Did you have a fully signed contract (including initialed changes)? Signed, sealed and delivered, as they say?
Only thing you can do is make sure to get a certified check at the time the purchaser signs the contract.
We were told not to bother pursuing non-insured damages to our car either.
We sued the little twerp in small claims court, garnished his wages, and got every penny back plus court costs. It was nearly 1000 dollars.
We just got the last of the money a few weeks ago. No one is more shocked than that moron that we got our money back.
I say, sue the jerk you’re dealing with, if you have his real name and info. Small claims court is no big deal. We are glad we did it.
Theoretically, the earnest money is yours if the buyer backs out for no sound reason. I have never heard of anyone keeping the earnest money, though. If I were you, I would simply rescind the acceptance of the buyer’s offer under the grounds that they abandoned the deal and relist the house.
Hm. I used my closing attorney as an escrow agent. The buyer gave the earnest money to the attorney.
Calif version
Earnest money was historically 3%. As prices greatly increased 1% is now common.
If the buyer backs out of the deal, the escrow company could claim expenses, say a few hundred or so.
The company we use does not do that.
If you back out for a contingency, can’t get the loan, don’t accept the condition of the house, etc. you should get your deposit refunded.
If you have removed the contingencies, the buyer may forfeit the deposit to the seller.
If there is a dispute about the refund, then mediation is usually the first step.
12 years never had a dispute.
I have had seller’s agents try to restrict time frames etc. seemingly to trap the buyer into forfeiting the deposit. A good buyer’s agent will protect your deposit and not let it be forfeited. In cal you can’t claim the deposit as a seller if you don’t send the buyer a notice to perform and give 24 hours for them to complete a task.
Most of the time, I’ve had despot at risk, my clients took the risk on their own against my advise. But the deals closed anyway.
Most sellers will be flexible deep into escrow to add time to contingencies etc. on order to get the deal done.
I’ve had one insist on time frames and my buyer backed-out and took deposit. The seller who insisted on a condition had to put the house back on he market.
Sometimes people out smart themselves.
Please, a little more detail. Did the buyer give an earnest deposit to the Realtor upon the signing and your acceptance of an offer? Were all the terms and conditions of the contract met, on your part. Did the buyer make a diligent attempt to meet his contractual obligations? Did you sign a release of contract? Is the Realtor representing you or the buyer?
If you have a grand or so I would hire an attorney to sue both the “buyer” and his real estate agent and the agent’s company.
They signed a contract TO BUY your house, earnest money or not, and the fact that they aren’t following through is going to cost you money-—in other words, damages.
I was days from finalizing the purchase of my home when the stock market went through its last crazy gyrations...what, a little over three years ago?
It made me nervous enough that I inquired about backing out, and about the loss of my earnest money. My realtor told me the earnest money was really irrelevant...that yes I would lose it if I backed out but that I had also signed the purchase agreement which was a binding contract.
I called TWO different attorneys to see if this was true and they said yes (at least in my state) that the purchase agreement was binding; and if the market crashed to zero and I backed out I could be sued for the amount of the purchase price and any other damages they could think of.
If nothing else it will sure as hell get the other realtor’s attention.
Earnest money here is required to change hands and is deposited in seller’s account. It’s forfeited if buyer reneges, buyer keeps it, and applied against closing costs if and when the sale goes through. The amount of it if any varies and is negotiable.