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09-12-2010, 01:00 PM #1
Renter
- Join Date
- Sep 2010
- Location
- Central Florida
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- 1
Question about seller's attorney fees, from perspective of a buyer
My wife and I were putting in an offer on a Short Sale and our Realtor had submitted our contract yesterday. The listing agent later sent over the seller's attorney's two addendum pages that state the following:
Addendum "A":
"The SELLER shall provide BUYER a concession equal to Three Percent (3%) of the Purchase Price for BUYER to apply towards closing costs."
"BUYER has been advised to seek its own legal counsel to represent their interests with respect to this Contract and the closing, and acknowledges that Closing Agent is the attorney for SELLER."
Addendum "B":
"The BUYER shall pay THE LAWFIRM, (the “Firm”), Attorneys for SELLER, at Closing an amount equal to Three Percent (3%) of the Purchase Price, less $500, for the cost of negotiating the short sale with the SELLER’S Lenders. This amount shall not be due if for any reason Closing does not occur."
I am interpreting this to mean:
1) Their lawyer wants 3% (which we think is high since our Realtor's attorney only charges a flat rate of $3k to arbitrate a short sale), and wants us to pay HIM, though we get nothing out of it.
2) Despite that, the seller (who is financially troubled, hence the short sale) is supposed to pay us 3% toward our closing costs to offset this.
3) So long as the seller has the cash to pay us, this is essentially a wash for us, except for the $500 that I guess we get out of the deal?
Does our assessment seem correct? Is this common? Our Realtor is not very happy with these addenda and think this is a bad deal that will not be approved by the bank.
Just curious what others think about this. Would you consider this a dealbreaker or should we not care if we really want the house?
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09-13-2010, 07:51 AM #2
Moderator
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
- Outer Banks
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- 1,282
The last deal I did like this my buyer clients were both attorneys and the agreement we got had language that made the buyers responsible for the money if the short sale lender refused to pay. My clients crossed that part out and the seller's attorney got his money from the short sale bank.
If the numbers look good to you then have your attorney make sure you will not have to come out of pocket and proceed.Your Outer Banks real estate agent. Learn how to buy Outer Banks foreclosures.
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