3 days before closing and I want to back out..can I?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contact a real estate Attorney and discuss options.

The chance you will get sued is low. The reason being is its not worth it to the seller for the cost of retaining their own council and then going to court in a few months and preparing for the case.

If the sellers goal is to sell the house and the house is in a decent location, their real estate agent will likely advise them to just return the EM and move on. The agent knows that the buyer can easily stall at closing or find some issue to prevent closing. Better to not waste everyone's time going to a closing that will likely not happen. In the time it will take the seller to get to court, the probability is high that they will have already sold the to someone else and it won't be worth their time and expense to go through a drawn out court case.

The only good advice here is to contact a real estate attorney. The rest of it might be good advice if it were several weeks before closing and there were contingencies that weren't satisfied. I think the chances of getting sued are pretty high, particularly if the seller is buying a house and has a closing the same day. Real estate contracts are usually specifically enforceable, unless they specifically provide otherwise (meaning that they can force you to buy the house).

I see that others have posted after me with similar stories/advice.

I based my advice on being in the situation twice - once as the seller and once as they buyer. So that right there should tell you this is not a super rare occurrence.

The PP who felt their realtor was weak. I think like all professional jobs that really depend on networking and building a reputation to gain business, that it's not good for an agent to be known as one who worked with their client to sue a seller or buyer. It could potentially impact the agent and their clients down the line so I do understand the realtors position. And yes, not having anyone in your corner is correct. Neither agent - yours or the buyers - would have provided a very robust response in court.

In my case, I did consult a real estate attorney he basically advised the same as my agent had, give back the EM and move on because there was a very high probability that my place would sell quickly and he was right. OTOH getting to court would have taken a while and he was pretty sure that in the end there would just be an offer for a deal - basically the buyer would give me the EM plus legal fees and court costs and in which case I would not be any better off than I was at that moment. If we went to court, the attorney obviously couldn't guarantee I would prevail because it would just depend on what the buyer would provide as reasons. It turned out - at least in VA - not to be as hard as I thought to find a contingency that will allow the buyer to back out. I also would have lost time in selling and yes had to pay very hefty legal fees out of pocket. Not returning all the EM itself required some legal documents and attorney time as well as far as I recall but now can't remember the specifics on that.

So, yes, it can seem easy to say "SUE THEM!" but it is not always the best or easiest course of action. Again, if the OP really wants out, she/he can consult an attorney and also of course speak to their agent and see what they can do at this point.

Thanks for the response. I am the PP that felt my realtor was weak. I don't need him to be strong in court, or to even engage in a court battle. What I needed for him to do is be professional and say to the buyer's agent "I'm very sorry your client decided to back out of the contract, no doubt you have already talked to them to find out what their concerns are and you are now convinced that they have changed their minds and will not proceed with the transaction. Accordingly, I will instruct the title company to release the earnest money to the seller per the contract. I hope we can work together on a future deal."

That's all.

If the buyer comes back with a legitimate reason for backing out, such as financing falling through, then we will give the EM back according to the contract. If they want to play games and engage in financing fraud, that's their choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I'm sorry but I don't want to buy your house. I know I have cost you time and money. I am willing to sign a release so that you can keep the EMD without any kind of litigation, and will pay you an additional $10K to walk away from this purchase. I know we would both like to put this behind us, and I believe this is a fair way to settle the matter."

This ^^. It's a negotiation. The buyer will want to move on, but it justifiably owed some damages, up to and including specific performance. Make a reasonable offer to make the problem you created go away. Or be prepared to buy the house.

[Anonymous]

Where's OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where's OP?

Busy moving into the house

[Anonymous]

I'd bet money that OP's husband and their real estate agent talked some sense into her and they closed on their home. OP strikes me as a dramatic type that frequently needs to be talked off the ledge by more mature types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with contacting an attorney first thing tomorrow. And no, every neighbourhood does not have a rash of break ins and vandalism in the summer.

White privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contact a real estate Attorney and discuss options.

