Whatt o do if my wife and I failed to close on our house due to the FHA 90-day flip restrictions and now the seller wants our earnest money?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Whatt o do if my wife and I failed to close on our house due to the FHA 90-day flip restrictions and now the seller wants our earnest money?
They say that regardless of why we still failed to close. We signed an amendment to a contract extension stating if the buyer failed to close, the seller would get the earnest money, but the amendment was drawn up due to their suspicion about our financial ability to close. Financially, we were through underwriting. The loan didn’t clear because of the FHA rule on 90-day flips. Do they have the right to our earnest money?
Asked on September 19, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
If the purchase agreement or contract of sale (or an amendment to it) stated that the seller could keep your eanest money if you failed to close in time and you did in fact fail to close in time, then the seller may keep the earnest money unless it was something the seller did which caused the failure to close. If the seller was not responsible for the failure, then generally any failure--a failure for any reason--will allow the seller to keep the earnest money
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.