Comments on: Nine Stupid Things Buyers do to Mess Up their Home Purchase

By: irina

irina — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:43:51 +0000

Hi AA,

I am not an attorney and this should not be construed as legal advice. I am pretty sure that oral contracts on the purchase of real property are enforceable.

If I understand it correctly, you are trying to get the builder to sell you a home for less than what you offered for it because the appraisal did not come in at agreed upon price. If that’s the case, you can not force someone to sell it to you at a lower price if you agreed to pay a higher price for it.

It is unfortunate that you can not obtain financing due to the property not appraising. Did you ask your agent, the one representing you to see if the comparable sales justified the offer price? If so, your agent, should have challenged the appraisal. If the property truly doesn’t appraise, it’s time to move on to other homes.

By: AA

AA — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:53:13 +0000

My wife and I signed a home sales contract not long ago, the seller’s agent listed the initial sales price of the house with the promise and our acceptance of an addendum later for the actual lender appraisal value of the house. When the appraisal came back much lower than what the seller/builder agent expected, she refused to sell the house unless we make up the difference, which we turned down. Although eventually the seller’s agent notified the escrow company and returned our money, I wonder if we could have enforced the sale of the house with the oral contract. We had our own agent during the signing and our lender rep later as witnesses. What legal recourses do we have?

By: irina

irina — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:15:04 +0000

Hi LB,

Sounds like you didn’t get the propert advice by your real estate professionals. A real estate attorney is always helpful.

I hope this post helps others with some of the things that they, as buyers, should and should not be doing.

Thanks for visiting!

By: LB

LB — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:37:45 +0000

Wow I wish I had read these before my loan fell through. But home buying is one of those things that you learn as you go. Plus agents, lenders and sellers speak in double talk. I think that everyone should have a real estate lawyer as well to make sure that those hundreds of papers you are signing are in ur best interest.