HELP!!!! StevieD's Getting Screwed

[StevieD]

Here is the short version. I will write more later for anyone who is interested.

We agreed to sell our house to another party. We agreed on a price and we even had a closing date. I hired a lawyer to represent me. He charged $150 and hour. Our closing date was September 9. We got a call from our lawyer today telling us that the sale is not going thru. We all ready have rented an apartment and signed a years lease. Cleaned up and emptied our house. In short we have done everything a person does when they move.
Our lawyer says he was on vacation for two weeks and just came back today. The down payment check that he was supposed to receive and put in an escrow account never arrived. Plus, he is going on another vacation starting tomorrow but his partner will contact us.!!!
What recourse do I have? We are supposed to be moving in the apartment tomorrow. I all ready paid rent. I and we are all ready packed. I need to hear from you real estate guys and lawyers.

 

[BahamaMama]

any purchace agreement? any contingencies? any earnest money?

 

[StevieD]

Here is the longer version. And you have to excuse me but this is our first time selling a house. We moved into this house the day Bucky Dent hit the home run and knocked the Red Sox out of the World Series. We have been here over 25 years.

Our youngest child graduated high school this year and will be starting college. My wife and I started to talk about downsizing and getting rid of the house. My parents are in their eighties now and their house is too much to take care off also. We were thinking of buying a duplex or something with an in-law apartment so we can be close by.

At this point we are only in the discussion phase. A person approaches us about buying our house and makes an offer. We didn?t even have any idea what the house was worth. But he wanted his kids to start school in our town so he wanted to do things fast. I got a lawyer and we had the house appraised and arrived at a price and a closing date.

The last I heard was three weeks ago when the lawyer told me that the buyer had the financing and everything was all set. All he was waiting for was $15,000 from the buyer which he would put in an escrow account. That was my protection, as well as the buyers, so no one could get out of the deal.

Everything was happening fast. For three weeks me and my wife have been packing, sorting, throwing things away. In almost 30 years in a house we accumulated a lot of junk. In fact a junk guy is coming Thursday to pick up the junk. I think the Salvation Army is going to name a wing after us we gave so much to them. We were in high gear, no time to sell anything, just emptying the house as fast as we could.

We also found an apartment for a temporary stay while we get my parents house ready to sell and we look for a house. We signed a year?s lease but we can get out of it with 45 days notice.

I dunno what to do. We are all packed. We move in the apartment tomorrow. We have canceled everything and started everything up at the apartment.
The lawyer called today and told my wife he was on vacation and when he found the check didn?t come he called the buyers lawyer. Who said that the buyers wife decided she didn?t want to live in our town. So our lawyer said he was going on vacation tomorrow but his partner will contact us.

When I heard about this it was after 5:00 PM. So I called the buyer. He said he just found out 30 minutes ago that he didn?t have the financing!

So I don?t know what?s going on. But something smells bad to me.

 

[StevieD]

Bahama, from what I know no money has changed hands. I left everything in my lawyers hands. He talked to theirbank and told me everything was all set. We had a closing date of Sept. 9th. As far as I knew everything was all set.

 

[SixFive]

sounds like you're screwed and don't even have the "earnest money" to keep. On top of that, you're probably going to get a big bill from your crappy lawyer. Bad deal. Sorry about that, stevie, I don't agree with a lot of your political views, but who cares, u seem to be a very nice guy, and I hate for this to happen to you.

 

[marine]

so tell him his wages will come out of the escrow money.

If the buyer still wants to go thru on the deal I am sure there is a way to get this done quick. Probably best bet is to go to a real estate office and do the deed. You might lose 5% on the agent's cut - but it will be done right and fast.

 

[Nick Douglas]

Be careful when trying to enact vigilante justice on lawyers. Even if they screw you, they will find a way to get their money if it is legally owed to them. Of the people I know who've dealt with schysters, in the end they would have been better off paying them off in the beginning rather than having to hassle with a stressful legal process.

I don't know the whole story so it is impossible for me to give a full comment, but it doesn't appear that anything illicit went on. That's just the risk of selling a house without a real estate agent. If a buyer falls through, there is no penalty for the buyer and there is no backup buyer to rescue the seller. I do feel for you, Stevie. Sounds like a terrible position to be in. In my experience, however, these things have a way of working themselves out. Maybe if you put the house on the open market you will find a buyer willing to pay even more.

 

[dr. freeze]

assume the trendelenburg position and relax...

 

[Chanman]

Hope you can make iot alright Stevie. Sorry to hear about this. I wonder if there is any info on the web? I wish you the best...Chan

 

[StevieD]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had thought that the earnest money was paid and put in escrow. It was to be sent to my lawyer. Never hearing that it didn't come I just assumed everything was ok. My lawyer told me the buyer had the financing. His bank even inspected the property.
Now, I get two different stories. My lawyer says the buyer backed out of the deal and didn't do anything illegal. The buyer claims that he just learned yesterday that his financing didn't come thru. Is there any recourse I can take against my lawyer because he never informed me that the earnest money was never sent? I can't afford to pay a mortgage and taxes plus rent on an apartment. nd also send my daughter to college. Plus we all ready stopped all the services here and now have to start them up again.
I agree it is best to have a real estate agent but there was no need for one in this case. The house wasn't even on the market. The lawyer we went to is a very respected real estate attorney in town. His story is that he went on vacation and was surprised that the earnist monery never came in. Also why am I getting two different stories from the buyer and my attorney?
As I see it I have no choice now but to go on with the move to the apartment and put the house on the market.
I think the buyer is lying, he would have had his kids registered in school and he would be in the same position as me as far as moving and changing address and what not. But he doesn't appear to be under any stress and he never contacted the city to start services in his name.

