our buyer has signed and sent contracts to us without 10%?

ski

just wondering if this senario is unusual, we have been going through the process of selling our apartment for the last number of months and it has been frustrating to say the least. We went sale agreed at the end of February with the booking deposit with the estate agent approx March 5th. We weren't in a huge hurry to close originally however after about 6 weeks we started to put pressure on our buyers to sign contracts. for about two weeks they claimed they had signed them but still hadn't sent them (which was of no use to us). We issued an ultimatum for today saying we would withdraw from the sale if we didn't receive the contracts and an agreed closing date of June 1st. My solicitor informs me this evening that yes contracts have arrived to him signed with the agreement to close by June 1st but WITHOUT the 10% deposit. Solicitor isn't of much assistance saying he has on occasion come upon this before. The purchaser is claiming that she want to get 100% mortgage to be drawn down on closing, however we also believe she is an investor (didn't think they could get 100% mortgage)
would anyone have any ideas what they may be playing at?
If we sign without the 10% what does that mean
any ideas would be really appreciated

ps i do appreciate selling an apartment in the current climate does not put us in the strongest position

babytooth

well what can you do....refuse to sign and lose a potential buyer...shes waiting for after the election i'd imagine, thats what...

contracts signed makes it binding and you can go after her for completeion, not a great chance on that though.

you can hold her contracts and leave the house on the market, tell the ea to keep it up, so at least if she pull and you can't chase for completition then you may have other offers...

The_Conductor

If you have no deposit- you have no comeback on the sale, should she decide to pull out. To be honest it seems like she is stringing you along. In the current market- its difficult enough to sell property without this sort of crap happening. You could always declare the contract void, as there is no deposit with it- but that means you're back at the starting blocks again. I'd advise contacting your solicitor and stating that you are unhappy to proceed without a deposit.

Ps- yes, investors can get 100% mortgages (providing they are backing the mortgage with additional collatoral- in most cases another house......)

Shane

ski

the EA has received a booking deposit of €7000, apartment has gone sale agreed for €340000 - is that too small to take the chance and sign without 10% do you think?

Zambia

ski wrote:

the EA has received a booking deposit of €7000, apartment has gone sale agreed for €340000 - is that too small to take the chance and sign without 10% do you think?

I think its a gamble , I would hold off on pulling out as if you went back on the market you may have to drop the price.

The_Conductor

As Zambia232 put it- if you go back to the market the likelyhood is that you be forced to take a large reduction in asking price (I would hazard a guess of about 10%). This reflects the reduced borrowing capacity brought by the 2 interest rate rises that will have occurred since Feb when you originally brought the property to the market- along with the fact that the market is awash in property being dumped.

Its a difficult balancing act- try to tie her in by threatening to pull out of the sale agreed, versus knowledge that there is lots of other property out there, falling in value every single day, that she can go and buy instead.

Let us know what happens.

joemc99

Dont worry about it too much, we went through the same thing when we sold our last house. The contract is the contract. If they renege on the sale, take them to court and get your full 10k back. Your solicitor should be telling you this!!

godtabh

Just wondering if the contract is signed and booking fee is paid what happens if the buyer pulls out?

Are y ou in the situation were you have €7000 but a harder house to sell?

rgiller

joemc99 wrote:

Dont worry about it too much, we went through the same thing when we sold our last house. The contract is the contract. If they renege on the sale, take them to court and get your full 10k back. Your solicitor should be telling you this!!

The problem with this approach is that if you decide to take legal proceedings against the buyer to "force" them into buying the house, you will be tying up the property for a long time (up to 2 years) during which time I don't think you can sell the house to another potential buyer. Pending the result of the legal claim you might end up not being able to sell for a long time.

Victor

ski wrote:

the EA has received a booking deposit of €7000, apartment has gone sale agreed for €340000 - is that too small to take the chance and sign without 10% do you think?

You are under no obligation to sign at all. Although it kinda makes sense to sign when you have their 10%.

Potentially tell them put the money on the table or you are taking your expenses out of the €7,000.