Posted by Frank Chin on August 01, 2005 at 08:22:23:
Josh:
What does your Purchase and Sales contract say??
Is it subject to an “inspection” by a “bona fide inspector” as to the condition of the home, or is it based on ANYTHING, such as they don’t like the color of the grass, or base on being able to add another room.
Here where I am, contracts differentiate between “earnest money” (owner takes it off market) vs a P&S deposit of 10% where contigncies apply.
I have recently had my house in a fast escrow (30 days) the “buyers” were in the process of purchasing the property site un-seen. They had roughly 19 days to do a home inspection and still have not done this. The buyers came up and “visually” walked through the house this weekend well the following day the realtor calls and says they decided they don?t want the house because they couldn?t add/build an additional room onto the house. (Already 2 weeks in escrow)
Is this a legal reason? Shouldn?t I be compensated with their “good faith deposit”? I feel this isn?t a “good reason” to breach the contract. We practically sold everything we had cheap in order to be out within the 30 days then they pull this stunt.
Posted by John Merchant on August 11, 2005 at 04:22:15:
A good RE Agent could have helped you prevent this, and that’s a very good reason for you to hire one…demanding they protect you from jerks like this and putting it in writing with your agent & his/her broker that you don’t want delayed inspections & not to bother you with such junk.
OK to sell it yourself, fsbo style if you’ve got the experience…but if not, you’re maybe cheating yourself by not having some experience on your side.
Another option is to find yourself a lawyer run escrow company and hire the lawyer on a per hourly to look over your contracts before YOU sign them…so the lawyer can help you avoid these deals.
When the escrow co lawyer is YOUR lawyer, you’ll have many fewer problems.
Posted by Natalie-VA on August 08, 2005 at 07:42:38:
Josh,
Just for future reference, I rarely accept contracts where ALL buyers on the contract haven’t seen the property.
We are in a seller’s market where buyers need to write the contracts quickly, so they write it even though spouse #2 hasn’t seen it yet. The rare times I accept these are when one spouse is away on military deployment.
Another thing to watch for is signatures on the contract. I’ve seen where both buyers have the same handwriting, and somewhere in the middle of the negotiations they decide they don’t want it after the husband sees the house. Yes, real estate agents are allowing people to forge their spouse’s signature.
Sorry, a little off topic, but I just wanted to show that these deals don’t have a good chance of closing.