Hi All ... I'm not an agent, however, I couldn't find any other place on the internet to ask my question, so I figured you guys are the experts, so maybe you can help! ..

Here's the deal, I am in escrow to purchase a foreclosed / bank owned home. I actully found it on realtybid.com. I won the bid and we entered into escrow. I elected to pay cash for this house, seeing that financing is hard to get within 15 days! ... I sent the required down payment, have returned all the proper forms signed and even wired the money as requested by first american title... The money was received yesteday, and we are waiting on the seller (the bank) to sign the hud statement?? ...

Well, the seller never returned the statement to first american title, thus, we are not able to close today. In the contract, it stated that if the buyer is not able to close on or before April 16, there will be a $50 / day fee. Well, I have completed everything I had to .... Do I have any recourse? What can I do? How do I charge them, I am actually loosing interest on my 150K everyday ...

Thx ...

Anthony,

You must be careful when asking questions like "Do I have any recourse?" when it comes to Real Estate. It is my experience (a lot) that what is written on paper does not mean enforcement in real life (without a fight anyway). If you think the contract says one thing, and the other party thinks it says another, then it will be up to some sort of judge to figure out who is right and who is wrong. To win this argument, you need a lawyer. Lawyers are typically expensive. Do you follow my logic?

When I say judge, that is just a phrase. Depending on the situation, it may be the real estate commission in whatever state you live in. Either way, lawyers usually still get involved.

When you say seller, I am assuming you mean the bank?

Banks are full of inefficiency, especially in their loss mitigation department. I recommend that you be patient and work the bank to live up to their end of the deal.

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Real Estate Blog
Squidoo Lens

Hi Anthony,

The majority of the contracts for bank owned properties have a clause where they charge money for buyer delays to the closing but do not have any such provision if the bank/seller causes a delay. Unfortunately this is typcial right now as many bank asset managers have many more files than they can quickly get through the system. It often takes time to get signed paperwork back from a bank and there can be title issues that need to be cleared that can cause delays as well. Can you have the money wired back to you until a closing date is more eminant or is the title company willing to pay you some interest on the money until the house closes escrow?

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Carolyn Gjerde-Tu

Davis CA Real Estate
Granite Bay Real Estate Sacramento Real Estate

I think the most important thing to do is open the lines of communication to the bank to find out what is actually going on. Assuming you still do want to close, then the bank should hopefully be ready to do so in short order. You just need to politely and persistently remind them that you are waiting for that paperwork and that it is important that it get done in a timely manner.

If you are wanting to get out of the contract, then I would advise you to hire an attorney.

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Portland Real Estate | Portland MLS | Lake Oswego Real Estate
Milan Cole, Real Estate Broker
JMA Properties LLC, Portland, Oregon
(503) 953-3416

I think the banks are overloaded. They are laying people off but their foreclosures are increasing. We have dealt with Countrywide a few times and its pretty annoying how difficult it is to get them to move forward on anything. All that said suing a bank is not going to be fun. I would just try and contact them to speed up the process.

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Ki Gray - Austin Realtor

Working in Austin his site covers the Austin Real Estate market. If you are considering investing in Austin be sure to check out his Austin Real Estate Blog or look through some of the Austin Homes currently for sale.