Issue after closing - Arizona

[azwildcats7]

Hi

I just purchased a house. As part of the inspection, the seller agreed to pay me (the buyer) an amount via check for repairs. This was signed by the seller and included in the contract.

The buyer's agent said this check would be available at closing when we picked up the keys. However, this check was not there, and we have already closed on the house.

The seller has moved out of town. If the seller does not pay, what recourse do I have. Do I have any recourse with the seller's agent or the title agency for not enforcing the contract and misprepresting that the check would be available at close.

Thanks

 

[HomeGuru]

Hi

I just purchased a house. As part of the inspection, the seller agreed to pay me (the buyer) an amount via check for repairs. This was signed by the seller and included in the contract.

The buyer's agent said this check would be available at closing when we picked up the keys. However, this check was not there, and we have already closed on the house.

The seller has moved out of town. If the seller does not pay, what recourse do I have. Do I have any recourse with the seller's agent or the title agency for not enforcing the contract and misprepresting that the check would be available at close.

Thanks

**A: you should have the check as part of escrow. Now you are going to have to go after the Seller.

 

[nextwife]

**A: you should have the check as part of escrow. Now you are going to have to go after the Seller.

I'm guessing the "money back at closing" was disallowed by the buyer's lender, else it would have been shown as a credit to buyer on the closing statement. If nothing else, if it WAS in the contract and allowable, it would have been shown on the HUD as POC (Paid Outside Closing).

 

[HomeGuru]

OP, read the response by nextwife and respond.

 

[azwildcats7]

Nextwife is exactly correct. The "money back at closing" was disallowed by my lender. Therefore, it was added into the contract as an addendum with the home inspection report and was signed by the seller. Therefore, it is clearly in the contract and signed by the seller.

The seller has moved out of state and disconnected his phone. I am in the process of tracking him down, but do I have any recourse againts the seller agent or the Title/escrow company. The seller agent did say the check was with all the papers at Title/escrow company.

Thanks

Max

 

[Zigner]

The seller agent did say the check was with all the papers at Title/escrow company.

And, when it wasn't, why did you sign?

 

[HomeGuru]

And, when it wasn't, why did you sign?

**A: makes too much sense.

 

[azwildcats7]

I drafted up the addendum for the seller to pay 2250, so I of course signed this before closing, and the seller signed it as well. The problem was I didn't receive the check at closing, even though the seller's real estate agent said the check was with all the papers at closing. Since the seller said the check existed, I didn't make a big issue out of it at the time.

 

[Zigner]

I drafted up the addendum for the seller to pay 2250, so I of course signed this before closing, and the seller signed it as well. The problem was I didn't receive the check at closing, even though the seller's real estate agent said the check was with all the papers at closing. Since the seller said the check existed, I didn't make a big issue out of it at the time.

Why did you sign the clos...oh, never mind.

 

[justalayman]

If the seller does not pay, what recourse do I have. Do I have any recourse with the seller's agent or the title agency for not enforcing the contract and misprepresting that the check would be available at close.

it would appear you understood the check to be in your closing papers just as they did.

gee, that sounds a lot like another claim so often made but eventually discovered to be false: check is in the mail


Sounds like the check got lost and since the others claim it was present, you failed to verify it, and you were the first to notice it missing, sounds like you lost it. So, it's between you and the seller.

 

[azwildcats7]

I signed the closing because I thought the check was there, and I needed the closing to be done on that date.

So I have no recourse againts the seller agent/escrow/title?

 

[justalayman]

=azwildcats7;2605807]I signed the closing because I thought the check was there, and I needed the closing to be done on that date.

and that prevented you from looking through the paperwork to verify the money that was supposed to be paid to you was in fact there? Hell, I sat and read every document for my closing. I knew what was there when I closed.

So I have no recourse againts the seller agent/escrow/title?

Not unless you can prove some negligence on their part. From what I read, you lost the check and there is nothing you can do to prove otherwise. Now, if you had confirmed the check was there rather than accepting a strangers word, you would be able to argue it wasn't there...


oh, wait;

you could have refused to sign until the check was present.

 

[HomeGuru]

Now you need to go after the seller.