buyer wants to walk out after the Inspection contingency period (negotiation, fees)
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In all likelihood your agent is correct--the proposal to fix repairs was an offer made by the buyer which was terminated before your acceptance. Thus, the termination is valid and the deposit returns to the buyer. And it's not like you are losing anything by having a contract pending for about 2 weeks, so let it go.
We had the same thing happen to us in PA. All money was refunded to the buyer. Of course we were furious as we had multiple offers and accepted theirs.
PA doesn't use real estate attorney's and the seller and buyer rely heavily on the agents. Not fun for either party when something like this happens.
I have to agree with everyone else that keeping the earnest money is an uphill and losing proposition. Unless you have a definitive description of how days are counted specificially defined in the contract, the day count could become interpreted based on the judges mood. Even then, the written date on the contract is usually the legally binding date even if actually signed later. It is very hard to prove a date other than that written into the contract as an effective date. I think you will almost certainly lose just because of those two factors.
However, the performance of the agent could become a factor in litigation against your broker. Because time was of the essence in the performance of this aspect of the contract, the lax execution by the agent could consititute negligence and the broker could be on the hook for damages. I do not know how you could quantify these at this point. I would expect you would only be able to do so after successfully selling your house and calculating extra expenses between the expected closing date and actual closing date and adjusting for any sales price differences. If you ultimately sell the house for less than this contract amount, you could specify that loss as well as the continued ownership expenses as damages. If you sell it for more, then you may not have any damages at all but could potentially benefit from the incident.
If you do suffer actual damages in the long term, I would probably take a run at the broker for recovery under the negligence aspect and collect from their errors and omissions insurance in lieu of a legal battle. I know my broker's insurance paid off everytime someone mentioned lawyer even when the facts were firmly in the broker's favor.
Based on the gap in time that my agent showed during her previous emails, I asked her to put me in CC of all emails she was going to send to the buyer's agent. So, I was in the distribution list of the email that my agent sent to the buyer's agent when I agreed about doing all repairs requested by the buyer.. So, I replied in the stated period of time under the agreement.
I know they can sue me, and I will defend with all my rights if I continue this process. This is not the issue. The issue seems to be if this worth it. I didn't know a buyer's default could put a cloud on my title, even though if I win the case and despite of the fact that it was his fault. No mine. If all you guys say is true, which seems to be, this could happen to me again and I won't have a legal protection because again, a clouded title, doesn't worth, you will loose time and money, etc etc.
Even counting the days when my agent received all paperwork, the buyer's termination was exercised after the stated contingency period.
an offer becomes a contract when the seller signs said offer not when a realtor gets around t emailing said offer
Jan 21 - Jan 31 is ten calendar days ( and can include a timestamp in my state)
time is of the essence
after inspection, notification back to
seller due Feb 5th
while seller is "thinking" between Jan 30 - Feb 5
the BUYER can absolutely change their mind
again time is of the essence
Realtor should have faxed inspection and repairs to you and unless you needed a bunch of repair estimates and thinking time you should have faxed it back asap as signed and ACCEPTED
Folks willing to give $10K earnest money want answers asap... I wouldn't have let a serious buyer go, especially while out of state and concerned about paying a mortgage which would have been due anyway depending on the closing date and if extra time was needed for repairs
UnityJAX: While the seller is "thinking" between Jan 30 - Feb 5 about the repairs, buyer can change their mine and terminate the agreement, but it would be after the contingency period that ended on Feb 1. The buyer defaulted the agreement and he wants to walk away without any consequences.
UnityJAX: While the seller is "thinking" between Jan 30 - Feb 5 about the repairs, buyer can change their mine and terminate the agreement, but it would be after the contingency period that ended on Feb 1. The buyer defaulted the agreement and he wants to walk away without any consequences.
If anything, the original "contract" (contract being in quotes because it was contingent on subsequent action by one or both parties) became inoperative by the buyer's indication that the property was not in a satisfactory condition. Think about what's going on. Buyer tells you the property isn't satisfactory before deadline. Buyer then tells you they don't want the property. You haven't done the repairs, or anything other than waiting to respond (and you responded late, which reactivates a termination option for the buyer).
Even if you could prevail, your damages against the Buyer, if any, are negligible. What happened in those 5 days b/w Jan. 30 and Feb. 4 that makes you think you are entitled to $10K?
Looking at this from the rosiest possible view on your end, you failed to respond timely to the buyer's conditions and they validly terminated the contract before your response. Trying to keep the earnest money would be both unnecessarily litigious and poor judgment on your part. If you try, I hope that you are required to pay sanctions and the buyer's attorneys fees.
I thought my original email was clear enough but if not, please let me re-state my situation again:
(1) The agreement was executed on Jan 22 at the most
(2) The Inspection contingency period was set to 10 days. Therefore, buyer had until Feb 1 to do the following under the agreement (see my original email Part B).
(a) accept the property
(b) terminate the agreement
(c) make a proposal of the repairs needed to do to the house
Buyer took option (c) and he sent me the proposal within the contingency period. So, under the same agreement, I had 5 days counting from the end of the contingency period, to respond to the buye's proposal. Thus, t I had until Feb 6 to respond. My response was submitted and signed on Feb 5. I didn't fail to respond to the buyer's conditions. His termination was no valid. This is what I understood from the agreement.
I thought my original email was clear enough but if not, please let me re-state my situation again:
(1) The agreement was executed on Jan 22 at the most
(2) The Inspection contingency period was set to 10 days. Therefore, buyer had until Feb 1 to do the following under the agreement (see my original email Part B).
(a) accept the property
(b) terminate the agreement
(c) make a proposal of the repairs needed to do to the house
Buyer took option (c) and he sent me the proposal within the contingency period. So, under the same agreement, I had 5 days counting from the end of the contingency period, to respond to the buye's proposal. Thus, t I had until Feb 6 to respond. My response was submitted and signed on Feb 5. I didn't fail to respond to the buyer's conditions. His termination was no valid. This is what I understood from the agreement.
You didn't respond before the buyer terminated. The 5 day clock probably starts ticking when the buyer sends their proposal. Even if it doesn't, they terminated before your acceptance and you still have not explained what damages you suffered in those 4 days (probably because there are none).
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