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Seller's Agent Put Wrong Date - What Now?

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savvymom

New member
What is the name of your state? KY

We signed a contract at Thanksgiving to purchase contingent upon the sale of a commercial property. When we received the contract, I took note of the date of closing for January 30, 2022; I thought it was extremely generous but didn’t think much of it - sometimes takes a while to sell commercial property in our area and I was given the impression that the seller was an older gentleman in possibly poor health, figured he wanted to avoid multiple extensions and was happy to have it under contract. People aren't in a huge rush here most often. Agent ordered survey (we told him not to and that we wanted the guy we usually use to do it) and said we would get a $1500 bill for our half. Apparently, the seller presigned the docs, the agent signed and didn't notice the date issue.

So here we are, the agent called and wants to "do us a favor" and let us out of the contract. Then, yesterday I got the release, stating that the seller wanted to keep our earnest deposit of $1,000 due to the property being off the market for three months. Husband said he expected a full release of our earnest monies. Realtor said we needed to pay at least $500, we said that we weren’t paying for his error, and that we basically have a contract we could sit on. Realtor accused us of taking advantage of the situation, that we knew it was a mistake, and said that he didn’t have $500, the trash man makes more than he does selling real estate, then began talking about the expense of lawyers. The phone call ended when the Realtor refused to stop repeatedly saying “Son of a b**ch” over and over and my husband informed him that he was hanging up. Realtor hasn’t returned calls today and has sent us to voicemail. Because this was at our office, we have my husband's side of that conversation from the security cameras.

I feel at the very least an ethics complaint is in order, however, there is no specific article, just the preamble saying "The term REALTOR® has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity resulting from adherence to a lofty ideal of moral conduct in business relations." I can't find a specific article relating to this very strange situation.

I am going to send a letter stating the issues and copy the seller personally as well as our attorney, stating we want a refund and are not liable for the survey we didn't authorize. Other than that, what do you do here? I have never had such an awful experience, and this is just the abridged version. (I know, I know, next time get a buyer's agent. Got it.)
 


quincy

Senior Member
There was no deadline given in your contract for the contingency to be met?

A closing date was set before the contingency was met?
 
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quincy

Senior Member
A closing date is (generally) set after the contingencies are met. And purchase contracts with contingencies (generally) will have an expiration date.

You can file a complaint with the state agency if your money is not refunded.
 
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LdiJ

Senior Member
There was no deadline given in your contract for the contingency to be met?

A closing date was set before the property was sold?
The closing date was January 30, 2022. That would seem to be the date for the contingency to be met.

Savvymom, your idea to write a letter and copy everyone stating exactly what you expect is probably a good first step and might possibly get your earnest money back and get you off the hook for the survey without having to resort to court. Personally, I think that you would win if it ended up in court since you never agreed to the survey and they are the ones that want out of the contract, but the cost of winning in court might be greater than what you would save. So anything you can do to settle it out of court might be wise.

I think that the realtor for the seller is the one who is really in the hot seat here, hence his attempts at intimidation.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Closing dates (generally) are not set in advance of the contingencies in a purchase agreement being met. Contingencies are conditions set on the purchase - the sale is contingent on financing, sale of another home, satisfactory inspection, termite treatment, whatever. The purchaser can back out of the purchase if the conditions for purchase cannot be or are not satisfied.

If what you are calling the “closing date” is really the date that the purchase agreement was set to expire if the contingency was not met, I can see where the Realtor could claim the 2022 was a scrivener’s error and that the date was supposed to be the more reasonable (albeit still generous) January 30, 2020.

For complaints: https://kycourts.gov/Legal Forms Information/700.pdf
 
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savvymom

New member
I laughed so hard I fell off my chair.
Well, sometimes... but I have really had very good experiences until now.

I can see where the Realtor could claim the 2022 was a scrivener’s error and that the date was supposed to be the more reasonable (albeit still generous) January 30, 2020.
Ehhh... Here, the commercial property sits for a while, but most residential homes (priced well) is under contract within a month. This was a somewhat overpriced old farm, so the chances of it sitting for another six months or more to get our offer price would not be unheard of.

For complaints: ...
I found that in KY there is an Ombudsman that basically will mediate as a first step. I submitted a request and they are supposed to call within 2 days, then call the realtor on my behalf, then make a report. The next step would be an ethics complaint.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Well, sometimes... but I have really had very good experiences until now.



Ehhh... Here, the commercial property sits for a while, but most residential homes (priced well) is under contract within a month. This was a somewhat overpriced old farm, so the chances of it sitting for another six months or more to get our offer price would not be unheard of.



I found that in KY there is an Ombudsman that basically will mediate as a first step. I submitted a request and they are supposed to call within 2 days, then call the realtor on my behalf, then make a report. The next step would be an ethics complaint.
It sounds like you have done what you need to do. Good luck.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Why do you want out of the contract?
It appears that it is the seller who wants out of the contract. The real estate agent approached savvymom and her husband with a release - but the real estate agent apparently does not want to refund the full deposit.
 

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