Anyone know about real estate transactions?

shibbershabber · Nov 23, 2021

Selling my house...

Buyer made offer, I accepted...

They had the inspection and came back a day later and said there is $20k worth of work needed and that the. were backing out.

Seemed suspicious to me since is nothing serious going on with the house... They ignored our request to see the report and are ignoring requests for even a verbal on what the issue was.

Suspect they just changed their mind and made this all up to get the earnest money back and move on.

But for me, this is a big deal as I already had a contingent offer on a house and these buyers pulling out put that in jeopardy.

In my mind, if they are lying about the outcome of the inspection, I am entitled to the earnest money.

We had an inspection done today, and there were no major problems noted... Certainly no $20k in repairs needed...

Do I have any recourse against these fools?

Lilhigbee · Nov 23, 2021

Not really. By the time you get done with the lawyers, even if you happen to win, you'll probably regret it.
If their agent did his job writing up the original offer, you don't have any recourse anyway.

gryghin · Nov 23, 2021

shibbershabber said:
Selling my house...

Buyer made offer, I accepted...

They had the inspection and came back a day later and said there is $20k worth of work needed and that the. were backing out.

Seemed suspicious to me since is nothing serious going on with the house... They ignored our request to see the report and are ignoring requests for even a verbal on what the issue was.

Suspect they just changed their mind and made this all up to get the earnest money back and move on.

But for me, this is a big deal as I already had a contingent offer on a house and these buyers pulling out put that in jeopardy.

In my mind, if they are lying about the outcome of the inspection, I am entitled to the earnest money.

We had an inspection done today, and there were no major problems noted... Certainly no $20k in repairs needed...

Do I have any recourse against these fools?

Do you have a selling agent that you are working with or are you doing the For Sale By Owner.

If Seller's Agent, then they will know how to apply the screws to get the Earnest and the report.

If FSBO, then I have no help or info as all 4 of my real estate transactions have been done with my employing a buyer agent.

If I were to sell, I definitely would employ a seller's agent as that is one of the scenarios that I would want a professional.

elsie · Nov 24, 2021

Did they put down earnest money? They would have to show the report to recover it unless that was waived.

Earnest Money: What It Is & How Much Should You Pay | Chase

Earnest money shows a homebuyer's commitment to purchasing a home. Learn what earnest money is, its importance and where it goes after closing.

www.chase.com

elsie

ilikegunspdx · Nov 25, 2021

holy crap I just wrote a giant reply and someohow lost it all.

I'll try to be more brief in this version. Bought and sold lots of houses.

2 types of earnest $ agreements in general:

A) refundable: actual wording in agreement is everything, ignore everything else. Inspection is most common reason to get refund back and it's extremely hard for seller to keep it (but read actual verbage in agreement).

3 Most common reasons buyers don't accept inspection imo:

1) buyer is inexperienced and scared of what inspector found even if they r minor things that don't really need repaired. Had noob buyer want me to rewire entire 1914 house one time cuz one room was old knob and tube (nuts! I told them to shove it!).

2) buyer uses inspection as means to lower price. They r ok with house as is but use inspection to lower price. Common and I expect it at the start for every sale.

3) buyer found another house or wants out

B) non refundable. Less common. I have done both A and B as buyer and only A as a seller

So options are walk, meet them in the middle, accept counteroffer. My suggestion is try to meet in the middle to make it close fast. Talk to ur realtor about options especially offering to pay part of buyers closing costs. Buyer love love love that cuz they have less out of pocket and u can adjust sales price if needed so they have higher loan but have less out of pocket.

My #1 suggestion if continuing with them however is only negotiate $ terms, not offer to fix things. #1 contractors have to meet buyers standards and u don't know what that is, #2 even if you did everything they want to the highest standards u can think of they most likely can still walk away without losing anything. But if u are dealing only with $, the house can close fast and you are totally done. U don't have to deal with any loose ends, contractors and/or you getting sued after they find contractor work not good enough, etc. if it's something simple like a sewer repair that may be different cuz either it's fixed or it's not. But this is unique to each buyer/transaction. I suggest trying to find out where buyer is coming from? Fe do they want a like new house?, worried about some safety issue?, other? That can guide u on how to try to meet them in the middle.

My 2 cents. Feel free to ignore. Cheers and happy turkey day! Feel free to pm me if desired.

shibbershabber · Nov 25, 2021

ilikegunspdx said:
holy crap I just wrote a giant reply and someohow lost it all.

I'll try to be more brief in this version. Bought and sold lots of houses.

2 types of earnest $ agreements in general:

A) refundable: actual wording in agreement is everything, ignore everything else. Inspection is most common reason to get refund back and it's extremely hard for seller to keep it (but read actual verbage in agreement).

3 Most common reasons buyers don't accept inspection imo:

1) buyer is inexperienced and scared of what inspector found even if they r minor things that don't really need repaired. Had noob buyer want me to rewire entire 1914 house one time cuz one room was old knob and tube (nuts! I told them to shove it!).

2) buyer uses inspection as means to lower price. They r ok with house as is but use inspection to lower price. Common and I expect it at the start for every sale.

3) buyer found another house or wants out

B) non refundable. Less common. I have done both A and B as buyer and only A as a seller

So options are walk, meet them in the middle, accept counteroffer. My suggestion is try to meet in the middle to make it close fast. Talk to ur realtor about options especially offering to pay part of buyers closing costs. Buyer love love love that cuz they have less out of pocket and u can adjust sales price if needed so they have higher loan but have less out of pocket.

My #1 suggestion if continuing with them however is only negotiate $ terms, not offer to fix things. #1 contractors have to meet buyers standards and u don't know what that is, #2 even if you did everything they want to the highest standards u can think of they most likely can still walk away without losing anything. But if u are dealing only with $, the house can close fast and you are totally done. U don't have to deal with any loose ends, contractors and/or you getting sued after they find contractor work not good enough, etc. if it's something simple like a sewer repair that may be different cuz either it's fixed or it's not.

My 2 cents. Feel free to ignore. Cheers and happy turkey day! Feel free to pm me if desired.

I think they just changed their mind and used this as an out.

Never said what the alleged 20k repair was, never responded to our request for a copy of report... Never asked for lower price nor asked for repairs.

Just dropped the whole $20k in repairs bit amd ghosted us.

Ive let it go at this point as Ive since accepted another offer.... And this new,buyer has had their inspection as well, which found nothing.

So Im,convinced now,that it was bullbubblegum, but a moot point as the house is selling and I havent lost the house I'm buying,