Question about the legal side of a home transaction.
I have a home on the market that I have received and accepted an offer for. The Closing date was last Thursday, but due to weather issues that date was moved, not officially just "we can't make it into the office that day, let's get together on Friday" kind of thing. Thing is, on Friday the purchasers sent over a waiver asking me to sign it saying that they were pulling their offer. Stating the obvious here, this occurred after the official closing date.
Now for the gory details. This is an unoccupied home that has fallen into disrepair - I did not repair the place myself because it became apparent that I would never see a return on my repair investment. The offer sheet was signed with an As Is clause, the inspection waived, and the right to an inspection waived. There was a ten day window in which either party could pull out of the deal, but that window closed a few weeks back. The purchasers put down an Earnest Money deposit but they still want to pull their offer. The purchasers are a property investment company who are looking to remodel the home and sell it.
My question is, what's the worst case scenario here? I doubt that you can force someone to buy something that they don't want, but the contract is still valid, right?
Any thoughts?
Keep the earnest money and put the house back on the market. I'd consider going after them for any fees that you've incurred in securing the services of a company to handle the closing if you had to pay for that. It doesn't sound like it's worth going after them legally on the sale of the house, but if they want their down payment back, tell them they forfeited that when they walked away.
If you have a lawyer you deal with, I'd suggest talking to them about this to get their input. I know when I sold property previously, I always had a lawyer I know who would go over the contracts and make sure everything was on the up and up. Having him review the contracts actually saved me money on a deal the last time we did a real estate transaction.
Here's a single piece of advice that works 99.9% of all legal cases:
Ask a real lawyer and not some people on the internet.
I've got everything over to an attorney and he's stated informally that I'm good on the contract and the earnest deposit. I'm having him draft up an "official" letter to send to the Purchasers with how we're going to go with this.
I've got the legal direction pretty much hammered out I think, I was just wondering if anyone has had something like this happen before because no one I've spoken to has heard of people backing out essentially on the closing date. I know that I can't make them buy the house and that they are really just trying to get back to the negotiation table with this, just seems kind of odd that they would go about doing it this way.
Quote:
Keep the earnest money and put the house back on the market. I'd consider going after them for any fees that you've incurred in securing the services of a company to handle the closing if you had to pay for that. It doesn't sound like it's worth going after them legally on the sale of the house, but if they want their down payment back, tell them they forfeited that when they walked away.
If you have a lawyer you deal with, I'd suggest talking to them about this to get their input. I know when I sold property previously, I always had a lawyer I know who would go over the contracts and make sure everything was on the up and up. Having him review the contracts actually saved me money on a deal the last time we did a real estate transaction.
Without question.
And if they try to renegotiate...it's a whole new deal and a whole new down payment!!
Quote:And if they try to renegotiate...it's a whole new deal and a whole new down payment!!
Ahhh, good ole-fashioned double dipping on the down payment.
I like it.
Quote:And if they try to renegotiate...it's a whole new deal and a whole new down payment!!
If he wants to force them to buy it, he cannot do any more negotiating, because I strongly believe that would void the deal. Once he's accepted their offer, if he starts negotiating with them again, they can walk away.
Quote:If he wants to force them to buy it, he cannot do any more negotiating, because I strongly believe that would void the deal. Once he's accepted their offer, if he starts negotiating with them again, they can walk away.
He said he thought the buyer was trying to renegotiate, not himself. If they come back now trying to change things after a deal had been done...it's a whole new ball game.
Quote:Ahhh, good ole-fashioned double dipping on the down payment.
I like it.
So now the buyers are stating that we did not allow for an inspection, even though he waived his rights to one and wants to get into a Lawyer Battle over this.
I don't like non Up Front Guys.
Quote:So now the buyers are stating that we did not allow for an inspection, even though he waived his rights to one and wants to get into a Lawyer Battle over this.
I don't like non Up Front Guys.
What a jerk.
Quote:So now the buyers are stating that we did not allow for an inspection, even though he waived his rights to one and wants to get into a Lawyer Battle over this.
I don't like non Up Front Guys.
As long as you can document that he waived his rights to an inspection, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Quote:Where's JT Money?
Starting his rapping tour I believe! :thumbsup:
JTMoney, where you at ???!?!?!?!?!?!
Quote:Here's a single piece of advice that works 99.9% of all legal cases:
Ask a real lawyer and not some people on the internet.
The single best piece of message board advice, ever! Bravo, DF!
Quote:As long as you can document that he waived his rights to an inspection, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Here's where it gets tricky and the attorneys start having "differing points of view" on things: The contract states that there will be no inspection and that the Buyer waives the right to an inspection.
However, the property is being sold "As Is" and due to that, an "As Is" addendum is attached to the contract. In that addendum, there is language that states that a period of ten days will be provided so that the Buyer may perform an inspection. Within that ten days, all utilities are to be turned on and available so that the Buyer can assess the property. The property is not occupied right now, so the utilities are turned off.
Thing is, there was never a peep from the Buyers about them wanting to perform an inspection nor a complaint about the lack of utilities. They simply waited until the eleventh hour to drop the "we don't want it, but we might be willing to renegotiate" line.
I'm thinking that I cut ties with this Buyer and just move on.