The chance you will get sued is low. The reason being is its not worth it to the seller for the cost of retaining their own council and then going to court in a few months and preparing for the case.

If the sellers goal is to sell the house and the house is in a decent location, their real estate agent will likely advise them to just return the EM and move on. The agent knows that the buyer can easily stall at closing or find some issue to prevent closing. Better to not waste everyone's time going to a closing that will likely not happen. In the time it will take the seller to get to court, the probability is high that they will have already sold the to someone else and it won't be worth their time and expense to go through a drawn out court case.

OP: Please do not take legal advice from someone who doesn't know the difference between "council" and "counsel."

I had an experience similar to what the PP has described: a buyer wanted to walk away, our realtor had weak knees and insisted that we return the earnest money. We had a big argument about it but the funds ultimately were not in our bank account. It seemed that he just didn't want to be caught up in any legal battle, and wanted to play nice with the buyer's realtor. We did finally agree to return the EM and promptly fired our realtor.

So I do believe it depends on how strong your realtor is.

Why did you cave to your realtor's wishes? There are pros and cons to holding out for the EMD and/or suing to get damages. But the position of your realtor on this should be virtually irrelevant. If you wanted to fight, you should have reminded your realtor that he worked for you and you were going to stand by your contractual rights even if it made things awkward for him with the other realtor, which it really shouldn't have since the other realtor should have understood you were well within your rights to insist on the EMD.

Because the seller realtor is a part of the transaction. It's not a productive endeavor to go into a battle where I have no allies. It became apparent to me that my realtor was willing to lose me as a customer than to help me keep the EM. Whatever his reasons, I did not care. My goal as a seller was to sell the house. I had already wasted time up to that point, I did not want to get drawn into a prolonged battle - lawyers do not take these type of cases on contingency.

So, it sounds like it wasn't your realtor wanting to play nice with the other realtor. You wanted to sell your house and you didn't want to incur legal fees - both very reasonable objectives. And you understood that by trying to keep the EMD and/or sue, you wouldn't be able to sell your house until the dispute was resolved and you would likely incur legal fess. So, given your priorities, you decided to return the EMD.

What you did was perfectly reasonable given your priorities, but I don't think it was reasonable to say that you acted because your realtor had "weak knees and insisted" you return the EMD. You acted in your best interest, as you now describe them, which is fine.

Thanks for your feedback, I see you are just discussing the situation and not trying to argue for argument's sake. We did want to keep the EM, and would have if our realtor was on our side and took a strong stance with the buyer's realtor. In our case, when we tried contacting the buyer realtor directly, he simply told us to talk to our selling realtor. And our selling realtor simply refused to try and keep the EM for us. In a situation like this, we had limited options. If we had a strong realtor, I would have absolutely pushed to keep the EM - it's only fair.

It would be fair, but fair doesn't always matter. You say you would have pushed to keep the EMD. Great, but what happens when the buyer refuses? Then you can't sell your house and you have to incur litigation costs - two things you said you didn't want. Even a mor aggressive realtor may not have been able to change that reality given your (again perfectly reasonable) priorities.

Plus, you did have options. You could have explicitly instructed your realtor, in writing, that he was to push for the EMD's return since he was your agent and you could have made clear to him you were not simply going to relent. (Posturing is not only for dealing with the other side.). If he refused, you could have fired him, which I think you said you did right after anyway. You also could have threatened to report him for not representing your interests as he was required to do.

None of these are the easiest thing to do and can have complications, but you did have options. In your shoes, I would have absolutely saber rattled - with my agent and the buyer - even if I would not have actually followed through with litigation given the downsides. It might have worked, it might not have, but it would have been an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Contact a real estate Attorney and discuss options.

The chance you will get sued is low. The reason being is its not worth it to the seller for the cost of retaining their own council and then going to court in a few months and preparing for the case.

