What is the name of your state? Massachusetts
We are selling a condo in Essex County, MA. We are under contract with a buyer whose real estate agent is less than ethical. We were told this buyer would be financing the transaction with a conventional mortgage, after we told her we would not entertain offers with VA financing. We were assured there would be no VA loan. Her buyer's written offer was submitted along with a pre-qualification letter from a reputable local mortgage broker for a 30-year conventional loan. One week after signing the P&S, which has a financing contingency, we received a phone call from a VA appraiser to make an appointment to inspect the condo!
I called the Loan Officer whose signed the pre-qualification letter to verify the loan type for the buyer, and to my surprise the Loan Officer had no record of any buyer by that name in their system (it's an unusual name), and he had never spoken to anyone of that name re: pre-qualification. We texted him an image of the letter and he was perplexed, as he knew of no way this could have been generated in their systems.
We asked the Buyer's agent to supply us with the email chain of custody for this pre-approval letter, and she has refused. We are now quite certain the Pre-qualification letter was a complete cut-and-paste fabrication on the part of the buyer's agent, used to support her bait-and-switch from a conventional to VA loan. The buyer is 27 and a first time home buyer, and doubt she would have the guile necessary to pull this stunt.
Unfortunately, the language in the P&S doesn't specifically exclude the pursuit of VA financing, so we have to burn several more weeks of time off the market before the financing contingency expires.
We have earnest money in escrow. If the loan doesn't get funded, which is likely, do we have a case to keep all/some of these funds? Is there legal recourse against the buyer's agent, who falsified (fraud) a document that we relied on
before signing the P&S? Can the P&S be voided based on the bogus document?
We will be filing a complaint with the MA board for appropriate disciniplary action, but that won't help us here.
Thanks in advance for weighing in.
We are selling a condo in Essex County, MA. We are under contract with a buyer whose real estate agent is less than ethical. We were told this buyer would be financing the transaction with a conventional mortgage, after we told her we would not entertain offers with VA financing. We were assured there would be no VA loan. Her buyer's written offer was submitted along with a pre-qualification letter from a reputable local mortgage broker for a 30-year conventional loan. One week after signing the P&S, which has a financing contingency, we received a phone call from a VA appraiser to make an appointment to inspect the condo!
I called the Loan Officer whose signed the pre-qualification letter to verify the loan type for the buyer, and to my surprise the Loan Officer had no record of any buyer by that name in their system (it's an unusual name), and he had never spoken to anyone of that name re: pre-qualification. We texted him an image of the letter and he was perplexed, as he knew of no way this could have been generated in their systems.
We asked the Buyer's agent to supply us with the email chain of custody for this pre-approval letter, and she has refused. We are now quite certain the Pre-qualification letter was a complete cut-and-paste fabrication on the part of the buyer's agent, used to support her bait-and-switch from a conventional to VA loan. The buyer is 27 and a first time home buyer, and doubt she would have the guile necessary to pull this stunt.
Unfortunately, the language in the P&S doesn't specifically exclude the pursuit of VA financing, so we have to burn several more weeks of time off the market before the financing contingency expires.
We have earnest money in escrow. If the loan doesn't get funded, which is likely, do we have a case to keep all/some of these funds? Is there legal recourse against the buyer's agent, who falsified (fraud) a document that we relied on
before signing the P&S? Can the P&S be voided based on the bogus document?
We will be filing a complaint with the MA board for appropriate disciniplary action, but that won't help us here.
Thanks in advance for weighing in.
