Home Buying Queston...

[Dallas]

So I had found a new home that we made an offer on and was accepted. We put the earnest money down on the home of 2500.00 to show the seller we were serious about the purchase. Inspection day comes yesterday and I go to meet up with the inspector. I drive over and things were going fine until I decided to make sure my truck would fit into the 2 car attached garage. Long story short, it didn't. Which now is a huge show stopper. The main reason I wanted a bigger home in the first place was because I wanted a bigger garage for things and most of all my vehicles. I have a 2011 F-150 Super Crew I drive now w/ the shorty box on it. The truck fits into the garage easily height wise but the length is what won't fit. I called my realtor last night to inform him this appears to be a show stopper for us, but he hasn't got back with me yet, so I was posting to get some of your input.

The main thing now is the earnest money. I am wondering if I will even get it back. It isn't a lot of money and I am glad I found out now instead of after the purchase to discover I basically can't use my garage for what I intended.

Anybody have experience w/ earnest money in a home purchase? I know if the seller doesn't like my "fix this" list they can easily back out w/ no questions asked.

Any thoughts? Think I'm hosed?

Remember the inspection was just yesterday so that's really the only time I had access to look and do what I wanted around the home.

Bummed major atm....

 

[Wimbo]

I think a failed home inspection is an acceptable reason to not go through with the purchase. Your earnest money should be refundable. I am not in real estate or real estate law, but that seems logical to me.

 

[Wimbo]

http://homebuying.about.com/od/buyingahome/qt/EarnestMoney.htm

 

[kmd24]

It depends on how the contract was written. Most boilerplate contracts make the purchase contingent on the inspection.

One idea: when you come back with your list of fixes from the inspection, request that they pay a qualified contractor to extend the garage to fit your truck. They'll probably refuse and give you back your earnest money, or they'll pay for it and you'll get what you want anyway.

I'm not a lawyer, but I have purchased 5 houses over the years, so take my advice for what it's worth - not a lot.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Speak for yourself $2500 is a lot of money to me. :

 

[rocboy22]

you may be screwed. you should have known the length of your truck and measured the garage before making an offer. or, just told the buyers you want to make an offer but would like to test putting your truck in the garage, or even just wrote the offer with it being contingent on your truck fitting. this is not an issue of inspection, as there is nothing wrong with the house besides the dimensions of it. unless they advertised the garage as being a certain size and it ended up not being what they claimed, you are probably going to lose your 2500 if you back out.

 

[jobberone]

The worse that will happen is you have to hire your own inspector to start finding things wrong with the house. They will get the message and back away. Most likely if you sit down with the realtor then you can probably get him to get the owner to back off. The realtor wants to sell you a home and you don't want the house. The owner wants to keep the realty company reasonably happy so they will show. If there is a sticking point go to the owner of the realty company and persuade him to intervene. Remember if you threaten to walk away the realty company will lose a fair amt of money so you have leverage. Keep it quiet and civil way into the process and this is likely to break your way.

 

[Dallas]

Some good and some bad news in here. I am still waiting to hear what goes down from my realtor.

Sad sad


My realtor *just* called and said he will break the sale for me and counter back the inspection failure because our vehicles won't fit.

He thinks they will do it. The house was on the market for only 2 days w/ 4 offers before me, so it will sell.

Just hoping they take it.

Thank folks for the kind advice.

Have a great weekend.

 

[Dodger]

As kmd24 suggested, you can request a change, though I would do so in an addendum to the contract. Keep in mind that one part of a contract is a meeting of minds, and if you can't agree on terms, there's no deal. Earnest money just shows your interest, but if you have a legit problem with the home, and this seems like one to me, and it can't be settled, you should be able to get your earnest money back. The sellers might challenge that, though...just depends on them, and if that happens, you can go to arbitration to try and get it back. I think you'd have a very good shot if that happened.

From contracts I've seen, unless the seller specifies in the original contract that earnest money is non-refundable, it's difficult for the seller to keep it.

And yes, I'm speaking from experience. I was an associate broker in NM for several years not long ago.

 

[rocboy22]

As kmd24 suggested, you can request a change, though I would do so in an addendum to the contract. Keep in mind that one part of a contract is a meeting of minds, and if you can't agree on terms, there's no deal. Earnest money just shows your interest, but if you have a legit problem with the home, and this seems like one to me, and it can't be settled, you should be able to get your earnest money back. The sellers might challenge that, though...just depends on them, and if that happens, you can go to arbitration to try and get it back. I think you'd have a very good shot if that happened.

From contracts I've seen, unless the seller specifies in the original contract that earnest money is non-refundable, it's difficult for the seller to keep it.

And yes, I'm speaking from experience. I was an associate broker in NM for several years not long ago.[/quote]

really?? you look way too young to have been working for several years already! :laugh2:

 

[Dodger]

As kmd24 suggested, you can request a change, though I would do so in an addendum to the contract. Keep in mind that one part of a contract is a meeting of minds, and if you can't agree on terms, there's no deal. Earnest money just shows your interest, but if you have a legit problem with the home, and this seems like one to me, and it can't be settled, you should be able to get your earnest money back. The sellers might challenge that, though...just depends on them, and if that happens, you can go to arbitration to try and get it back. I think you'd have a very good shot if that happened.

From contracts I've seen, unless the seller specifies in the original contract that earnest money is non-refundable, it's difficult for the seller to keep it.

And yes, I'm speaking from experience. I was an associate broker in NM for several years not long ago.

really?? you look way too young to have been working for several years already! :laugh2:

Lol...yeah, that's my kiddo, though I wouldn't try to get earnest money back from him. He's a tough negotiator.

:laugh2:

 

[Yeagermeister]

I don't even see a garage

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v316/Yeagermeister/redneckresort.jpg

 

[Dallas]

I don't even see a garage

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v316/Yeagermeister/redneckresort.jpg

:laugh2: Not nice!!

 

[MyBad]

Ask your Realtor...if you didn't use one, well look at the contract. There should be a rescission period. Like it was said above, a contingent period, so that you may get inspections, and so forth. If you did not write it in to the contract, that was a mistake for for sure.