Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What is your real estate attorney doing for you? What does he/she say? Some of this should have been worked out beforehand. Attorneys who do real estate closings have a typical process, and should know that the other party is some kind of nutcase.
If you don't have a RE attorney, this is the risk you took.
A real estate attorney wasn't needed to schedule a closing at a more appropriate time. Sometimes a little common sense will head off problems.
Location: Maryland
Our contract says we are closing on Friday. Thursday the bank sent out an email saying Friday 5pm is closing time. The seller said she wouldn't get money until Monday if it was wired to her at 5 pm on Friday. No money in her account, no closing. She said she didn't trust the title company to hold her money.
She wanted it to be rescheduled on Monday so she can get money the same day. Our rate would expire on Monday and we already had moving company scheduled at the weekend. The seller said she's not going to sign on Friday. We didn't agree. All money was wired to the title company before 4:30 on Friday. Everyone showed up except the seller.
What should we do? If we agree to close on Monday or Tuesday now, does that mean the seller just get away with not showing up at original closing, which she breeches the contract. Does that mean we don't get any compensation? It was trouble for all parties as you can imagine.
If she refuses to sign anyways, (I don't know what excuse she will use this time), we are willing to go to court. Does Anyone know about our chances?
What we really want is to get the house, closing first, but still have the right to make her pay for simply not showing up at the closing. Could that happen?
Thanks.
My comments are too late to help, but gee, you'd think that the title company could have simply called all involved parties and rescheduled the closing to 10 AM last Friday instead of 5 PM. That would have solved the problem, it seems to me. Or, maybe I just don't "get it". Wouldn't be the first time.
When I bought my new house, and sold my old house (two different closings this summer), the buyer and seller and their agents and title company lawyer all met around a large table. All documents were signed and the seller got a certified check from the title company before everyone got up from the table. Like others said, I guess closings are handled really differently in different states but that's how it's done here.
I've run into this nutjob twice. Eventually we successfully educated them that closing wasn't final until funds are received even if documents are signed. Without docs there will be no money so you have to sign the docs. Buyer can't take possession until after closing. If seller doesn't sign the docs, per the contract buyer sues for specific performance, it's an easy win. Buyer gets house at original terms, plus damages, plus legal fees covered. Really shouldn't be a hard choice at that point.
I've run into this nutjob twice. Eventually we successfully educated them that closing wasn't final until funds are received even if documents are signed. Without docs there will be no money so you have to sign the docs. Buyer can't take possession until after closing. If seller doesn't sign the docs, per the contract buyer sues for specific performance, it's an easy win. Buyer gets house at original terms, plus damages, plus legal fees covered. Really shouldn't be a hard choice at that point.
I'd love if the OP showed back up with an update.
I'd love an update as well.
Without signatures, there are no funds and no closing. Hope seller has seen the light.
Though why a Title Company schedules closings for 5 pm any day, let alone Friday is a mystery to me.
Buyer should have wire transferred purchase funds at least 24 hours (or more) before the expected close of escrow, so that the funds had time to post, & the funds were ready to be delivered to the seller.
If I were in the seller's shoes, I wouldn't have agreed to this fiasco, either.
No funds ready to go directly into the seller's account...no close, & no keys to buyer.
It's the buyer who failed to perform...not the seller.
What you don't understand, is that the deed has to be recorded at the county courthouse, before funds can be released. This cannot happen, till the seller has signed everything. Funds are not handed to the seller, before or at time of signing the paper work. This is the only way title can be guaranteed to be clear, and between time of signing and recording which may only be a few minutes apart, someone has not filed another deed or lien on the property.
It is not the seller that is in violation of the contract but the seller.
What you don't understand, is that the deed has to be recorded at the county courthouse, before funds can be released. This cannot happen, till the seller has signed everything. Funds are not handed to the seller, before or at time of signing the paper work. This is the only way title can be guaranteed to be clear, and between time of signing and recording which may only be a few minutes apart, someone has not filed another deed or lien on the property.
