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NWMR-any real estate lawyers on this board?

djm31012djm31012 member
in Working Moms

DH and I have decided not to go through with a home purchase because during inspections we found there was a water problem in the basement that wasnt disclosed to us previously.  On Thursday last week my lawyer send a cancellation of contract to the sellers lawyer. We have yet to hear anything back and over the weekend the house showed up in our listings as Back on the Market. Meanwhile, we have no confirmed of the cxld contract, and we do not have our deposit monies returned to us. Is it legal for the house to be back on the market at this point while their attorney still has our money?

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Re: NWMR-any real estate lawyers on this board?

  • mb314mb314 member
    I am not a lawyer, but I don't see how it would be illegal for the house to be "back on the market".  where I live, it is not uncommon for houses still to be shown even when they are under contract because you never know when a contract might fall through.  They may not be able to go under contract with another buy until yours is officially terminated and your earnest money is returned.  But I don't see why they wouldn't be able to show the house. 
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  • mexicolombianamexicolombiana member
    They can put it back on the market but can't legally accept another contract while yours is still accepted.  They have to get the cancellation to you THEN accept another offer.  Putting the house back on the market doesn't matter at all. 




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  • Mustardseed2007Mustardseed2007 member

    You'll both (Buyer and Seller) need to work with the escrow officer at the Title Company to get the money back to you, or at least this is how it works in our state. Actually in our state you would have also sent the cancellation to the Title Company, which I'm sure your lawyer did if that was part of the process.

    The title company will probably send them a release that approves the refund of the EM, and then they send you a release likewise approving the refund (including amount to be refunded).

    Once the release is signed by everyone then they send you a check. In commercial real estate we cancel contracts occasionally and this is how the process always works. Sometimes it takes a little while just b/c the escrow officer has to go through their process.

    It's only been 4 business days so I wouldn't be worried yet, but you can call the escrow officer to make sure they have started the process.



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  • AshleyF1234AshleyF1234 member
    Obviously it is different for each contract and state/local you live in. I'm in TX, USA and my expertise is limited to my state. Here, if you have cancelled your contract, within the appropriate time frame (option period is what we use where I am from) then you are fine. However, the money will not be returned to you until Title Company releases it. Title will generally require releases to be signed by both sides and in my experience, it can take anywhere from a week to 30 days. If you are out of option, it gets trickier and you have to read in contract, for circumstances in which you would get your money back.

    I have actually had a very similar situation happen to clients. Because the first sellers had cancelled the contract, they were able to close on the second contract. The return of the Earnest money on the first contract was a separate issue. it was resolved before second closing, but the second closing was not contingent upon the return of the first EM.
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