I have 10,000 in earnest money on a real estate contract Buyer has not sold his home. Do I keep $$ if he bails
Answer:
It depends on the contract. When I put earnest money on a house, I always make it refundable.
If he decides not to close, that is his decision, it would be rare. Usually it would be his buyer that had to bail.
If you want out of the contract, why not refund his money and ask out?
Read the contract.
That depends upon the contract. It should specify how much can be retained as liquidated damages. Local laws and practices will come in to play as well. Consult with an attorney on that.
$10k is HUGE for earnest money; I never put up more than $500.
How could the buyer put a lien on your home?? If the deal falls through then there is no deal and no basis for a lien.
The misconception that most people have in today's real estate market is that earnest money is required, and that it is non-refundable if the buyer pulls out of a deal due to circumstances not covered by contingencies in the agreement.
If it goes that far, courts usually refund the earnest money back to the buyer unless the seller can show that they were financially harmed in this transaction by the buyers decision to back out. (An example would be if the buyer made the sale contingent on the seller installing a swimming pool or such..)
As far as putting a lien on your home, no the buyer can not do so. But he can sue you for the return of the earnest money. Until this is resolved, you may not want to sign a sales agreement with someone else because the original buyer still has claim to the property, and you could be accused of trying to sell the same property to multiple buyers.
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