Selling brand new home...

What is the name of your state? California
My wife and I have just closed our new home in California. This was a new construction home. As soon as we were going to move in this last week, an oppurtunity came up to buy a bigger peice of land and not move into the new home. So in turn we decided to list the home for sale without even moving in. Some would call this "flipping".

The problem is that when my wife and I bought the home the builder made us sign a peice of paper saying we had to move in the home and live there 1 year before selling it. Saying that if we listed the home or sold it before such time they could "sue for damages".

Is this even fair for the builder to enforce this? How can they tell me what to do with my own home?
I would love to hear some feed back......

JAMES

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by James Diggman

What is the name of your state? California
My wife and I have just closed our new home in California. This was a new construction home. As soon as we were going to move in this last week, an oppurtunity came up to buy a bigger peice of land and not move into the new home. So in turn we decided to list the home for sale without even moving in. Some would call this "flipping".

The problem is that when my wife and I bought the home the builder made us sign a peice of paper saying we had to move in the home and live there 1 year before selling it. Saying that if we listed the home or sold it before such time they could "sue for damages".

Is this even fair for the builder to enforce this? How can they tell me what to do with my own home?
I would love to hear some feed back......

JAMES

**A: have a real estate attorney review this so called "piece of paper". I think you are stuck.

[Souix]

Yes this is fair and this is common. Lenders are cracking down on the flips. Some say you can't resell unless you've owned the home a minimum of 24 months. You are stuck

[HomeGuru]

[quote=James Diggman]What is the name of your state? California

The problem is that when my wife and I bought the home the builder made us sign a peice of paper saying we had to move in the home and live there 1 year before selling it. Saying that if we listed the home or sold it before such time they could "sue for damages".

**A: please post the exact clause word for word as it appears in the contract without your interpretation.

I'm curious about two things regarding flipping new homes:

1. Why is it fair to punish someone who sells their property before some arbitrary date, and
2. The developer/building claims they can 'sue for damages'. what exactly are the damages incurred by the developer/builder if someone buys one of their newly built homes and then sells it, again, before some arbitrarily set date? How can the builder show, in a court of law, damages in a case like this?

[JETX]

"Is this even fair for the builder to enforce this?"
*** 'Fair'??? Who knows?? Legal?? Absolutely.

"How can they tell me what to do with my own home?"
*** They aren't telling you what to do. In fact, you agreed to it!! And that is what is preventing you from flipping the property. Simply, you agreed and signed. Now, you have to abide by it.

[HomeGuru]

JETX is correct.