It is not the seller that is in violation of the contract but the seller.
I'm glad that some people here realize that like you do! The money cannot be transferred until all of the closing paperwork has been signed, any attorney or real estate agent who does otherwise is certainly not acting in the best interest of the parties involved (especially the buyer). The key to starting the flow of money is the signing of the paperwork, it will not flow before that happens.
I wish some of the people who want the money transferred to a day or 2 in advance would send me their money hoping that I will in good faith deliver the goods later! How many people pay for a car and tell the dealer they will be back in a day or 2 to pick it up? It's the same thing here.
What you don't understand, is that the deed has to be recorded at the county courthouse, before funds can be released.
Of course, the process varies by state. In Michigan, funds usually transfer upon delivery of the Deed. The Deed is usually recorded immediately thereafter.
What you don't understand, is that the deed has to be recorded at the county courthouse, before funds can be released. This cannot happen, till the seller has signed everything. Funds are not handed to the seller, before or at time of signing the paper work. This is the only way title can be guaranteed to be clear, and between time of signing and recording which may only be a few minutes apart, someone has not filed another deed or lien on the property.
It is not the seller that is in violation of the contract but the seller.
You're misinterpreting the gist of my post. I certainly understand both sides have to sign the respective paperwork in order to record the transaction.
And I was never suggesting the funds go to the seller, until such time that the transaction does record. That's the definition of escrow: money being held by a third-party on behalf of transacting parties.
But the buyer waited to wire transfer those funds into escrow until the very end of the same day that HE expected to close (a Friday at 5pm??!!).
Those funds should have been wired to the escrow company at least the day before so that they could post in the escrow company's account, & then be ready to be wired to the seller's a account the moment the buyer was to receive the keys.
In every single transaction I have ever been involved with, in both CA & FL, whether seller side or buyer side...funds were required to be wire transferred into escrow a MINIMUM of 24 hours (or more) prior to the expected close.
If the seller was aware that the funds hadn't been received by the title or escrow company in the middle of the same afternoon that the buyer was expecting to close, the seller had good reason not to proceed.
Conversely, if the buyer was aware that the seller hadn't vacated as late as 4pm, the buyer would have good reason not to move forward signing docs, as well.
There is no way that a buyer should be receiving keys at 5pm on Friday evening of a 3 day holiday weekend when the funds aren't available to be received in the seller's account until the following Tuesday.
The buyer stalled too long in delivering the necessary funds into escrow, & the closing was scheduled too late in the day for the funds to post in the seller's account.
Of course, the process varies by state. In Michigan, funds usually transfer upon delivery of the Deed. The Deed is usually recorded immediately thereafter.
I'm not sure how they do it in Maryland.
I'm in Maryland and it has been a few years since I went through closing on a house. But as I remember it we met at the Title company with our agent, the sellers and their agent. We signed all the usual papers were given the keys and took possession.
Using a lawyer doesn't guarantee that thing will go well. A few years before we bought this house there was a big story about a real estate lawyer on MD's Eastern Shore who had not transferred funds out of his escrow account to sellers and not recorded. As I remember it he eventually went to jail but it took a couple years to get everything straightened out. I believe there was some rewriting of the laws after that
I'm in Maryland and it has been a few years since I went through closing on a house. But as I remember it we met at the Title company with our agent, the sellers and their agent. We signed all the usual papers were given the keys and took possession.
Using a lawyer doesn't guarantee that thing will go well. A few years before we bought this house there was a big story about a real estate lawyer on MD's Eastern Shore who had not transferred funds out of his escrow account to sellers and not recorded. As I remember it he eventually went to jail but it took a couple years to get everything straightened out. I believe there was some rewriting of the laws after that
That's how ours went and, more recently, for my daughter and son. There was no waiting for deed recordation or wire transfers, etc. The sellers and buyers met at the title company office, papers were signed, a check went from one end of the table to the other, meeting the house keys in the middle.
Each state has different laws and customs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
