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mgmsrk_gw

Sellers jumping ship?

mgmsrk
11 years ago

Mostly a rant.

We were set to close tomorrow on our new house. The sellers had to this point seemed normal. They always responded quickly to questions and the like. Yesterday our attorney called theirs to finalize some of the last moment paperwork stuff and she was informed that his clients were on vacation and were not coming back for the closing and did not leave POAs in place to continue.

WTF! Apparently they made NO attempt to arrange for movers or another place to live, until yesterday. They went to look for houses out of state. I just spent 6 solid hours on the phone canceling appointments, installations, deliveries and our movers. I am 36 weeks pregnant, that is a crazy enough time to move but another couple of weeks will be beyond insane.

Comments (13)

  • lyfia
    11 years ago

    I've done a closing when I was out of state. I was the buyer though. I had to go on a business trip and didn't want to delay the closing. They just fedex'd me the paper work and I had to sign in front of a notary and fedex it back. Wasn't a big deal.

    Is there a reason this can't be done here too? I think this was done with a lot we bought too. The sellers lived out of state.

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago

    Or, fax. Why can't they just fax it back and forth? That is fairly normal too.

  • barbcollins
    11 years ago

    We have bought and sold out of state.

    Fax or email & Fedex. Went to our bank for the notary.
    No problems.

    Sounds like these buyers were not serious.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    FedEx is better sine it uses the actual documents instead of faxed copies.

  • cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
    11 years ago

    If they were interested in getting it done they would have found a way to do it.

    I bought from out of state (never even having seen the house) and simply assigned my brother a temporary POA so I had someone I trusted sitting at the table in person to look out for me.

  • Adella Bedella
    11 years ago

    Are these first time sellers? We have bought and sold out of state. Everything was faxed, emailed, or overnighted. To have no plans at all seems rather strange. At the last house, dh had POA for me. Not having something in place sounds either like sellers who don't know what they are doing or they were afraid you would back out of the deal at the last minute so they made you wait instead.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    "I bought from out of state"

    Buying is actually easier.

    The seller must execute a deed to transfer ownership.

    Having a fax in the chain of custody of a property (or even a POA) is not preferred.

    With FedEx (or other overnight service) available the deed can be signed and delivered to the settlement attorney avoiding anything in the chain of title.

  • liriodendron
    11 years ago

    Is the sellers' stuff still in the house? That would preclude a Fed-Exed, out of state closing, I should think. Unless the sellers are abandonning their stuff. Are they on the lam?

    You could charge them $$ as per diem demeurage and hefty damage deposit (held back from proceeds of sale) if they close w/o removing their stuff. But that raises all kinds of complicated issues. At the very least I think they should be paying for "white glove" moving and unpacking services for you if they don't close ASAP. Perhaps you could direct the movers and unpackers via Skpye between contractions from your delivery room?? Just kidding! I hope they come to their senses (and listen to their attorney's counsel to get back here and close and vacate as per their contract.)

    L.

  • barbcollins
    11 years ago

    "Sounds like these buyers were not serious."

    Sorry, I typed one thing and meant another. (Uggh early senility).

    I meant to type;
    Sounds like these sellers were not serious.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    Have your attorney have a hard talk with their attorney, and mention 'lis pendens' and 'specific performance,' along with damages for costs incurred.

  • word_doc
    11 years ago

    I have closed out of state as a seller (Fedex a day before is how we did it so the closing papers were ready to go). I have also been a buyer (same house, five years earlier) where the sellers tried to walk. Real estate attorney and threats. They straightened up. Got to closing and they threw a different fit. Real estate attorney. Closed in separate offices of the title company and our real estate attorney ran back and forth and did the negotiations. They got another 2 days to move; we got $1000 for allowing them to do that.

  • covingtoncat
    11 years ago

    I see there have been no comments from the OP since the original posting. I wonder how things turned out?

  • mgmsrk
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We have reset the date for the 9th , they wanted the 16th. They are in breach of contract and now get to pay for all of our expenses this month, including rent and extension of our rate.
    Seems they called their realtor and asked if it was OK if they went on vacation for the week and he said "sure". He never asked or told anyone else.
    Stupid realtor aside, you have a contract to sell your house before the 27th of the month and the first day you go looking for a house is the 25th?