Posted by Anne_ND on April 17, 2006 at 15:07:04:
Your buyer has lied to you. I doubt you can collect the earnest money. Move on and find another buyer.
Anne
Buyer not honoring their side of the contract - Posted by VB
Posted by VB on April 17, 2006 at 14:09:42:
I have a contract to sell my quadplex to an out of state investor. In the contract, we agreed to close within two weeks. Six weeks later and we’re still trying to close. I have been very accomodating to them up to this point but I think I need to let them go. Lately, I’ve been getting the run around and my emails are not being answered. They told me that the escrow money was deposit in an escrow company and they’re still waiting for the loan package. When I called the escrow company to verify, they told me that the account was open but no money was deposited. How can I collect the earnest money? I am not looking for any punitive damages againt this buyer, but are there any advocacy group that I can report this to? Thanks.
Re: Buyer not honoring their side of the contract - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on April 19, 2006 at 24:00:40:
Staying in control of the deal means that the earnest money would
already be in escrow. Either your contract and/or your escrow agent
has let you down here–but you are supposed to be in control of both.
I say this from lots of similar experiences. It took awhile for me to
understand that me, and only me, can look out for my interest in the
deal.
I suggest moving on on to another buyer, making sure that you pick
the escrow agent, that your contract has a clear earnest money
contingency, and that you follow up and make sure it gets into escrow.
Kristine
Re: Buyer not honoring their side of the contract - Posted by IB (NJ)
Posted by IB (NJ) on April 18, 2006 at 10:42:30:
Why did you allow this much time (8 weeks in total?) to go by without you getting written authorization from the escrow company that the money was deposited?
If it was in the contract that the buyer was to give you escrow money then you never had a binding contract to begin with. That means you went 8 weeks wasting your time with a buyer who obviously wasn’t serious.
#1 lesson in selling real estate - Don’t waste your time with buyers who can’t come up with the escrow money. 9 times out of 10 they won’t be able to close the deal.
Forget the advocacy groups (they’re mostly for people who don’t want to take accountability for their actions and inactions, imo) and count this as a time consuming lesson. In the future, let your buyer know (verbally and in writing) that you don’t have a deal until you rceive the escrow money.
I hope things work out in the long run.
Ib
Re: Buyer not honoring their side of the contract - Posted by Sailor
Posted by Sailor on April 17, 2006 at 21:12:47:
When you get your new buyer, add a “time is of the essence” clause to your contract, which w/prevent untoward delays.
Tye