In the spirit of the Halloween season, we thought it would be fun to turn our attention to real-estate closing horror stories—for the amusement of Realtors, as well as home buyers and sellers. (They’re interesting stories, as long as they didn’t happen to you!)
Thankfully, most real estate closings occur without a glitch. Occasionally, small problems arise, but we easily work them out. Once in a blue moon, however, the deal blows up in a virtual apocalypse.
Here are some horror stories our firm has witnessed:
- Furniture held hostage. I always advise sellers not to let buyers move anything into the home or do any work before the closing. I advised the same thing to this couple, who were the buyers, who wanted a place to store their furniture. They didn’t listen, and the seller let them take over his garage. The week before the closing, however, the buyers’ financing fell through, and they reneged on the deal. The seller was entitled to keep the deposit, but he decided to hold the furniture for ransom, too. It took months of wrangling before he let the buyers retrieve all their things.
- No deposit was tendered. In this deal, the buyers were a lovely young couple, but they didn’t have much money. Their aunt had generously offered to pay the $5000 deposit called for in the contract. The title company never noticed that the aunt never sent the money to them. It was only at the closing table that everyone discovered the aunt had reneged. Because the couple couldn’t make up the balance, they could not close on the house, which enraged the seller. He did not have the deposit money to keep as a consequence of the breach of contract. I was brought in after all of this occurred. Ultimately, it was resolved after several drawn-out lawsuits.
- Â Dispute over medical bills. The buyer and seller agreed that the seller could stay in the property after the closing and pay rent to the new owners for several months. A little while after the closing, the seller-turned-tenant fell off a ladder while making repairs. The man had no insurance and insisted via a lawsuit that the new owners were responsible. They countersued that it was he who was liable. During the dispute, the injured man refused to move out of the house, even after the lease expired, so the new owners could not move in.
- Walk-through surprise. This is probably the most common horror stories, as we have seen it happen more than once. The seller promised to do the substantial repairs identified in the inspection. Several times before the closing date, he told his Realtor the work had been done. But when the buyers and their real estate agent walked through the property on the morning of the closing, not a single fix had been made. Fortunately, this situation typically doesn’t blow up the deal; instead, I, as the closing agent, escrowed enough money from the seller to cover all repairs.
Having the Law Offices of Gary M. Landau by your side during each step in a real estate deal helps ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible. For more information about your real estate contract in South Florida, call 954-979-6566 or email for a free consultation.