Buyer backing out 2 weeks before closing

[ellekayw]

What is the name of your state? Florida

OK - We signed a contract w/ our buyer January 22, 2007 and took a $5000, with 1/2 non-refundable if buyer backs out. In the contract it said she had to have an inspection within 10 days of the contract. And if done w/in the 10 days, WE'D be responsible for $750 towards repairs.

Well, she had her appraiser come out on February 9th, 2007. His square footage of the house was 35 feet LESS than our county records, and so his appraisal came in as $3000 under our purchase price. ALSO, the 'appraiser' said he thinks the roof needs to be REPLACED! He was just eyeballing - never went on the roof (I was home the whole time).

Anyway, buyer shows up last night and says "we have a problem, house appraised $3000 less and the roof needs to be replaced. I have no more money so?" Now, the roof is 17 years old and has been patched, but is in good condition - probably a few years left. Now we're scrambling to find a roofer - but that's nearly impossible.

Basically what happened is our buyer freaked out b/c she hasn't been able to sell HER house - not even a showing. Of course HER house is 500 square feet LESS than ours but when she went to buy it, it *somehow* appraised for $110 a square foot but our appraised for $92 - in the same neighborhood, same age of home but ours is all brick with tons of upgrades and NEW HVAC, garage, etc. When she signed our contract, she said if there was a problem with her financing her MOM (she's 50ish) would co-sign - but of course we didn't get that in writing.

Her family has a lot of $$$$ at a small, local bank and basically the bank is 'working' for her family, so they are not being 100% upstanding and honest. They refuse to send out another appraisal (our bank has it appraised a few $$$ over the purchase price).

We told our buyer we will WORK with her. We found a house and have already put $1000 in to inspections, appraisals and WDO inspections.

So - now what?!? DO we have ANY recourse????? Can she legally do this?????? The whole thing stinks to us!!

Thanks and sorry it got long!!

-LK

 

[danno6925]

If you really want to sell, you take the good with the bad, and make the necessary concessions to get the deal done. You're being emotional and viewing facts with a bias. Stop doing that. Remove yourself from the situation, then think about what a person with no financial stake in the deal would do to get this closing completed. That is your next step. Better yet, let your realtor deal with it.

 

[ellekayw]

Oh, so you think I'm being emotional?! LOL! J/K - yes, I am!! thanks for posting.

We have offered to pay for another appraisal and give her $2000 towards the roof repairs, but she still wants out. We are doing everything we can to get this deal closed - within reason.

Our realtor has calls in to her mortgage company/bank. They left her a message basically saying the deal is done!! My realtor is calling in the morning to go over what I just said about us helping with roof, etc.

So is that it? If she doesn't want to take our concessions, it's over and she gets all her $$$ back???? even though everything was done after the 10 days needed?

 

[acmb05]

What is the name of your state? Florida

OK - We signed a contract w/ our buyer January 22, 2007 and took a $5000, with 1/2 non-refundable if buyer backs out. In the contract it said she had to have an inspection within 10 days of the contract. And if done w/in the 10 days, WE'D be responsible for $750 towards repairs.

Well, she had her appraiser come out on February 9th, 2007. His square footage of the house was 35 feet LESS than our county records, and so his appraisal came in as $3000 under our purchase price. ALSO, the 'appraiser' said he thinks the roof needs to be REPLACED! He was just eyeballing - never went on the roof (I was home the whole time).

Anyway, buyer shows up last night and says "we have a problem, house appraised $3000 less and the roof needs to be replaced. I have no more money so?" Now, the roof is 17 years old and has been patched, but is in good condition - probably a few years left. Now we're scrambling to find a roofer - but that's nearly impossible.

Basically what happened is our buyer freaked out b/c she hasn't been able to sell HER house - not even a showing. Of course HER house is 500 square feet LESS than ours but when she went to buy it, it *somehow* appraised for $110 a square foot but our appraised for $92 - in the same neighborhood, same age of home but ours is all brick with tons of upgrades and NEW HVAC, garage, etc. When she signed our contract, she said if there was a problem with her financing her MOM (she's 50ish) would co-sign - but of course we didn't get that in writing.

Her family has a lot of $$$$ at a small, local bank and basically the bank is 'working' for her family, so they are not being 100% upstanding and honest. They refuse to send out another appraisal (our bank has it appraised a few $$$ over the purchase price).

We told our buyer we will WORK with her. We found a house and have already put $1000 in to inspections, appraisals and WDO inspections.

So - now what?!? DO we have ANY recourse????? Can she legally do this?????? The whole thing stinks to us!!

Thanks and sorry it got long!!

-LK

An appraiser is NOT an inspector. She should have had the home inspected by a certified housing inspector.

I do agree however that 17 years is a long time for a roof(20+ years in construction tells me this) It probably does need replacing.

