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I need good advice as I plan to represent myself in a civil court hearing.
I had a real estate "enforceable contract" and the buyer backed out of the deal and bought another pieces of real estate. I was in financial troble at the time and if he would have stuck to the deal I would have been able to bail myself out of debt. I was later forced to put the building up fro auction and basically I just broke even. I was never late on a payment and the auction was only advantageous because I avoided the bank taking it back. It didn't matter really because I have to file bankruptcy now anyway. Anyway The guy offered me 140k and breached the contract. The auction sold my building for 92,500. The auction company got 6% or $5,500 and another 800 for advertsing. Therefore, I lost $53,750 by this guy breaching the contract.
He works for a large fed and state funded school operation and has hired two topgun attorneys. I want justice. I am flat broke, I cannot retain a good real estate laywer, matter of fact I have to postpone filing bankruptcy because I do not have the money to get the ball rolling. I have hired a bankruptcy laywer. For $250, he has kept the collection agencies off my back but it awaiting to commence once I get the money to file through. so....
Where do I start? I have represented myself in 2 small claims court cases and won both. But this is a bigger ballgame.
Any good books that cover this?
Any good suggestions?
Can I sue him (or the company) for punitive damage?
I need all the help I can get. His lawyers have already scoofed at me for wanting to represent myself. I think they think I don't have chance. I want to prove that I can muster up a good game and I would love to be awarded the money I have lost due to somene not adhereing to a contract.
We drew up our own. I know bad move...BUT..on the paper there was an offer and an acceptance. At the bottom where I signed it I actually wrote "accepted at 140k" then dated and signed it. I took it to a real estate lawyer and he said I had an "enforceable" contract. Listed was price, steps of progression (appraisel, inspection,etc), the address of the building, both of our signatures, approval from his board and he stated "things will proceed quickly". There was no earnest money down.
He backed out because he found another building to buy. He even had an appraisel done and had it approved by his board members. This I have in writing. He admitted he had the financing (I have that in writing and verbal) and the only continguecy was that it had to pass a asbestos inpection. He had scheduled for that but then found another building and informed me he wanted to "retract his offer". I told him he couldnt and he stated that he could and that he could have evn walked away at the day of closing if he wanted to. he told me he saved 20k by buying another building and thats why he breached. Him and his lawyers are saying the contract was no good. The real estate lawyer I consulted with said the paper we signed had all the necessary things to be "an enforceable contract". I could not afford to hire him and thats why I want to represent myself. BUT I need a lot of help because I want to win this case.
I "broke even" from the auction sale price at 92,500. At that price, I had enough to pay off the bank note and pay off the auction company and that's it. He contracted with me at 140k. Therefore I lost about 50k (potential profit) by him breaching out. (the difference from his contract and the auction sale price.) Damages? yes, because I took such a loss I had to file bankruptcy. I have been stressed out mentally since he backed out as well.
When he backed out of the deal, I really didn't know what to do. So I did two things. At the same time I had another interested buyer. I originally was asking 120k. The guy (who later breached) originally contacted me first and said he was interested in my building. It was only talk. Another party, a women was also interested. I told her I have a guy who was interested in the building. She informed me that she would offer more and asked what would I accept for the building. I told her 135k and she could have it. She aggreed but I told her I wanted to speak to the other guy first (since he contacted me before she did). I guess I felt bad for the other guy. Even though we had nothing in writing (from either party) i still felt obligated to talk with the guy and tell him of the gals larger offer. I told him since he came to me first that I felt as though I need to give him another chance to buy the building. I told him that I didn't plan on a bidding war but since we had nothing in writing I was going to give him a chance to make me an offer. That was if he was still interested. He said he had plenty of available money and offered me 140k. I thought to myself wow, thats ok with me.
Now at this point I was concerned because I had nothing in writing. I mentioned to him that maybe we should hire a real estate broker or attorney. He said we didn't need one and that they would just take money and that we could do it ourselves. agreed and we scribbled some stuff off and signed it. I thought, ok done deal. I immediately called the other gal and told her I signed a deal with the guy. She didnt seem too upset and thanked me and said she had another place in mind anyway. The next day this guy scheduled an appraisel. That was done and appraised at 165k..much higher than our aggreed 140k. He said he needed his (school)boards approval and got it and wrote that it has been approved and we would commence with the inspection and then schedule closing. (i have this inw ritihng and he dated it and signed it).It was the weekend of memorial day. When I came back he said he was rejecting the offer and buying another building.
