Lawyers and real estate folk: does my friend have any recourse?

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck) 08/13/2019 at 21:58 • Filed to: Yikes

0

31

Here’s a bizarre  story that I’ve heavily scaled down for purposes of actually trying to get people to read my posts:

My friend puts an offer on a house 15 days ago. 10 days later, they negotiate. The next day the offer is accepted: contingent and pending inspection. So they do they home inspection and the sewer inspection yesterday (completed within 10 days as agreed upon since pending) . Then this morning, the *sellers* back out. The took new photos and relisted the home by noon today.

The sellers didn’t ask for renegotiation, nor did they even approach my friends with their sudden change of heart. Their agent simply notified my friend saying they were walking away and relisting the home. But my friend signed all the whatever yadda yadda and so did they, so they’re SUPPOSEDDDDDD to be bound to the deal, we assumed. When my friend contacted her realtor, he did the total — and I felt terse — “contact a lawyer” with really no insight as to what the hell just happened.

From her frantic research, she’s under the impression she’d basically have to sue them for breach of contract, plus the money she’s out on the inspection and earnest money. Which will likely cost more than the value of those three checks combined.

So my questions are:

1) what the everloving fuck happened to my friend, and 2) what the hell does she do now?

wafflesnfalafel > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:04

5

walk away and never use their current agent

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:06

3

Cheaper and quicker than a lawyer*

*Not good advice

WilliamsSW > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:07

2

Umm who has the earnest money now? That check should be torn up, no one can keep that.

Not a lawyer or realtor, but she  could maybe sue for specific performance, idk. 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:07

3

I feel like they could sue for court/lawyer fees on top of everything else...?

Obviously not a lawyer, but how much different is a mechanic really?

someassemblyrequired > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:08

2

I think you can sue for actual damages (lawyers fees, inspections, etc.) and also to compel sale of the home.

One of the resident legal eagles can probably add more, but my understanding is once the contract is signed, the seller can’t just change their mind.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > wafflesnfalafel 08/13/2019 at 22:09

1

Yeah no kidding. I tried to recommend mine, but you know how that goes sometimes

Spaceball-Two > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:10

3

It’s shity but yeah they can hire an attorney and bog it down but the agent is banking on them not spending funds on legal and walking away. Bottom line is they’ll all spend time, money and mental stress and it will drag out a long time. The agent should lose their license but sadly while  it may all look that way on paper in real world situations it won’t matter. House is gone. You unfortunately can’t strong arm in this market 

facw > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:12

2

I think it’s definitely worth having at least an initial consultation with a lawyer. I’d ditch the buyer’s agent too (if contract allows), since they are clearly not going to bat.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Spaceball-Two 08/13/2019 at 22:13

0

Dang. Well, tomorrow is another day

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:14

1

Hitman, or follow them to their new house, buy the neighboring house, and pester them relentlessly.

someassemblyrequired > Spaceball-Two 08/13/2019 at 22:16

1

Can you do a lis pendens in Washington State to tie up the title?

Spaceball-Two > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:17

6

I say call the agents bluff and have an attorney contact and see if that scares them. Seller can pull the listing for a bit and hope the dust settles. Likely the seller got a great offer after they locked in and they are back tracking 

Spaceball-Two > someassemblyrequired 08/13/2019 at 22:18

0

Yeah, it’s costly and a time suck. There are ways around it when a transaction like this is so fluid. 

someassemblyrequired > Spaceball-Two 08/13/2019 at 22:23

0

Yeah it sounds like the best outcome might be to have a lawyer send a nastygram, then sue after the sale for the difference in price between the agreed offer and the actual sale plus expenses .  They may not get it, but you make an unreasonable demand and settle somewhere in the middle.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:27

0

Don’t know about your state but at least in mine there are some situations (like an estate sale) where the sellers can safely back out all the way up until signing.

WilliamsSW > Spaceball-Two 08/13/2019 at 22:29

1

^^^^ all of this

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Spaceball-Two 08/13/2019 at 22:35

0

I mean, she offered less than asking, asked for some repairs, and then made a contingent offer... Maybe as the days rolled on, their people go in their ear and told them, “Oh you should have held out for more!”

In addition, my friend's house goes on the market tomorrow but doesn't know where she's gonna live when it sells. Which is exactly what happened to us, but it worked out well for us as we found a home while our sale was pending so we were infinitely more attractive buyers.

wafflesnfalafel > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:39

1

yeah... that f’n sucks...  The current market here just brings out all the nasties trying to make a quick buck...  

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:48

1

File a formal complaint against the listing agent with your local board of realtors?

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:55

1

Not a lawyer or real estate agent , but that sounds fishy as hell. 

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 22:57

1

This one sounds like absolute garbage and they should sue.

