What are my rights as a seller of real estate....can I get out of a bad contract

January 6th, 2009 - ccbilllog.com - edit
  • We are in a real estate contract....that has gone on for months, with no ending in sight. What are our chances of getting out of it. As the seller, don't we have any rights at all? The delay has caused us to be close to bankruptcy, and put our whole family in a stress mode. What exactly are my rights?


  • If you are the seller, did the buyer make a full price offer without any contingencies? If so, why haven't you closed yet? Does the buyer keep delaying the closing? If the offer was contingent, does the buyer keep telling you that one or more of the contingencies have not been met therefore they do not yet have to close? Without seeing the contract, I am trying to figure out why you as the seller are stressed. Just tell the buyer the deal is off and stick another for sale sign out front! In this market, unless the house is either a real dog or is way overvalued, you should be able to sell it in a minute. Does your contract actually not have any time limit on how long the buyer has to satisfy his contingencies? I am reading between the lines, but that's the only reason I can see why you feel you are stuck in this, i.e., you accepted an offer that had a lot of contingencies and also places no time limits on how long the buyer has to satisfy them before the contract terminates. If you did sign such a contract, ouch . . .


  • The property is in NC. It is a development, not a home. The contract was signed by both parties, but we feel that the terms of the contract have been broken by the buyers. There is a real estate agent involved, but he has not been doing his job. He can't even account for the money that is supposed to be in escrow with him. When I asked for an accounting of the money he said he couldn't do it. Our listing agreement is over with him at this time. It ended in February of this year. When I asked him if he could prove that the buyers had the money to pay for the development, he said that was not something he had to ask the buyers, that he knew they did, but had no proof of this. We dropped the price down to almost half of our asking price to sell, and it is still not closed. We had a lawyer from Florida send a recession of contract to the buyers and the buyers attorney, and they completely ignored us. I believe that they are trying to bankrupt us, and then they can get the money at auction. We are really at a loss of what to do. The realtor never gave the buyers a copy of our Restrictions, isn't that part of their job to inform the buyer about this?


  • We are going to contact the people that have said they want to buy lots from us tomorrow. If they have not been scared away by the "contract" then, we will sell the property to them, and let the chips fall where they may. I don't know why the attorneys in Boone are so hesistant to fight this with us. Mine even said that I should sign another listing agreement with the realtor that has caused so much trouble for us. We have run across this since the beginning with both realtors and attorneys. This is the property...http://www.BlairMountainEstates.com if you wanted to take a quick look.


  • You say, "We had a lawyer from Florida send a recession of contract to the buyers and the buyers attorney, and they completely ignored us." Again, why don't you just put another "For Sale" sign on the parcel and move on? If the buyers are in possession of your rescission letter, it doesn't matter if they ignored it. They are in breach, it appears, and you have rescinded your acceptance which is an approporiate remedy for a breach like this, so just go find another buyer. What am I missing?


  • Well sure the buyer can slap a lis pendens on the property, but so can anyone else who has a beef with you about the property. A lis pendens just acts as a cloud on title to advise buyers that the seller is in a dispute over the property and may not be able to convey good title. But a lis pendens does not automatically appear! How?s the buyer going to know to file one? Look, I am in no position to second guess your Boone, NC lawyer because I haven't seen the contract, but don't let the fear of lis pendens stop you from finding a new buyer. Here's what happens: you find a new buyer, the title company does all the title work to prepare for close and they either find the lis pendens or they don't. If they don't, you?re in the clear and you close the deal. If they do, then they'll typically give you a certain number of days to get the lis pendens removed, and you?ve got a good legal basis to do that based on your rescission letter. How's the buyer going to know that you are doing this? How will they know to file a lis pendens? Are they going to drive by the property every day making sure there's no new for sale sign on it? Just quietly place a new sign on it, find a new buyer, turn it over to the title company to set up for closing and close it as fast as possible. Sure the buyer could sue you after the fact, but at least you have sold the property! You cannot do anything to stop the buyer from suing you--that's just a fact.


  • IN what state are you? Has the contract really been signed by both parties? If so, what do the terms of the contract say? Is there a real estate agent involved? If so, do you have a contract with him (her)? These are just more questions, but your answers could help a researcher.


  • It does sound so simple....but our attorney in Boone NC told us yesterday that the "buyers" could slap a lis pending on us and then tie up the property until who knows when. If they did that, then they would do what they wanted....we would be out of money, and it would go to foreclosure. if we could find an attorney in the area that would stand up again this, one with ovaries, then we might have a chance. I know you have gone beyond what you should for this small amount of money, if you can get me out of this contract, i will make it worth your while. This has been going on for so long, that I am loosing my faith....thanks for being so nice. you are a good person.







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