Hulkrage -- home buying

[prideslayer]

This is where I hulkrage about something entirely (well, almost) unrelated to LL, Sexout, etc.

 

During my hiatus, and part of the reason it lasted so long is because I was buying a house -- or trying to anyway. I put a small deposit ($1000) and an offer on a house in March, at the asking price, with the normal conditions. This offer was rejected by the seller, as he did not want to cover the traditional 3.5% of closing costs, which came to about $5000. I raised the offer by $5000 to entice him to agree, and he did.

 

After weeks of signing papers and faxing papers and... papers... paying for a home inspection, and so on, my financing through FHA/Annie Mac fell through. I contacted my credit union to explain the situation (long story short: a dispute I have, ongoing, with the IRS) and see if I could get financing through them, and they declined.

 

My most recent P&S (Purchase & Sale -- contract between myself and the seller) was signed on March 12. In this agreement, on page 4, it says plain as day:

 

If BUYER provides written evidence of inability to obtain financing to SELLER by April 18, 2013 ("Financing Deadline") then:

 

a)This Agreement shall be null and void; and

 

b)All deposits will be returned to BUYER in accordance with the procedures required by...; and

 

c)The premises may be returned to the market.

Seller was informed of this on May 7th and given a copy of my denial letter from Annie Mac. On Sunday, this will be TWO FUCKING MONTHS AGO.

 

The deposit is held in an escrow account at the realtor that cannot be released unless we BOTH sign a release of escrow. And this fuckwit is refusing because he thinks I should pay him some money for the "trouble" he went through such as renting a storage unit and so on.

 

Nevermind that I had to rent a storage unit myself. In fact, I had to fucking move as my lease was up and my landlord did not want to renew. Ok, well he did want to renew, but only if I agreed to a $500 a month rent hike on a place already costing me almost two fucking grand a month.

 

Initially the realtor contacted me by phone and told me about this, and asked if I'd agree to split MY deposit with him 50/50. I said no, and she asked "how about 25/75." I said no again. She tried to tell me that once I got my IRS thing straight, if I went back through her to buy a house, she'd "credit" however much I gave to him towards a deposit for the new place. NO.

 

OVER A FUCKING MONTH LATER (6/27 -- a week ago) I get a copy of an escrow release to sign -- splitting the money 50/50.

 

I told the agent that I already said I wasn't going to agree to give him any money at all, and if he didn't sign the release giving me back the full deposit (as he agreed to in THE FUCKING CONTRACT), I'd be taking him to court.

 

So the agent calls today to offer to pay me the difference if I'll just sign the 50/50 thing. I let that call and the offer go to voicemail.

 

Now I just want to start stomping on fucking throats. Make this assclown that offer instead. Pay him as much as you fucking want to "on the side", so long as he signs the full release back to me.

 

The kicker: If I'd had no IRS issue, the financing was still falling through, due to the radon levels in the basement uncovered during the inspection. THE INSPECTION I PAID ANOTHER $500 FOR.

 

So tomorrow she's getting another email stating the above, in more polite terms. Offer him as much of a bribe as you want, but if he doesn't sign a release of the full deposit to me by Friday, we're going to court. If we go to court, he'll be paying THAT cost, plus the cost of me taking time off work to file the paperwork and then to go to court, etc.

 

Fuck me running. If anyone had said it would be this much bullshit to buy a house, I wouldn't have even bothered trying. I haven't broke the news to the agent yet that if I *do* buy a house in the future, I will certainly not use her as a purchasing agent or even consider buying one listed with her agency.

 

So.. just had to rage. I don't envy other people in this situation who put a LOT more down for their deposit (aka "Earnest Money"), as sometimes happens.

[Soap desu]

;l buying homes are not normally that hard, sounds like bad luck, bad help and bad seller. 

 

You were a victim of circumstance. 

 

Good Luck for whenever you try to buy a house again. 

[RitualClarity]

http://www.realestateabc.com/insights/deposit.htm

http://www.realtor.com/home-finance/homebuyer-information/understanding-the-earnest-money-deposit.aspx?source=web

 

Sounds like a hell of a thing to happen yet it is a possibility in some states. You will need to get legal assistance If this can't be resolved in a manner that you can accept.

 

Each state has laws pertaining to what is to be done when a purchase falls through. Your comment where the realtor wishes to pay the difference to get the papers signed might indicate that some legal tomfoolery was committed. (Yes I did say tomfoolery ) The realtor may of done something very wrong in this process.

[Emily]

Economic bubble affect investment for capitalists. The First thing come in mind about property is their price are always rise dramatically every year. unless economic crisis hit the whole country, if not it get even more +5% expensive than before.

[DoctaSax]

Shady business, real estate. I sold a small house once, through a realtor. Sounded cool enough on the phone but when we met he was like this archetype of shady used car salesman - fake tan, fake smile, open shirt, bling. You pay a bit for this, you pay a bit for that, and in the end you end up selling at half the difference anyway. I got my own back though when right before the actual sale I suddenly said I had doubts and he ate a big chunk of his fee just to close the deal and move on

[RitualClarity]

Shady business, real estate. I sold a small house once, through a realtor. Sounded cool enough on the phone but when we met he was like this archetype of shady used car salesman - fake tan, fake smile, open shirt, bling. You pay a bit for this, you pay a bit for that, and in the end you end up selling at half the difference anyway. I got my own back though when right before the actual sale I suddenly said I had doubts and he ate a big chunk of his fee just to close the deal and move on

 

Cool move DoctaSax... cleaver indeed.

