Todd H. wrote:
writes:
The only problem is that I think my realtor screwed me and removed the
general inspection contingency without my knowledge so he claims that
since the seller wanted the "as-is" contingency, I can not back out of
the contract. I noticed a copy of the contract I got, the part where
general inspection contingency is stated with my initals is crossed
out. There is no indication of me signing off on the change. I think
any changes to the contract requires some sort of initials.

Hell yeah it does.


My realtor will not come clean and tell me the truth. I think he
scrwed up and now he is pushing me to buy the property. I am
willing to give a little of the deposit if needed. Do I have any
options? I am stuck.

Tell him that you have discussed the issue with your real estate
attorney (and make good on that), and that you under no circumstances
intend to close on this property without a general inspection clause,
and that his ass is going to be top on the ****list when you go file
your ethics complaints to the board of realtors in your state.

You're the buyer. You have all the marbles. As Dimitri stated, and
has been told to me by my own attorney in Illinois when I was
concerned about a buyer flaking on me, it's typically extremely
difficult for a seller to get their hands on that earnest money, and
to do so the seller has to prove actual damages, and by the time these
cases get to a judge, the judge asks "did the house sell?" "Yes."
And the case gets tossed with the air of "quit wasting my time with
your small change ****."

I mean, as you describe it, you don't even have a properly executed
contract to purchase.

If you know that someone doctored that contract and change the terms
on you, if it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to stop payment on that
check, and underscore that the contract is not valid as it's written.

And I'd report that goddamn realtor to the board in a heartbeat.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/


Before he goes off reporting the realtor, don't you think he should
figure out what the hell he actually signed and what is really going
on? If the contract has the inspection clause crossed out, with the
buyer's initials next to it, as stated, then it sounds more to me like
he did in fact sign it that way. Normally a contract would only have
initials next to something to indicate a change and that it was
accepted.

While it's possible, I think it's very unlikely that a realtor would be
so brazen and obvious as to change a contract after it was signed.
But it's not even clear that the OP is claiming that, because while he
accuses the realtor of changing it, he didn't say if he thinks it was
done before or after he signed it.

Anyone who signs a contract for sale without carefully reading the
inspection contigency is making a big mistake. As is anyone who signed
a contract like this without having their attorney review it. If he
did that, the attorney would have a copy of the contract as he approved
it too and almost certainly would have given attention to the
inspection clauses, which are critical.

As for stopping payment on the check, if it hasn't cleared that's an
option. If he doesn't have an out to do this under the contract, and
I'm betting he doesn't, then it's up to the other parties to decide if
they want to go to the trouble of filing a lawsuit. Unlikely they
would hire a lawyer, but they could bring one in small claims.

As for proving damages, depending on the circumstances, that could be
very easy. If it takes 3 more months to sell the house for the same
price, or less, then the damages would be the cost to carry the house
for that period plus the difference in sales price. Even if the house
sold the following week for more money, if another realtor represented
the buyer, then this first agent has clearly provable damages in the
loss of the commission.

Here in NJ I had a buyer pull a fast one on me and though it took
awhile, I ended up getting the $3500 deposit, without even going to
court.

There is one other possibility, which is why he should see an attorney
immediately. Some states, NJ being one, have some outs to protect
parties in cases like this. NJ has a 3 day attorney review period,
during which a real estate contract like this may be cancelled by
either party without cause.