I didlt know what to do. i should have just stopped there but I wrote him a letter. I still felt we had a binding contractual agreement and I wanted it dissolved so I could call up the other gal and see if she was still interested. In the letter I sent to him it was a agreement to get out of purchasing my office. It had a place for him to sign and for me to sign and thus he would be free of all penalties. He never signed it and I never heard from him. Also in then letter was na actual real estate contract and a place where he could sign and I included a 1500 $ in earnst money. 4-5 days passed and he mailed me back our original contract, nothing more. He crossed a line through the writing and wrote "void". Underneath he wrote he was no longer buying my building. I called the other lady back to see if she still wanted my building. She informed me she did not. Boom. I was SOL.
I think my biggest concern it that he says that he terminated the contract by running a line through it and printing void on it. I say not.
Now the lawyer I hired said it was "enforceable". So my question is: what does it take to terminate a contractual agreement? ( a paper with both signatures stating the dissolution, one signature, a voided copy of the actual contract etc).
There is no one on this board that can help you. You have a hand written contract with who knows what written in it. The agents on this board can't offer you any advice otherwise we could lose our real estate licenses.
Maybe a non-agent that has represented themselves could give you some tips, but since you didn't use a standard attorney written real estate contract, there is too much ambiguity with your situation.
Unfortunately if you want good helpful advice, you really do have to contact a local real estate attorney. There may be state laws that support your position or ones that support the buyer's position.
If your read my post I did take my case to an experienced real estate attorney. He said the contract is "enforceable" and meets all the criteria to be legal and binding.
I cannot afford to hire him therefore I am on my own. What I am looking for is how to go about representing myself as I will need to know how to conduct myself in the court and learn the language. The rest is easy, gather facts and witnesses and present my case.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,307,357 times
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Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'd say you already represented yourself in the original transaction and it didn't work out. I think you probably can't afford NOT to hire an attorney.
Maybe call the producers of Judge Judy and see if you can get a chance to tell your story there.
I represented myself, yes...but the contract is legal and binding. That means little though. It is up to me (or an attorney) to ENFORCE it. A contract is just words on paper. Just because I have document wiht signed names mean nothing until it is acted upon. This chucklehead could have waked away from the deal whether it be with my contract or a "real" estate contract. In fact he even mentioned that to me.
It is up to me to take it to the next step because the paper does nothing on its own. It is my proof but needs to be exercised inoto play, so to speak.
If I hire an attorney and we lose, I will owe him thousands. My attorney I consulted with said a case such as mine will drag out 1-2 years and he could not guarentee (sp?) that we would win. In that case, I would owe him 40-50k in his legal and court fees.
The only way I could get an attorney is if he/she took the case with the assumption that we would win hands down. (therefore they get their cut). He or she would take the case knowing that if we loose they get nothing. I do not think any attorney would do that.
I represented myself, yes...but the contract is legal and binding. That means little though. It is up to me (or an attorney) to ENFORCE it. A contract is just words on paper. Just because I have document wiht signed names mean nothing until it is acted upon. This chucklehead could have waked away from the deal whether it be with my contract or a "real" estate contract. In fact he even mentioned that to me.
It is up to me to take it to the next step because the paper does nothing on its own. It is my proof but needs to be exercised inoto play, so to speak.
If I hire an attorney and we lose, I will owe him thousands. My attorney I consulted with said a case such as mine will drag out 1-2 years and he could not guarentee (sp?) that we would win. In that case, I would owe him 40-50k in his legal and court fees.
The only way I could get an attorney is if he/she took the case with the assumption that we would win hands down. (therefore they get their cut). He or she would take the case knowing that if we loose they get nothing. I do not think any attorney would do that.
Cheeko
Sorry Cheeko, but I think you're SOL just like you stated. This is why you should have hired a real estate attorney, but it doesn't sound like your buyer that renigged would have went for that. Your only choice given the scenario you have described, might be small claims court.
Well you said initially that there was no earnest money down, but then you wrote in your termination letter, a $1500 "earnest money" of some type. I assume as some sort of liquidated damages??
The real attorney written contracts are better than client written ones (for the most part) is because they put protective clauses in there as well as what types of damages can be requested.
For example, in Oregon, attorney fees are re-coupable to the prevailing party. So if you sue someone for specific performance (which it sounds like you are doing), then you would be able to recoup any legal fees in case you won. On the flip side, you lose that money if you lose the case.
We also require mediation before arbitration or trial in order to cut down expenses.
An attorney would have helped you structure your deal in a manner in order to protect you. Do you really think an attorney would have suggested that you take no earnest money. This guy has no skin in the game, so he has nothing to lose.
It sounds like you wrote a letter agreeing to terminate?? I would think that letter may come back to bite you in court, especially since it sounds like you were only asking $1500 then, and now you want $50,000 plus.
Did your attorney see your termination letter that you wrote and does he think it will make your case more difficult?
There is a big difference between morally and ethically wrong and legally wrong. There are many good people that have gotten shafted over time by morally questionable people. Unfortunately that doesn't always translate into a legal wrong.
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