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What are the legal ramifications for the seller who is backing out a week before closing after we the buyers paid for inspection and appraisal fees? We live in davison mi and the seller can't find a home to her liking so now she wants to back out. What should we do?
Thank you
At the very least, you will get your Ernst Money/Deposit back in full.
I don't know if you have any legal recourse since real estate laws vary state to state. Only an attorney from your state is qualified to provide a definitive answer.
What are the legal ramifications for the seller who is backing out a week before closing after we the buyers paid for inspection and appraisal fees? We live in davison mi and the seller can't find a home to her liking so now she wants to back out. What should we do?
Thank you
If that happened here (chicago) you can sue for breach of contract. The threat of lawsuit may be enough to scare the seller into honoring the close date.
First read your sales contract. Is there anything in it about the seller having the right to refuse to close if she can't find a home to her liking ?
If wording to that effect is not there, then your seller will be in beach of contact if she does not close, providing that you have met all other contingencies in the contract.
You could then threaten to sue her to perform ( complete the sale). Sometimes just the threat would be enough to make her change her mind. She can always rent and store her stuff so it's not that she is out of options. She may just not like her options.
However, if she digs in her heels then you have two choices. Go to court and sue her for specific performance which can take a very long time and will cost you some in legal fees. Or you could walk away in which case you may still need legal help to get your deposit back.
Hopefully, you have two real estate agents who are on your side. The listing agent should be reading the riot act to the seller about now. They have procured a buyer and they want to get that house closed and get paid too- soon.
Been there, done that. I had mortgage committment and the seller dragged repairs to let the contract expire and immediately went under contract with a higher offer. I just had my court date yesterday. The judge threw out the case and is making us go through the Realtor Dispute Resolution Board - at $150 an hour. I am cutting my losses and moving on. I hope karma does its thing...
Thank you for all your replies. There was nothing in the contract that gives her any right to refuse to close. We offered full asking price and to pay our own closing costs. We gave them everything they asked for. Unfortunatly it doesn't sound very good for us.
nothing you can do, the house is still theirs...... honestly, let's say you threaten to sue them, they can turn around and destroy the inside of the house and then hand it over to you. I highly doubt you'd want it then.
That blows. But sometimes a canceled deal, even if it's last minute, is a good thing, even if you don't know that at the time. We just had a seller act very uncooperative with us about doing minor repairs after we had signed a contract for the home. She was being such a witch we canceled the contract after the appraisal and inspection. We soon discovered she was acting like that on purpose. She had a cash offer waiting in the wings and wanted our offer (a traditional mortgage) to unravel so she did the passive aggressive thing. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We found out soon after the contract canceled that my husband's company is losing profits and he will probably have to get a new job very soon, which involves relocating across the country. It's definitely worth consulting a real estate attorney. He/she can help maximize the amount of money you can get back. At the very least, you ought to be able to recoup your earnest money and option fee. Good luck!
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