&F advert as one of their top producers for the month. I can't figure out who in their right mind uses this agent and how many other times this agent has cost their clients a lot of money.

[Tallybalt]

I am sorry to say this and I certainly don't know the whole story.

But based on what you said, it was a mean trick to keep the $5,000 check. You may have legally been entitled to it but the honorable thing to do would have been to return the check. It sounded like the buyers were screwed and misled by their agent's poor advice and actions and they really did want your house.

If I was angry at the buyers I would have waited until the house sold to someone else and then returned the check to them. I wouldn't be comfortable with the $5,000. It's taking the low road to keep that money.

Originally Posted by trickymost

In Maryland, anything is possible.

I was under contract on a property I owned last year in a very nice part of Baltimore County, and killed the deal 3 days before closing. On top of that, I kept the buyers' good faith deposit.

They were a couple and were using an agent from L&F who was friends with one of the buyers' mother. The agent threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn't fix something cosmetic, not in the contract, and brought up past the home inspection.

I told the agent to pound sand, I wasn't fixing anything else, take it or leave it. The agent told me if I didn't take it the buyers would sue and close anyway.

I hired a real estate lawyer for $500, gave him all the information he needed to send a couple letters to the buyer and their agent. A week after the scheduled closing date, I had a $5,000 check from L&F in my hands.

The buyers were completely stunned and shocked. They wrote a very long and apologetic letter for the actions of their agent, asked me to return the money, and even offered to sign a contract with no contingencies for slightly more money, but I did not return their money.

This is a much shorter version of the story, but transactions don't generally require lawyers in Maryland, so until you have the keys in your hand, you don't have a house to lose.

I laugh my butt off every time I see the face of their agent on a L&F advert as one of their top producers for the month. I can't figure out who in their right mind uses this agent and how many other times this agent has cost their clients a lot of money.

[trickymost]

Originally Posted by Tallybalt

I am sorry to say this and I certainly don't know the whole story.

But based on what you said, it was a mean trick to keep the $5,000 check. You may have legally been entitled to it but the honorable thing to do would have been to return the check. It sounded like the buyers were screwed and misled by their agent's poor advice and actions and they really did want your house.

If I was angry at the buyers I would have waited until the house sold to someone else and then returned the check to them. I wouldn't be comfortable with the $5,000. It's taking the low road to keep that money.

There is a lot more to the story, but I agree, for pretty much any other buyer or in any other scenario I would have given the money back no question asked. Either way it's a cautionary tale not to put too much earnest money up front and that you don't have a house until you have the keys in your hand.

[emjakebubbie]

selling, also, buying are two big stress factors in anybody's life. the biggest money most of us make or spend at one time.
A bad realtor can do bad things. I don't have any faith in L&F - not sure if it's their business model, or just inferior agents. We, too, have been victims of L&F RE's....grrrrrrrrrrr

If you are entitled to be paid money for something not your fault, why would you return it? the issue for those buyers, imho, would be to go after their RE. just imho.