CONTRACT DEFAULT AND EARNEST MONEY

[JENNYSC]

My husband is in the military and we were transfered from SC to VA. We listed our house in SC and received a contract but the buyer started trying to back out 1 week before closing. At this time our furniture had already been moved to VA by the military and we were visiting relatives just waiting for closing. The buyer sent a release letter to my realator on a friday requesting out of the contract and his earnest money back. Then on the following Tuesday after my realator stated that we would sue, he said that he lost his job. Meanwhile, since we had already placed a contract on a house in Va and my husband had to report within a week, we went ahead with our closing in VA. Our house in SC went back on the market and now 3 months later, it still has not sold and the default buyer's earnest money is still in escrow. What are our rights? and should'nt we have that escrow money since they defaulted? There has been no letter from the mortgage company . My realtor did call the company that the buyer works for and they said he was no longer with them. I am not sure if they are covering for him or if he quit. We have not heard from the buyer since and attempts to contact him by my realtor by letter and phone have been unsuccessful. I feel that I have a law suit since the buyer signed a release before he supposively lost his job, but the realtor says that I probably would not recover enough to make it worth my while. Any suggestions?

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JENNYSC:
My husband is in the military and we were transfered from SC to VA. We listed our house in SC and received a contract but the buyer started trying to back out 1 week before closing. At this time our furniture had already been moved to VA by the military and we were visiting relatives just waiting for closing. The buyer sent a release letter to my realator on a friday requesting out of the contract and his earnest money back. Then on the following Tuesday after my realator stated that we would sue, he said that he lost his job. Meanwhile, since we had already placed a contract on a house in Va and my husband had to report within a week, we went ahead with our closing in VA. Our house in SC went back on the market and now 3 months later, it still has not sold and the default buyer's earnest money is still in escrow. What are our rights? and should'nt we have that escrow money since they defaulted? There has been no letter from the mortgage company . My realtor did call the company that the buyer works for and they said he was no longer with them. I am not sure if they are covering for him or if he quit. We have not heard from the buyer since and attempts to contact him by my realtor by letter and phone have been unsuccessful. I feel that I have a law suit since the buyer signed a release before he supposively lost his job, but the realtor says that I probably would not recover enough to make it worth my while. Any suggestions?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You need to send escrow a directive to release the Buyers deposit to you for damages due to default. That is if the Buyers were realy in default. This should have been done 3 months ago.

If the BUyers were really in default have your Realtor check to see if the Buyers own any real estate with equity. You could sue under the doctrine of specific performance but if the Buyers have no or little assets, just keep their earnest money and move on.