Woods of South barrinton-Toll brothers Community (sale, real estate, lawyer)

[patti47]

Hi,

Doee anyone has any info about the back out options ,after signing the contract with Toll Brothers.My friend has signed a contract with Toll brothers last year.They are expecting to close in 6 weeks,but his current home has not yet been sold.It is in the market since one year.


has anyone gone through the backout process?
My friend has already paid 7.5% of the base price as deposit.

Any info would me helpful.

[brenty]

Usually you can only back out of a deal before 10 days after the signing. Builders are kind and understand difficulty. Your friend might be able to talk to the builder, and discuss his/her dilema. I believe those homes are relatively expensive. The more the home costs the more kind the builder will be.

[middle-aged mom]

It all depends upon the contract between the builder and the buyer. Some buyer's make their purchase continegent upon the sale or close of their existing home and some do not. Some builder accept contingencies and others do not.

Worst case, your friends could loose their deposit and be liable for more. Best case, the builder will work with them and give them an extention.

Your friends should consult their attorney ASAP.

[DonkeyTeeth]

Toll Brothers has a good reputation and builders in general are desperate these days to avoid having unsold property on their inventory. Approach them with an honest picture of the situation and they should be willing to work with you on an extension. You may still want to have a consulatation with an attorney in case they decide to play hardball and you need to know exactly what your options are under the contract you signed.

[patti47]

I guess that the builders are going to keep the deposit.

Did anyone have similar experience with Toll Brothers recently?Did you lose the 10% of the base price?

Any info would be gratetly appreciated.

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by patti47

I guess that the builders are going to keep the deposit.

Did anyone have similar experience with Toll Brothers recently?Did you lose the 10% of the base price?

Any info would be gratetly appreciated.

Some builders are accepting contingent offers and some are not. This is negotiated upfront, not weeks before closing.

Builders are far more likely to work with buyers who need an extention than ones who want to back out. The buyer tied up the builder's inventory that in theory could have been sold to someone else. And in exchange, the builder usually keeps the deposit when the buyer backs out, unless the original contract offer was contingent upon the buyer's existing home sale.

The contract may also specify that the builder can come after the buyer for a lack of performance for failure to close. Again, what matters is what your friend agreed to when he/she made the original commitment to purchase.
He/she really needs to go back and understand the potential consequences.

This sounds like a potentially costly lesson for your friend.

[ITend2XL]

Sorry to add to your friend's concern but I'm not too hopeful for them given our experience with Toll Brothers. We considered buying a Toll Brothers home on the East Coast some years back, but opted against it because we found their salespeople rather rude and unaccommodating. We moved to another state after that and, even though the salespeople were also rather rude and unaccommodating there, it was at the height of the market and new construction was hard to find, so we decided to buy anyway. Literally before the ink was dry on the contract I decided to back out because their salesperson outright lied to us about something that I'd specifically asked about the day before, and even though we were into our first 5 minutes post-purchase, they gave us a very had time to refund our deposit (and took their sweet time at that!). I'm sure there must be other buyers out there who've had great experiences with this builder, but that's just not our case...

I sincerely hope your friend has a better experience than we did, especially in these difficult times. I strongly agree that they should get an attorney ASAP. I have a friend in Florida who was in the same predicament as your friend but the builder was very understanding and let her out of the contract (and refunded her deposit), even though legally he had every right to keep her deposit and go after her for losses. I heard subsequently that a few other buyers backed out as well (this was during the early part of this real estate collapse) and he also treated them well, so there might be hope for your friend too.

Please let us know how it turns out!

[patti47]

thanks for the response ITendXL.

My friend told me that if they back out,Toll Bros is going to keep their deposit.
Pls keep me posted with any info that you guys might have.

Thanks in advance.

[patti47]

Toll brothers is threatening my friends that they if they don't close the house,they are going to keep the deposit money as well sue them for the remaining 10% of the base price.They would lose 110K
Is there any way to avoid this?

[Avengerfire]

They or you need to call a lawyer already-Jesus.