Hey,So on April 5, I put an offer on a home in Kentucky (offer had a clause in it that allowed me to back out due to issues found during inspection, and also had a clause in it back out if I could not find insurance for the home). Seller accepted offer and I got it inspected the following Monday (April 8). There were some minor issues that needed corrected. The seller and I negotiated to have some of the problems fixed, and reduced the price of the home to account for a few of the other issues. We both signed an inspection repair agreement.The seller had one item repaired (the condensate pipe for the HVAC was not draining out of their home – it just drained into a bucket). The other item was the home’s TPR valve going against gravity. They did not have that repaired, but instead an inspector from the city came out and put his stamp of approval on it that basically says “this water heater is up to code” (since the home is older, it is ok for the TPR valve to go against gravity).We looked around for home insurance and found two places that were willing to insure the home (albeit at a rate that was higher than what our lender had included in our loan for home insurance), but one insurance agency that refused to insure the home due to a number of large claims made on it in the past few years.At that point (April 17), I decided I wanted to back out. April 17 was the last day I could back out due to issues found during inspection, and April 19 was the last day I could back out due to the insurance issue. On the morning of the 17th, I let my realtor know that I was no longer interested in the home and would like to get my earnest money back. We signed the release form. The selling agent throughout that day tried to argue with my agent about why my reasoning for backing out was invalid. So, they didn’t sign anything. Finally, selling agent realized that she wasn’t going to convince us to buy it, but now the seller refuses to sign the release form and give us our earnest money back. She says that she will sign if she can keep earnest money (em is in an escrow account).My question is: What are the odds of getting my earnest money back? There’s no way I’m buying that house after I’ve done some research on some of the issues that could be caused by the TPR valve, and after the trouble with getting the home insurance. (There are other reasons I’m no longer interested in this property, such as I feel like I might be overpaying, but none that I would consider “legitimate”.) Ordinarily, this would be as simple as me being within the inspection period, so the money gets refunded. But since they’ve done repairs that we asked them to do, I’m not so sure (my realtor also seems unsure about it, and she’s been at this for 20 years – just a weird situation I guess). What are all the repercussions of the seller not signing the release form?
Majeed Ekbal's Daily Blog 