 

[Blitz]

I detect a vast right wing conspiracy here...

Seriously that SUX... I would not give that Eddie Haskell wannabe ;142loser: a red cent. I would contact the Bar assoc. and talk to them and possibly make a complaint.

I had a buyer back out on me once, but it was for health reasons, the husband had a brain aneurysm and would not have got the financing at that point cause he was out of work. I gave them the deposit back and found another buyer fairly quickly.

 

[skulldog]

Steve, I've been a RE broker in ma for 16 years and you got screwed point blank by both YOUR ATTORNEY and the BUYER. IMO, you need to contact your ATTORNEY"S partner and tell him that your going to be filing a 93A suit against his firm for misrepresentation(93A is the consumer protection law in ma), which WHEN you win, reasonable attorney's fees and triple damages will be awarded, then you can file a claim aganist him with the MA board of Bar overseers(sp), in which he'll be fined.

At the same time you can file a lawsuit in court aganist the buyer for specfic performance which unless they got denied financing, which I'd have to see the contract to know what was in there.

At the very lleast, you have an excellent case against your attorney. Get my e-mail from jack and then I'll give you my phone # and we can talk about your options.

GL

 

[ocelot]

Yep, sounds like your shyster was more worried about his serial vacation binge than your interests.

Take skulldog's advice and blast him.

 

[StevieD]

Thank you Skulldog. Will ask Jack for your email.

 

[BahamaMama]

Stevie, yes, unfortunately you are getting screwed, but maybe the start of this article will make you feel a bit better about it (as all you lost was a little *time*, since you left your house in condition to be sold.) Hopefully you can get it sold in a month!!!

these folks a few miles up the road from me learned the lesson that it isn't a done deal UNTIL it is closed in a bit harder of fashion


Article 3 of 4; 1361 words


PICKING THROUGH THE RUINS

LIVING WITH STRIPPED-DOWN HOMES IN THE AFTERMATH OF A STRIP-MALL DEAL GONE BAD HAS EAGAN HOMEOWNERS SEETHING.

Source: BOB SHAW

Pioneer Press
Darrell Lundeen still can't believe how he wrecked his own home. He and three neighbors were about to sell their houses to a strip-mall developer. With one week until closing, they were told they could take anything they wanted from their homes before they were sold and demolished. They attacked their own homes, yanking out molding, prying off skylights, auctioning off kitchen cabinets and flooring. Lundeen pulled out windows, a furnace, central air conditioner,

Published on April 12, 2004, Page A1, Saint Paul Pioneer Press

(that was all of the article i could get without purchasing it from archives... but as you can obviously tell the deal fell thru after they destroyed their houses.)

 

[StevieD]

Thank you for the article Bahama. Looks like those guys are worse off then I am. I have decided I am not going to let this rest.

 

[lowell]

i have been sellling real estae for over 20 yrs and as far as i can tell you do not have any recourse.your lawyer is not responsible for whether the folks got financing.you needed a real estate agent and even if the escrow was in place and they did get not the loan the escrow money would return to them.you needed a realtor.why were they turned down for the loan.if there is any grey area there you might get them to give you some money to relase them from the contract.the bottom line is you now need a good lawyer.

 

[StevieD]

Lowell, my lawyer told me that the buyer had financing all set. The lawyer told me the deal was canceled because the buyers wife did not want to live in my town. He had the financing. The buyer told me last night, 9 days before closing, that he didn't get the financing but that he just found out about it yesterday. My laywer, even today, insists that everything was in order except that he never got the earnest money and when he looked into it they told him the deal was off. My point is that my lawyer should have had the earnest money almost a month ago. If he didn't get it he should have told me so I would not have cleared out my house and moved into an apartment.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Steve If the legal beagal stuff does not work you might go to your bank and explain situation--I would think they might put hold on your mortgage payments until house is sold especially in light of you owning it 25 years if not and mortgage is small they should opt to maybe let you take out personal note payble in year and pay off mortgage with it.
Hope all works out well for you.Sounds like a real pisser.

 

[dawgball]

Something doesn't add up. If this lawyer is a RE lawyer,t hen the contract that he put together should have had stipulations on the type of financing (i.e. the contract wouldn't say deal dependent upon buyer receiving a 30 year note at 1% interest). This would have been the correct stipulation to lose out on the earnest money. If the contract is signed, and the buyer's reason for not buying the house is that his wife does not want to move there, then the $15K is owed to you and you still own the house if they want to back out.

If your lawyer did not put a legitimate financing clause in the contract, then he is not very good at what he does.

Hindsight is a little clearer, though. If there was not a clause in there about the type of financing, then they do not have to prove that they tried to get financing. Their financial route could have been that they were hoping that they found a pirate's treasure, but it didn't work out so you're out in the cold.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. By hiring a lawyer, you should have been protected in this game. A realtor would have been a nice addition to your team because they would have protected you, but in this situation it shouldn't have been necessary. They would also greatly lessened what you earned on your house, but you probably would not be in this situation now. If you have read my posts on realtors before, I don't always think they are the right way to go, but in the right situation they can be your best asset.