Posted by John Merchant on October 10, 2008 at 06:56:58:
Please email that posting as I didn’t locate via copy & paste.
John Merchant,JD
jmer@harbornet.com
buyer backing out - Posted by Rodney Demko
Posted by Rodney Demko on October 01, 2008 at 09:11:03:
We are in the middle of a purchase where the buyer has finally been able to present clear title, and we have signed all documents for closing and our loan. One of his creditors would not budge on the amount he owed them so he is now saying that unless we sign a separate promissory note for an additional $10,000.00 on the side with him, he will not sign his end of the closing docs and thus breach his purchase sale contract with us. Can I legally FORCE him to honor the original purchase sale contract or do I just lose all my already invested monies as far as appraisals, loan fees, title cancellation and the like?
Thanks
Rodney
Common problem, but… - Posted by John Merchant
Posted by John Merchant on October 03, 2008 at 09:12:47:
While it’s all too commonplace for the Buyer to back out and walk, normally the S finds it’s just not worth it to sue that walkaway B.
Just too much to pay S’s lawyer for a suit against the B who might be “judgment proof” (no money to pay a J) so most S’s just eat it and move on and wait to sell to another, better B.
An experienced RE Agent or Broker would have had B pay a healthy earnest-money deposit that you would have got, had that B then walked.
The experienced REA would have seen this happen before and learned from his own experience, as have most of us who’ve been buying and selling RE for a while.
As I’ve said before, there aren’t many reported court decisions on this as most would-be, jilted S’s never pay those atty fees and don’t chase the walking B.
You can sue - Posted by Rich-CA
Posted by Rich-CA on October 02, 2008 at 22:14:44:
The term is “specific performance” and if he did not have a contingency on this lien being paid off for less than its face value, then you probably have a case.
If you agree to cancel, insist he reimburse you for all out of pocket expenses. Its only fair. If he refuses, you need to decide one of three things:
(1) Sue for specific performance and force him to sell,
(2) Small claims for your expenses plus attorney’s fees,
(3) Forget it, the risks are not worth the additional costs.
Re: Common problem, but… - Posted by Margarita (wa)
Posted by Margarita (wa) on October 08, 2008 at 23:09:39:
John,
I greatly value your input and would really appreciate if you would give my post a look?
http://www.creonline.com/legal/wwwboard7/messages/35981.html
Thank you,
Margarita