If the sellers goal is to sell the house and the house is in a decent location, their real estate agent will likely advise them to just return the EM and move on. The agent knows that the buyer can easily stall at closing or find some issue to prevent closing. Better to not waste everyone's time going to a closing that will likely not happen. In the time it will take the seller to get to court, the probability is high that they will have already sold the to someone else and it won't be worth their time and expense to go through a drawn out court case.

OP: Please do not take legal advice from someone who doesn't know the difference between "council" and "counsel."

I had an experience similar to what the PP has described: a buyer wanted to walk away, our realtor had weak knees and insisted that we return the earnest money. We had a big argument about it but the funds ultimately were not in our bank account. It seemed that he just didn't want to be caught up in any legal battle, and wanted to play nice with the buyer's realtor. We did finally agree to return the EM and promptly fired our realtor.

So I do believe it depends on how strong your realtor is.

Why did you cave to your realtor's wishes? There are pros and cons to holding out for the EMD and/or suing to get damages. But the position of your realtor on this should be virtually irrelevant. If you wanted to fight, you should have reminded your realtor that he worked for you and you were going to stand by your contractual rights even if it made things awkward for him with the other realtor, which it really shouldn't have since the other realtor should have understood you were well within your rights to insist on the EMD.

Because the seller realtor is a part of the transaction. It's not a productive endeavor to go into a battle where I have no allies. It became apparent to me that my realtor was willing to lose me as a customer than to help me keep the EM. Whatever his reasons, I did not care. My goal as a seller was to sell the house. I had already wasted time up to that point, I did not want to get drawn into a prolonged battle - lawyers do not take these type of cases on contingency.

So, it sounds like it wasn't your realtor wanting to play nice with the other realtor. You wanted to sell your house and you didn't want to incur legal fees - both very reasonable objectives. And you understood that by trying to keep the EMD and/or sue, you wouldn't be able to sell your house until the dispute was resolved and you would likely incur legal fess. So, given your priorities, you decided to return the EMD.

What you did was perfectly reasonable given your priorities, but I don't think it was reasonable to say that you acted because your realtor had "weak knees and insisted" you return the EMD. You acted in your best interest, as you now describe them, which is fine.

Thanks for your feedback, I see you are just discussing the situation and not trying to argue for argument's sake. We did want to keep the EM, and would have if our realtor was on our side and took a strong stance with the buyer's realtor. In our case, when we tried contacting the buyer realtor directly, he simply told us to talk to our selling realtor. And our selling realtor simply refused to try and keep the EM for us. In a situation like this, we had limited options. If we had a strong realtor, I would have absolutely pushed to keep the EM - it's only fair.

It would be fair, but fair doesn't always matter. You say you would have pushed to keep the EMD. Great, but what happens when the buyer refuses? Then you can't sell your house and you have to incur litigation costs - two things you said you didn't want. Even a mor aggressive realtor may not have been able to change that reality given your (again perfectly reasonable) priorities.

Plus, you did have options. You could have explicitly instructed your realtor, in writing, that he was to push for the EMD's return since he was your agent and you could have made clear to him you were not simply going to relent. (Posturing is not only for dealing with the other side.). If he refused, you could have fired him, which I think you said you did right after anyway. You also could have threatened to report him for not representing your interests as he was required to do.

None of these are the easiest thing to do and can have complications, but you did have options. In your shoes, I would have absolutely saber rattled - with my agent and the buyer - even if I would not have actually followed through with litigation given the downsides. It might have worked, it might not have, but it would have been an option.

Where a lot of this falls down is if you have a buyer and seller in dramatically different financial circumstances. If you have either a buyer or seller willing to take the time and expense to press things, the opposing party could get really screwed. Let's say a young couple, scraping together every last cent to buy, wants to walk away from a contract with an older couple with lots of resources who have another residence, don't need to move out, have struggled to sell, and want to force the sale. In that case, the buyer walking away can expect to be in trouble. Two young couples selling to each other who just want to get the thing done, or move on to the next buyer, will have a different outcome.

