Can a Seller not show up to the closing?

[javipa]

I’ve had this happen before.

The law is on your side. You have a valid, enforceable contract, so the seller ‘must’ sell.

That said, buyers don’t have to buy.

Meantime, you record a memorandum of agreement, or notice of agreement, or notice of sale, or whatever works in your state/county, and cloud the title. This does not require the seller’s signature. It just requires a signed purchase and sale agreement, which is NOT recorded.

The seller will not be able to sell to anyone else, without first clearing your lien.

The seller is gonna get all cramped up here when he discovers that you know better…and discovers the recorded notice. [insert evil-sounding laugh here]

Meantime, you’re in permanent control over whom this property is sold to, because of your signed purchase and sale agreement. [insert another evil-sounding laugh here]

Maybe you could get the seller to buy you out of your contract …and “pay you not to buy.” [insert gasping, evil-sounding, belly laugh here]

Hope that gives you some encouragement.

[TheYellowLetterGuy]

This was good for me to see because I’m dealing with an earlier stage of a similar situation. I guess I’ll start shopping for a buyer now that I know the seller can’t back out. One more question though, what happens when your contract expires?

[javipa]

@TheYellowLetterGuy post:2

This was good for me to see because I’m dealing with an earlier stage of a similar situation. I guess I’ll start shopping for a buyer now that I know the seller can’t back out. One more question though, what happens when your contract expires?

If the seller is interfering with the closing, there is no effective expiration.

As far as you’re concerned you’re ready, willing and able to close, and the seller is holding you up.

Meantime, once your notice of agreement has been recorded (of course not revealing any details of the transaction), the title has been formally clouded, and the transaction is put into limbo.

Then it’s up to the seller to either allow you to close as agreed, pay you to walk, or otherwise entice you to release the lien.

Again, once you’ve clouded the title, the seller cannot assign, sell, or in any way transfer the property, without your cooperation.

In this case there is no expiration.

When one seller tried this with me, and subsequently discovered that I had liened his property (and wasn’t going anywhere), he still held out nearly two months past our scheduled closing date. I was patient.

I called him, after not talking for nearly four weeks, and reminded him that I was ready, willing and able to close, and asked him what he wanted to do. He agreed to close on my schedule (three days later).

He was a tough cookie. However, in this case, every day he failed to close, he was racking up expenses. So, it got to the point, where he saw no point in continuing to hold me up.

Go lien the property; tell the seller what you’ve done; wait for a buy out offer; or let the seller tell you when you can close.

Hope that helps.

[javipa]

@UglyMiamiHomes

TheYellowLetterGuy ,

I think you have to have your buyer do the escrow deposit & sign the papers with the title company then when the seller doesn’t show up to closing you can put a lien on the house and the seller will be stuck and wont be able to sell to anyone else because the title will be clouded but I think it has to be done before your contract with seller runs out, but you may still have some legal recourse because of the sellers breach of contract if you can prove he is trying to stall the deal.

In this one instance, we never got to escrow. I was just holding a purchase agreement with the seller’s signature. There was no deposit requirement on my part to close. Just a contract date, closing date, down payment amount and our signatures.

Frankly, in this case, I was so fast to getting to the seller on this steal deal, I didn’t even have formal purchase agreement for the seller to sign. I only had my trusty yellow note pad. So I wrote what the seller and I agreed to, on the pad, and had the seller put his signature at the bottom, next to mine. That was our contract.

I’m not sure we could have actually formally opened escrow in this case.

I was not getting title insurance, and it was a fresh foreclosure, so everything and anything had been wiped out, or extinguished, just a week before I signed to buy.

The seller had two attorneys on this sucker, and if there had been a way to get me to shooo, he would have tried it.

[Mike_Nelson]

That was awesome, Javipa.

[Jimmycheaphomes]

@javipa post:1

I’ve had this happen before.

The law is on your side. You have a valid, enforceable contract, so the seller ‘must’ sell.

That said, buyers don’t have to buy.

Meantime, you record a memorandum of agreement, or notice of agreement, or notice of sale, or whatever works in your state/county, and cloud the title. This does not require the seller’s signature. It just requires a signed purchase and sale agreement, which is NOT recorded.

The seller will not be able to sell to anyone else, without first clearing your lien.

The seller is gonna get all cramped up here when he discovers that you know better…and discovers the recorded notice. [insert evil-sounding laugh here]

Meantime, you’re in permanent control over whom this property is sold to, because of your signed purchase and sale agreement. [insert another evil-sounding laugh here]

Maybe you could get the seller to buy you out of your contract …and “pay you not to buy.” [insert gasping, evil-sounding, belly laugh here]

Hope that gives you some encouragement.

HAHAH, I like this guy, I want to learn all the ins and outs in how to cloud he title in case a seller tries to pass me and so I too can have that evil laugh, lol, sellers will try to pass you AS SOON as they get a better deal from someone else and hey, who can blame them… but I want to learn how to protect my contract in case this does happen!

[Jimmycheaphomes]

@javipa post:4

@UglyMiamiHomes

TheYellowLetterGuy ,

I think you have to have your buyer do the escrow deposit & sign the papers with the title company then when the seller doesn’t show up to closing you can put a lien on the house and the seller will be stuck and wont be able to sell to anyone else because the title will be clouded but I think it has to be done before your contract with seller runs out, but you may still have some legal recourse because of the sellers breach of contract if you can prove he is trying to stall the deal.

In this one instance, we never got to escrow. I was just holding a purchase agreement with the seller’s signature. There was no deposit requirement on my part to close. Just a contract date, closing date, down payment amount and our signatures.

Frankly, in this case, I was so fast to getting to the seller on this steal deal, I didn’t even have formal purchase agreement for the seller to sign. I only had my trusty yellow note pad. So I wrote what the seller and I agreed to, on the pad, and had the seller put his signature at the bottom, next to mine. That was our contract.

I’m not sure we could have actually formally opened escrow in this case.

I was not getting title insurance, and it was a fresh foreclosure, so everything and anything had been wiped out, or extinguished, just a week before I signed to buy.

The seller had two attorneys on this sucker, and if there had been a way to get me to shooo, he would have tried it.

wow, 2 attorneys on your back and you still managed to hold your ground! that is amazing man, what clauses are you using in your contracts? I want know! :bobble