Was there a contingency in the contract for her to get financing?

Seems like according to the contract you would be responsible for $750.00 towards roof. Of course we can't see the contract and can only go by what you are sying on here.

Also according to what you have written she can back out anytime she wants, however you get to keep half of the $5000.00 deposit.

 

[ellekayw]

Thank you

Yes - exactly! An appraiser is not an inspector! I've had 3 separate roofers come out these last 2 days and every one of them says the roof has a good 5 years left on it! (all found through the yellow pages!).
The buyer called last night and I explained the roof situation, and how there wasn't an inspection and that why should we pay for a new roof when she's the only one going to benefit from it!!! We said we'd go down to the appraisal price.
She said NOPE, not good enough. She wants a new roof and us to go down. I told her, if she doesn't accept the fact that we're going down to appraisal price, she's going to lose her binder.
She got VERY NASTY with me and told me to stop threatening her! I told her I wasn't threatening her - but that she breached the contract by not having it inspected within the 10 days clause and that I have, in writing, that the roof does NOT need to be replaced, and that she WAS APPROVED for a loan.
Anyway, my husband doesn't want this deal to fall apart (too late?!?) so he left her a message that we will re-do the roof AND come down to appraisal price! We'll see what she says, but now my question is this:

IF we re-write/ammend the contract and we redo the roof and THEN she backs out, can we say that she owes for the $$$ we spent on the roof? I just don't want us to be left having spent $$ on a roof and not sell the house.

Thanks again. I hate all this. I don't know how we lucked out dealing with this person!

 

[nextwife]

I do agree however that 17 years is a long time for a roof(20+ years in construction tells me this) It probably does need replacing.

Just a clarification, so those reading this don't presume every roof is "done for" at 20 years.. 20 may be toward the end of life for a SHINGLE roof (although there are 25 year roofs), but there are other types of roofs that can go beyond 20 years, as can a shingle roof. I have a couple neighbors with slate roofs, and those can go 100 years. Tile roofs can also go a long time. Since we don't know the roof type, I don't know if we should claim to know whether this particular owner's roof needs replacing.

That said: as she let the inspection continguency expire, I'm doubtful she can use the functional obsolescence of the roof as an out for the deal. Plenty of people buy homes knowing this or that mechanical is near the end of life. I put a new roof on my house, for example, within a couple months of buying. It was my choice to buy this home in this location, and it was obvious the roof was nowhere near being new. Unless one is buying a NEW home, one can't expect certain mechanicals to be new unless they are represented as such.

 

[ellekayw]

Thanks again.
Yes - I agree! I think every home buyer knows going in they are going to have to replace certain things (in our 'new-to-us house' we're going to have to replace the HVAC this summer). This buyer wants everything - we have everything mostly new here so the roof (which isn't even a real issue) has been flagged.

We bought a 40 year old house once that had a tile roof, original and it still had 10 years life to it!

We do have a shingle roof - and, like I said, 3 independent roofers said there's probably 5 years left on it. My realtor said as long as the roof has 2 years left on it, that's all that's necessary.

Which is why something stinks with her and her bank - saying they won't lend the money w/o a new roof! I do feel confident if this deal falls through and she sues us for the money, she'll lose with us - maybe she ought to sue her bank, who is holding up the loan for a totally bogus reason, right!?!?!

 

[acmb05]

Just a clarification, so those reading this don't presume every roof is "done for" at 20 years.. 20 may be toward the end of life for a SHINGLE roof (although there are 25 year roofs), but there are other types of roofs that can go beyond 20 years, as can a shingle roof. I have a couple neighbors with slate roofs, and those can go 100 years. Tile roofs can also go a long time. Since we don't know the roof type, I don't know if we should claim to know whether this particular owner's roof needs replacing.

That said: as she let the inspection continguency expire, I'm doubtful she can use the functional obsolescence of the roof as an out for the deal. Plenty of people buy homes knowing this or that mechanical is near the end of life. I put a new roof on my house, for example, within a couple months of buying. It was my choice to buy this home in this location, and it was obvious the roof was nowhere near being new. Unless one is buying a NEW home, one can't expect certain mechanicals to be new unless they are represented as such.

Well certainly any roof can go beyond its life expectancy. However I am going by experience and the fact that the 20 or 30 year life expectancy they have on these shingles are with very Normal weather. It does not take into account heavy rains, high winds, hail, and a miriad of other things.

Realistically a 30 year shingle can be expected to last about half that time before it is so far deteriorated that it needs replaced. Just because a roof is not leaking does not mean it is in good shape. Also the OP stated that roof has been patched in the past. This is not a good sign either.

From what the OP is stating the bank will not approve the loan without a new roof. That is completely up to them if they want to do it that way. If they are not willing to give the loan then the buyer does not have loan approval.