How long does it usually take?

[smokey the elder]

The earnest money is supposed to go into escrow and not be touched until after closing, or returned to the buyer. Do you have an attorney? If not, get one; if so, use him/her.

[Freedom]

Phone call to the State's licensing board for real estate agents can give you LOTS of info FAST! What to do, time frames, who to contact, etc.

[lizbud]

The earnest money is supposed to go into escrow and not be touched until after closing, or returned to the buyer. Do you have an attorney? If not, get one; if so, use him/her.

I agree.

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I was going to say the same. Money goes into escrow. The check DOES get cashed, but it goes into the escrow account. The seller DOES not get it until closing (which is NOT going to happen). You will probably have to go and argue your case to the escrow office. (bank). Hope this helps.

[sparks19]

Well our realtor finally got a hold of him... he said that they wanted to research the laws about the septic and well system first and then discovered that we were right about it so we should get our check next week... if we don't we will be taking action against them.

But my question is... if this guy has been a realtor for as long as he claims... shouldn't he KNOW the rules for septic and well systems already? Surely he has had to deal with it at some point.

At this point I really worry that they are going to screw some unsuspecting first time buyer into buying without doing surveys or inspections. For some reason taht really bothers me.

[caseysmom]

I would still report him, you should have your check in your hand tomorrow, why next week? I think he is lying. I have heard that they never keep that money even if you back out just because.

[Logan]

I don't know much about how other parts of the country, but here in SC, the real estate agent (the ones representing the buyer and the seller) have Brokers in charge of their office and if this agent doesn't do what he said he is going to do, your agent needs to contact his Broker with a formal complaint. What a mess! I'm not surprised that the selling agent wouldn't know the exact laws. They just want the sale and depend on the legal process and the inspection process to find anything that isn't "right". I sure am glad you found out before you moved in. Good luck and I hope you can find the right house soon.

[sparks19]

I don't know much about how other parts of the country, but here in SC, the real estate agent (the ones representing the buyer and the seller) have Brokers in charge of their office and if this agent doesn't do what he said he is going to do, your agent needs to contact his Broker with a formal complaint. What a mess! I'm not surprised that the selling agent wouldn't know the exact laws. They just want the sale and depend on the legal process and the inspection process to find anything that isn't "right". I sure am glad you found out before you moved in. Good luck and I hope you can find the right house soon.

I guess I just assumed since this guy has supposedly been in realestate for many years that this would have happened at last once before lol. But yes we are glad we found all this out before hand... now I feel bad for the next "sucker" that comes along... if they are first time house buyers they might not think to do inspections and stuff. That shouldnt' really bother me but it does lol.

We actually have already found our new house. Our friends are moving and we love their house... they are moving back to NY. And we are going to buy their house from them. So if everything goes as planned we should be in there by April (of course this all depends on her husband finding a job in syracuse so it could be a little later but we don't mind... we don't have a deadline lol)

[sparks19]

I would still report him, you should have your check in your hand tomorrow, why next week? I think he is lying. I have heard that they never keep that money even if you back out just because.

Yeah we are still planning on reporting him. if they wanted to look into it first he could have at LEAST returned our agents phone calls and said so... not just ignore us. I would have been mad that they were being so fickle about it but at least we wouldn't just be sitting here wondering.