buyer can't figure it out & now wants to sue me

[chrisann76]

I recently sold my home. I was very excited to start over, found a place to rent and everything. my buyer had problems getting his nessissary paperwork into escrow for signing to be completed, so i did not sign the escrow papers. Four days after the dead line the buyer finally signed and is threatening to sue me so i have to sell. I do not have a problem with moving, I do have a problem with all the phone calls from our realitors and the escrow people. we took a huge loss on the house almost 20,000 because our realtor under appraised the house. No big deal to me i want to sell. but the buyer does not want to give me time to find anouther place after i had to give up a place because of him. can they sue me and if so how bad will it hurt!

[Hannigan]

Congratulations on selling your home. If only there were more motivated buyers like yours!

If you didn't successfully cancel and extricate yourself from the purchase agreement, you are probably obligated to sell despite the buyer exceeding the escrow timelines.

[IggysListing]

First of all, I am a broker and this is not legal advice.
I assume you are talking about specific performance. In NC specific
performance is a legal remedy. However, the courts are hesitant to
force the sale of an owner occupied house. The courts may take a
different posture in CA.
Obviously, discuss this with an attorney.

[Hannigan]

First of all, I am a broker and this is not legal advice.
I assume you are talking about specific performance. In NC specific
performance is a legal remedy. However, the courts are hesitant to
force the sale of an owner occupied house. The courts may take a
different posture in CA.
Obviously, discuss this with an attorney.
Thanks for correcting me Iggy. I have no idea if Chrisann would be forced to sell, or if that's her concern. It looks like one of those situations where the seller can't (or refuses to) move until the proceeds of the sale are received, and an escrow delay screwed up the seller's moving plans.

[Greg]

Everything about real estate is local. It would be difficult for anyone here to give you the advice you need without seeing all of the paperwork involved. This is what lawyers are for.

[Honeycomb Properties]

I can already see that I like Iggy and Greg;)

I'm not an attorney either and haven't seen your paperwork, but my advise to you would be to evaluate the likelyhood, potential costs, and headaches of a legal battle. Doesn't matter if they will win or not, the buyer can hire an attorney to sue you and if they do; it will cost you time and money. Is it worth it? I don't know- that's your call.

I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide.