Okay, here's the thing. Back in late October, we signed a contract to sell our home. We set a date of "on or about" 11/23. Well, that was the day after T'giving, which delayed plans. (We didn't realize it was the day after T'gving when we signed, we didn't have a calendar with us.) At least, it delayed our buyer - WE were willing to knock out half of our holiday plans to get the thing sold and out of our hair, but the buyer had plans to go out of town and didn't offer to change anything.
As soon as he got back he went right back out of town on business, and supposedly he's going to get back on the 12th. We're supposed to hear from him in the next day or two to hopefully close the end of this week.
His delays are costing us money. I had to pay the homeowner's insurance, and even though I'll get the bulk of that back, I'm estimating $25 or so for that. Then I had to make another mortgage payment - another $222 in interest down the tubes. Plus an extra month of power, water and garbage because he requested that the power and water stay on. (And garbage is tied in with the water where we used to live - can't turn off one without turning off the other.) That's about another $60 gone.
Do we have any recourse for the money that we had to spend because of HIS delays? We're making very, very little profit off of this sale as it is, and losing this money is really hurting.
I'm not a Realtor, I work for the Title Insurance side of the transaction. I will see if there is someone who can respond to your question here. I think the Holidays have left some folks out of town or off the web.
You may also want to talk to your CPA or Tax Attorney to see what you can write off and what you can't. Good luck, hopefully we'll get someone who's an expert to comment here shortly! :-)
Thank you so much. I've finally had to resort to calling the corporate offices for the guy who is buying the house. (It's one of the investment/flip companies.) I'm waiting for the attorney at their offices to call me back right now.
The guy is supposedly back in town and has not contacted me at all today. I am beyond ticked.
I can certainly understand and appreciate how you must feel. Sorry you are having to go through that. I left comments and emails for a couple others to come by and comment, but I see they haven't been here just yet. I'll try my best to get some experts in here to comment and help if they can. :-)
Emeleel - Hopefully, this will help you out, or at least give you ideas on "how" to proceed. I am asking a few questions to help define the issue.
- Does a Realtor have your home listed? If yes, then you should be screaming at the realtor that represents you to help get the answers that you need.
- If no Realtor is involved, do you have a "written contract" with the buyer? If you have a written contract, then my suggestion is to contact a "real estate attorney" so that he/she can clarify the "closing date". Is there "time is of the essense" on your contract?
- You getting recourse on these additional expenses while "waiting" to close is totally dependent on the "wording" in your contract.
My vote is that you need a real estate attorney, pick up the phone and call one.
I hope all works out well for you!
Thanks, everyone - hopefully we've gotten it straightened out and we will be closing on Tuesday. I'm just awaiting word on the actual time now.
I finally had to get the title lawyers involved and I think they're the ones who finally twisted his arm enough to get contact out of him. And he also agreed to make up the extra expenses to us, just from me asking him.
He seems like a really nice guy, he's just managed to overload himself right now with too many housing purchases, and I don't think he has good business acumen. He's probably very good at the renovating and flipping end of things, not so good at the juggling the purchases end.
Thanks again!
