So did I get anyone with my April Fools column or did it fall flat? I heard from several people who take pride in knowing me too well to have been tricked again, but surely I had to have fooled someone.
I spent the weekend cleaning and packing. We had a contract to sell our house, but the deal died last week after the buyers claimed one of our neighbors told them our basement has repeatedly flooded. I’ve lived there nearly 11 years and it’s never even had a little water. The house beside me used to have water problems, so maybe whoever said that had ours confused with theirs. Still, for the deal to fall through because of something so easily proved or disproved is incredibly frustrating.
They asked me to sign a release so they could get their deposit refunded. I said I would if they’d give me the name of the person who caused our deal to be squelched. I simply want to make certain this person knows they have the wrong house so they don’t go and screw up the next contract we get. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Am I being unfair by not signing the release?
April 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Sorry you didn’t get me with your column. : )
You are absolutely NOT being unfair in asking for that information. You are trying to sell your home and you can’t have someone giving out false information about it. I don’t blame you one bit. Sorry that whole mess happened (with the contract) and hope you have another buyer lined up soon.
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:30 am
For someone to say that about your house sounds like slander to me and/or malicious slander.
Any legal grounds here?
It’s a shame that you can’t find out who would do such a thing. And also just as important is why would the would-be buyers believe heresay.
Sorry that it happened.
And hope all works out.
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:22 am
Regarding the sale of your house falling through: there appears to be more than one guilty party here.
It’s bad enough that one of your neighbors would sabotage your sale, but even worse that the buyers would resort to asking neighbors about the house after they had made an offer and signed a contract. If they wanted to ask neighbors about your house, it only makes sense to me to do so before signing a contract and putting down earnest money.
They have a signed copy of your disclosure statement regarding your house. If there is gross misrepresentation on your part, they have an avenue of recourse. To reneg on a contract after the fact, based something a neighbor told them is, in my opinion, unconscionable. Or, perhaps they were second-guessing their decision and are simply using this to get out of the contract, and there was no neighbor actually involved. Either way, I would think long and hard before signing anything to allow them to get their earnest money back. Perhaps I would consent if they were to provide the name of the neighbor, but if not, they would be out the money. After all, the stress this has put on you and your husband has to be worth something.
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 am
Thanks for the support. I’m not a litigious person, but this has me almost to that point. I’m trying to believe it wasn’t someone being malicious. We have such great neighbors on our street, but there’s one way on the other side of the neighborhood who would definitely do something like that.
I’ve had way too much stress in my life lately that I just want this to be over.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I’m of a differing opinion, I think if they decided against buying the house for whatever reason, that is their perogative. Buying a house (as you know) is no small decision and deals fall through all the time. However, I agree it was shady of whomever ‘tipped’ them off about your house (and with false information to boot). The whole thing stinks, but unfortunately a lot stinks in the buying and selling of real estate!
Legal recourse? I don’t know the details of that, but if you do have a right to keep their deposit well within the law, and you want to keep it, then do so. If it were me, I’d sign the release, and give them their deposit after I asked myself “did I lose anything here?”. What exactly did this cost you? Did you lose another deal because you chose to contract with them over another buyer? Or were there no other deals on the table, this was your only offer, no other offers came in that were passed up for them? If the latter, I’d consider myself out nothing, except a headache, and return their money.
Are you working with realtors or doing your sale privately? If you and/or they have realtors go through the realtors to try and find out how the misinformation about the basement came about.
I’ve bought and sold more than my share of homes and there have been a lot of headaches and curse words along the way (LOL).
April 5th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
A very good bit of information at this web address:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-I-Get-to-Keep-the-Real-Estate-Earnest-Money-if-the-Buyer-Backs-Out?&id=374318
April 6th, 2007 at 12:27 am
If you “Google” this topic there is a wealth of information and similar stories from people that have been in this type of situation, all looking for the right answer. The details of your contract, perhaps the state you live in and any other possible clauses have a lot to do with a decision of whether or not you should keep their earnest money. If these people simply changed their mind, and no contingency clauses come into play that would protect them and their deposit, then you are certainly entitled to keep the cash. You may argue that taking your home off the market could have possibly led to a lost sale and that is what your ‘cost’ was. How many days are we talking about? Did they back out after one day, two, five, ten? If it was a short amount of time I’d have to go with my original opinion to return the money and let the situation go. I wouldn’t want to risk any unwelcome legal process that would just end up delaying the sale of the home and possibly costing more money. Good communication through the realtors and potential buyers should eliminate any worry that basement rumors are going to ruin another sale.
This was a very interesting topic/column that peaked my interest so much I enjoyed researching some info on the web. I’ve been fortunate that over the years and homes sold we’ve never had a seller back out. Any problems with the properties were always disclosed in the inspection report. If you do decide to keep the money, these buyers may end up deciding to go through with the contract up to the home inspection. If any problems are found on the inspection they may back out at that time and be covered to get their money back. Well, good luck with this situation. Right now I’ve read the whole country is in a real estate slump.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:29 am
[meant, we’ve never had a BUYER back out]
GOOD LUCK
April 6th, 2007 at 7:37 am
In answer to #5 Anonymous, who asked what we were out — our house was off the market for almost 4 weeks, meaning it wasn’t shown to anyone and was not on the web sites. That cost us at least one more house payment, which is more than the deposit. The whole point of giving earnest money was, I thought, to protect the seller of that very thing. Otherwise buyers who THINK they might want your house but aren’t completely sure could put down a deposit here and keep on looking, essentially locking you up while they did as they pleased. Which is what I think happened here.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:41 am
To #7 — Thanks for all the information and links. Our house had already been inspected (by their inspector) and found to be just fine. They ONLY thing they asked us to fix was a slightly wobbly stair railing (caused from my daughter swinging around it).
April 13th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Sorry I’m so late posting this entry, but I just read the linked article posted by annonymous, and as much as it goes against my grain due the principle involved, I have to agree that it probably would be better to let the buyer have the earnest money back. Under the circumstances, keeping it would be tantamount to gagging at a gnat, and swallowing a camel.