 

[jonas_opines]

Been selling a duplex I own. My wife and I had lived in half until we moved away from work, now it's 1400 miles away from us and inefficient to manage from so far away. Went through a realtor for a while and had no success. Just put it on Craiglist on my own and had an offer to buy it that we're working on closing on with no realtor commissions at all.

 

Here's the thing about realtors -- they get a commission, which is typically 3% of the sale. Say you have a house that you want to sell for 100,000. They'd make a commission on that sale of 3,000. Let's say that it takes them 30 hours to find a buy at that price, though. Now let's say that dropping 10,000 to 90,000 makes it so they can find a buyer in 10 hours of their work. That's a 10,000 dollar difference to you, but only a 300 dollar difference to them.

 

They're not on your side. They're on their own. So they'll work for you unequivocally only as long as your interests coincide, or you don't allow them to bully you. For mine, it was pretty clear that the commission they could make off my property was much less, and the sell would require much more work, than other opportunities that they might have, so they never put any effort towards it.

[Loogie]

Jesus, dude. Hope he wises up before you have to haul his ass to court.

[prideslayer]

She responded to that last email by again just asking me to please sign, and saying that she promised to get me the difference as a check from the realtor. As in, I don't think she made the same offer to the seller that she made to me, as I asked her to. She also then tried to drop a bomb, saying "Oh by the way, I'm sorry, but I made a mistake. When the financing fell through I didn't notify him in time so technically if you go to court the money is his."

 

That was on Wednesday. I haven't responded yet. She's telling me that it took her more than 10 calender days to inform the seller that the deal fell through. Either she is lying to avoid pissing the seller off more (this is most likely), incompetent, or she delayed informing him intentionally in order to cause this situation.

 

It's not that it's a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, and since I spent it several months ago, It's "easy" to just chalk it up to gone and be thankful to get any of it back, but that's probably just what they're counting on. The main thing is at this point I just don't trust either of them. I don't even know if getting her offer in writing will help, or if I should just demand cash -- which is my current thought.

 

Tell her to get the difference she promised me in cash and I will come to her office and sign the release right there. Somehow I imagine this will also be rebuffed.

[buttnine]

Good grief. This is a disaster, Prideslayer. I know it doesn't help your situation or stress level about this, but I've bought two homes (not at the same time - in succession) and the processes were not like your experience at all. The only thing that should cause difficulty is all the lousy paperwork. It really shouldn't be as hard as it is for you. I guess I'm saying this to tell you that once you resolve your situation (and I do hope it's soon), try it again. Hopefully with the right people you'll have a really good experience. Keep your chin up! Maybe have some scotch.

[RitualClarity]

She responded to that last email by again just asking me to please sign, and saying that she promised to get me the difference as a check from the realtor. As in, I don't think she made the same offer to the seller that she made to me, as I asked her to. She also then tried to drop a bomb, saying "Oh by the way, I'm sorry, but I made a mistake. When the financing fell through I didn't notify him in time so technically if you go to court the money is his."

 

That was on Wednesday. I haven't responded yet. She's telling me that it took her more than 10 calender days to inform the seller that the deal fell through. Either she is lying to avoid pissing the seller off more (this is most likely), incompetent, or she delayed informing him intentionally in order to cause this situation.

 

It's not that it's a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, and since I spent it several months ago, It's "easy" to just chalk it up to gone and be thankful to get any of it back, but that's probably just what they're counting on. The main thing is at this point I just don't trust either of them. I don't even know if getting her offer in writing will help, or if I should just demand cash -- which is my current thought.

 

Tell her to get the difference she promised me in cash and I will come to her office and sign the release right there. Somehow I imagine this will also be rebuffed.

 

Yep pride.. I thought so. The realtor screwed up and is trying to save her job and reputation. If everything you did was done correctly and you can prove it, screw her and get a lawyer. If you continue to mess with this it will likely only get even more messy. There might even be other issues that haven't arose yet that can later cause trouble. Get a good property lawyer. He/she will be able to advise you all possible courses of action you have available. He/she will be able to make sure all the bases are covered and nothing later will come up to bite you on the ass. Besides who knows if it is a screw up from the realtor you might even be able to get added damages such as interest or other remedies for your troubles even hold the realtor's office responsible for further damages.

 

As far as she paying the difference etc... doubt that will happen. They will try to squeeze you when you go there. They might even put a hold on the check unless it is a cashiers check. Hell they might even decide later to claim that you improperly gained that money and have to pay it back even going as far as a law suit for the money to be return. She is a snake, scam artist and a screw up trying to cover her ass. Don't deal with her any more. If you can't / or don't want to contact a lawyer try her branch office manager...They may want to settle it just to avoid a bad rap especially if it is found that she screwed up.

 

I hope it works out for you.