House Downpayment Refund

I submitted a contract for a new construction home and from the date of contract the home was to be built within 90 days, that date kept getting extended and the home has not been built yet, now increasing the timeline up to 180 days. I submitted an agreement of release to the builders. The builders have agreed to release me from the property. However, the realtor that sold me the property stated that she would not refund my downpayment because she did not make a commission on any of the homes and therefore will not give me my refund until she takes the builders to court to sue them. I live in Washington DC and the realtor company is located in Maryland. Can you tell what I can do to obtain my downpayment refund. Thanks.

Did you use a seller's agent? Get him/her in on this nonsense!

Some possibilities:
1) Report the realtor to the state realty board. If she hasn't made a commission, then there was no sale and the money was never hers! The money belongs to the seller and the realator was probably supposed to hold it in escrow. You should get an immediate refund with interest.

2) Hire a real estate attorney. You should probably do this now anyway.

Good luck. When this happened to my brother, he got his refund within one week.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.