[Anonymous]

My sister had a cold feet buyer. Morning before final walkthrough he took ladder from garage and took garden hose jammed it through second floor bedroom window and turned water on. Old lady next door called 911 and gave his plate number description. Cops pinched him and sister said she won't press charges as long as he loses. Guy bought a house with half a wet kitchen ceiling on floor.

[Anonymous]

This happened twice to my parents (two different houses. The joke now is that they have to sell their house twice to be able to move). Once they kept the earnest money as the sellers had found a "better deal" and backed out less than a week before closing. The second time they returned the earnest money. This time the seller backed out two days before closing, he was a friend of a friend of a friend, so I was able to find my parents phone number and tell them his wife had had a nervous break down and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and he just couldn't handle moving right then. It was a huge pain in the ass but they did the right thing and gave the earnest money back and ended up selling the house about two months later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister had a cold feet buyer. Morning before final walkthrough he took ladder from garage and took garden hose jammed it through second floor bedroom window and turned water on. Old lady next door called 911 and gave his plate number description. Cops pinched him and sister said she won't press charges as long as he loses. Guy bought a house with half a wet kitchen ceiling on floor.

Wow. What a story! What a jackass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It would be fair, but fair doesn't always matter. You say you would have pushed to keep the EMD. Great, but what happens when the buyer refuses? Then you can't sell your house and you have to incur litigation costs - two things you said you didn't want. Even a mor aggressive realtor may not have been able to change that reality given your (again perfectly reasonable) priorities.

Plus, you did have options. You could have explicitly instructed your realtor, in writing, that he was to push for the EMD's return since he was your agent and you could have made clear to him you were not simply going to relent. (Posturing is not only for dealing with the other side.). If he refused, you could have fired him, which I think you said you did right after anyway. You also could have threatened to report him for not representing your interests as he was required to do.

None of these are the easiest thing to do and can have complications, but you did have options. In your shoes, I would have absolutely saber rattled - with my agent and the buyer - even if I would not have actually followed through with litigation given the downsides. It might have worked, it might not have, but it would have been an option.

I am not saying I would have end up being able to keep the EM, but I certainly would have pushed for it. The buyer did not know my mindset. What if I am one of those "principles" guys? Do they want to be subject to a lawsuit and being potentially held liable for my attorney's fees? A more aggressive realtor would have swung the balance in my favor.

I gave very clear instructions to my agent that I wanted to keep the EM and that he was to negotiate with the buyer to release the EM to me. He flatly refused. At that point, fighting the situation became a lot more time consuming and difficult, so I decided to let it go. And yes I fired him at the end of that conversation. He agreed it was the best course of action and signed a release, including if another buyer bought it who saw the house while he was representing me.

[Anonymous]

Every summer our nice neighborhood (1.2mil+ homes) has a few break-ins. The culprits are always teens and always caught because a) cameras, duh and b) they're dumb teens who cover the faces but wear a clothing item specific to them.

This summer we had a neighbor's landscaper come back at night and steal out of unlocked cars in our neighborhood.

Frankly, if you're dumb enough to leave your car unlocked or your garage door open all night, you deserve to get robbed.

Install a camera system and move in, OP. If you really do hate it, start working on selling 9 months in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every summer our nice neighborhood (1.2mil+ homes) has a few break-ins. The culprits are always teens and always caught because a) cameras, duh and b) they're dumb teens who cover the faces but wear a clothing item specific to them.

This summer we had a neighbor's landscaper come back at night and steal out of unlocked cars in our neighborhood.

Frankly, if you're dumb enough to leave your car unlocked or your garage door open all night, you deserve to get robbed.

Install a camera system and move in, OP. If you really do hate it, start working on selling 9 months in.

Yup. Also in a similarly priced neighborhood and exact same situation. It's either workers who come back after hours or teens. Every single time. And every single time they are caught. Everyone watches and everyone has cameras. And also don't be stupid. I don't care it's a 5 million dollar neighborhood, I'm still locking my cars, garage and house.