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I agree, partially, with the poster who said to record your Purchase & Sale contract. Partially because I think all you would have to do is to inform the agent that you intend to do this and you'd have a check available for pickup within hours.
And I'm also concerned about liability on you (as another poster noted) if doing that should cause a problem with the current contract.
As I'm well noted for advising:
Get an attorney's opinion - yesterday. For a low-cost initial consultation, <your state/city> Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service. A consultation/opinion from an attorney whose pracice is mostly real estate, it should be quite reasonable even without going through Lawyer Referral.
Technically we did remove contingencies, but its a lot of money, and since they're *choosing* to move on to greener pastures (which they seemed to already know about and be eager to get to when the opportunity arose), it just seems incredibly wrong!
Get real. Feelings have no place in a real estate transaction. Yes, you did remove your contingencies when you shouldn't have and should start going after the seller for your ignorance.
Probably not worth it. I got cheated the exact same way and looked into legal action to collect. The ammount was too much for small claims court, and not enough to justify the legal costs of recovery in regular court. They know that of course. I'm sorry you got caught in that trap.
Cheated? It's not being cheated when you breach your contract. And it isn't supposed to be a 'trap'. Those are terms that you agreed to prior to breaching your contract. You guys from CA?
Cheated? It's not being cheated when you breach your contract. And it isn't supposed to be a 'trap'. Those are terms that you agreed to prior to breaching your contract. You guys from CA?
It happened to me in Texas. I showed up for closing and the seller walked in and announced that the IRS had slapped a tax lien on the property and walked out. I asked the title company who held the earnest money to return it and they said that the seller owed them money and they were keeping mine until he paid them. I never got my earnest money back.
Our bank really screwed us up and now the sellers want to keep our earnest money even though they walked away. Seriously need some advice!
We agreed to purchase a home, received an inspection report, and underwriting approved loan amount. Thus at 17 days, we removed contingencies as asked per terms of our purchase agreement. Toward the end of the transaction process, our bank started to delay a couple days. When asked why, they said just a formality and almost ready. Then on the day we needed to close escrow, they informed us of a new appraisal that came in 10% below agreed purchase price.
Sellers immediately issued notice to perform, but we couldn't figure it out and execute in the 2.5 days we were given, and thus they issued cancellation. We shortly after found a way to get the funds together to bridge the gap but by then it was too late and the sellers already had another buyer lined up, willing to pay significantly more than we had agreed (the irony)!
That by itself is a tragedy, but now we learn that the sellers also want to keep our earnest money. It seems incredibly unfair because we had every intention to purchase the home, they walked away, and yet they get to keep all of our money? Technically we did remove contingencies, but its a lot of money, and since they're *choosing* to move on to greener pastures (which they seemed to already know about and be eager to get to when the opportunity arose), it just seems incredibly wrong!
Does anyone have any advice or opinions on a situation like this?
Get an attorney, preferably one who specializes in Real Estate issues. Something is amiss here. The bank probably sent out their own appraiser and maybe even sent more than one at two different times..thus the hold up to begin with. I am not all that familiar with all of the above "lingo" but I for sure would get an attorney.
It happened to me in Texas. I showed up for closing and the seller walked in and announced that the IRS had slapped a tax lien on the property and walked out. I asked the title company who held the earnest money to return it and they said that the seller owed them money and they were keeping mine until he paid them. I never got my earnest money back.
That's a completely different situation where the seller was in breach of the contract, not the buyer.
I'm not sure what good it would do to record the document as a public record. If the buyer removed their contingencies, the seller is within their rights to refuse to refund the deposit. The contract is pro-seller in this case. Recording the document that says the buyer is in the wrong will do no good at all.
The only possible thing it could accomplish would be that if the new buyer hasn't made an offer yet, and happens to do enough research to find that public document, they would know what dollar figure the seller accepted from you, and might offer less. But if the appraisal came in low, the seller is already going to have to deal with that anyway, unless the new buyer is a cash buyer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverfall
They will order a second appraisal on a flip that is re-sold within 90 days of the last purchase for an FHA insured loan as well. It has to be within 5% of the first appraisal, otherwise the lower of the two appraisals becomes the one that FHA uses.
^^^ Also, this.
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