On the real estate topic: The people that we nanny share with put in an offer on a house that had been on the market for like 9 months. They went in low, of course, but there had been no offers in all that time because it’s kind of a terrible beautiful location and a lot of money for there, they just wanted to be out there. So they hear nothing until the house gets delisted, then they grill the realtor and apparently there was a big argument about it, resulting in deciding not to sell the house.

GLiddy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/13/2019 at 23:31

6

I had a temporary real estate license for a time...never felt comfortable about actually working in the industry...but saying that, as I recall your friend can force the sale of the house. They are in breach of contract assuming that the offer was signed and accepted. Now, if your friend asked for concessions based upon the inspection, then the deal is open again, but if they satisfied the contingencies (or never even had a chance to) then I don’t think the seller had a right to cancel, and so are in breach. Read the listing contract and the offer/acceptance documents.

Have your friend contact a real estate attorney to write a letter threatening a suit for specific performance (forcing the sale of the house) or damages including inspection fees, legal fees, etc.  if the buyer isn’t reimbursed for all expenses.  The seller’s agent may also have a cause of action against these flakes.

facw > Spaceball-Two 08/14/2019 at 00:44

1

Thing is, all that is true for seller as well, and they are probably even more in the position of not wanting to be tied down in litigation. Obviously you have to balance the payout with costs of pursuing  but I’d imagine there would be a lot of pressure on them to settle quickly.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 08/14/2019 at 01:05

1

Nine months is way too long. Either still too expensive or that agent was terrible

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/14/2019 at 01:15

0

It was also overpriced and in a spot that wasn’t exactly desirable. I thought they were crazy, as it’s like 20 minutes beyond me deep into the foothills, and I’m already way the hell out in the boonies (I couldn’t fathom 40 more minutes out of your day when they’re already doing 3+ hours commuting to/from  downtown) . It’s unlikely they got many nibbles. At that price, you just go closer and get a similar-sized house...

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 08/14/2019 at 01:25

1

In the same way people can overvalue their own cars and list for too high on CL (guilty), it can’t be too surprising that some people do that with their home.

My agent was nice enough to break our balls a year before we stud by basically telling us that our home was worth way less than we were hoping unless we really wanted to roll up our sleeves. 

Grindintosecond > GLiddy 08/14/2019 at 09:11

0

Shoot, go big as well and grab the listing agent and the firm that agent works with as they apparently didn’t properly advise the contracted party appropriately. punitive damages! Then they can build a massive garage when they get the house...

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/14/2019 at 10:18

0

Does the selling agent still have the deposit?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 08/14/2019 at 10:19

0

Says she’s supposed to get it back today, but....

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/14/2019 at 10:45

0

Based on my memories of my time working for a (primarily) real estate attorney, it sounds like they probably could sue to enforce the contract (depending on the contract, and state in question, ect...). The question of if they could do so and whether it worth doing so are very different. Theoretically, they could enforce the contract and get back their costs to do so in the judgement against the seller (if the contract allows for the recovery of costs to enforce it) . In reality that’s an activity that could well take a year or two to reach a resolution, and they’ll be paying attorneys fees and court costs as they go, so it may be very unlikely to be a course worth pursuing.

What might be worth doing is talking to an attorney that plays in the real estate world in that area. Most will do a consultation for free and they can learn exactly what their options are. My guess here would be they are told something along the lines of it probably not being worth more than maybe sending a letter and seeing what happens. Sometimes, paying a lawyer a few hundred dollars to send something out on letterhead can go a long ways. Once folks start realizing attorneys have been hired, situations can sometimes have a way of fixing themselves.

I had a bit of a dispute with a landlord once... Nonetheless, I liked the house and it was advantageous for me to stay there through the end of the lease, so I enforced the contract. It got to threats of legal action from the landlord, so I called the bluff and had a real estate attorney send him a nastygram explaining why he was wrong. He then hired his own lawyer to also tell him he was wrong (I may have exceeded some intentions of his, but he was the one that didn’t put an applicable clause excluding me from subletting in the lease). While it would not have been worthwhile to me to have actually sued to enforce the contract had it come to that, it was certainly worthwhile to spend a little bit for sound advice and a letter that got everyone to agree on a reasonable outcome.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 08/14/2019 at 11:56

0

Wait, how are they losing the earnest fees? Inspection, I at least understand - but shouldn’t the earnest money be recoverable given that it is the seller who backed out?

And yeah - I would suggest reaching out to an attorney and at least sending a strongly worded letter threatening to sue...and perhaps reach out to the company the seller’s agent works for? I’m assuming they’re tied to one of the big name real estate firms - threaten them too given the crap their agent and client are trying to pull, clearly against the terms that they had agreed to. Ask if the buyer were pulling the same stunt if they’d let it slide?