Earnest Money Dispute

[FWinfield]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia

We have a 21 day Financing Contengency in our contract. The binding date was 12/23/08.
during this time we have had 2 Major holidays, Christmas and New Years. From the beginning of the loan the entire deal rested upon whether the Property taxes would come in at an acceptible rate. They came back from the closing attorney at $7428 (no homestead exemption) and this made our "debt to income" ratio be to high for the loan and we were denied approval because of this one fact. Now, the loan officer informed us on the 22nd day ( January 14, 2009) that we did not qualify because of this, and the seller (foreclosure house) wants to keep the Earnest money. Shouldn't there be exceptions to this 21 day timeframe because of the Holiday's within this period?? What does Georgia law state concerning this situation and how can we get our $5000 dollar Earnest money back??? Also are the 21 days counted as calendar days or business days?

[FlyingRon]

Unless the contract says "business" days or something like that, the term means calendar days. No exception for holidays or weekends.

I'm confused. This doesn't sound like a foreclosure at all. It sounds like possibly an REO or something. Is the seller a bank? Are they the same people you are trying to get financing from? Why no homestead exemption?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by FWinfield

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia

We have a 21 day Financing Contengency in our contract. The binding date was 12/23/08.
during this time we have had 2 Major holidays, Christmas and New Years. From the beginning of the loan the entire deal rested upon whether the Property taxes would come in at an acceptible rate. They came back from the closing attorney at $7428 (no homestead exemption) and this made our "debt to income" ratio be to high for the loan and we were denied approval because of this one fact. Now, the loan officer informed us on the 22nd day ( January 14, 2009) that we did not qualify because of this, and the seller (foreclosure house) wants to keep the Earnest money. Shouldn't there be exceptions to this 21 day timeframe because of the Holiday's within this period?? What does Georgia law state concerning this situation and how can we get our $5000 dollar Earnest money back??? Also are the 21 days counted as calendar days or business days?

**A: if you have a financing contingency written properly then that should allow you to get your money back.