Question:
“I tried to buy a condo about a week ago, but it fell out of escrow because my mortgage broker couldn’t find a loan for me when my credit score fell mysteriously. My realtor’s broker has informed me that the seller is entitled to my $3000 good faith deposit. My realtor never informed me of this possibility. Have you found this to be standard practice in your experience? I was just wondering if I should accept my losses or perhaps get legal help? Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated.”
Answer:
Don’t stand for that!
I’d be shocked if your loan and other contingencies were released after just one week. That’s WAY faster than normal. A loan contingency is usually released either 17 days after acceptance or when the loan is funded.
If your loan contingency was released in a week, you’d know about it, assuming your Realtor explained it to you…and assuming you were paying attention!
But all is not necessarily lost as you may have other contingencies (inspection, approval of disclosures, approval of title report, etc.) that you can use to exit the contract and receive your deposit back.
Bring these points up to your agent. Assuming he or she is looking out for you and is competent (not always the case!), they should be able to find an out for you to get your deposit back.
If not, then you may want to seek legal counsel.
Good luck.
