We signed a contract (with an attorney review contingency) with a builder to buy a home for which the foundation had been laid. During the attorney review, we asked for a home sale contingency. The builder balked saying he would lose too much money holding a completed house. When we added the home sale contingency in the contract anyway, the builder replied verbally that he would be open to it if he approved the choices we were making for the house. Four weeks later, in the absence of a written response to our home sale contingency request, we asked to contract to be null and void, and our downpayment to be refunded in full.
The builder responded via e-mail, and later through his attorney, to return to negotiations. We declined and reiterated our request for a refund of the downpayment. He claimed he installed items he would never put in a spec home, and could not refund the money. Four more weeks passed without their replying to our correspondence. The builder then claimed through his attorney that they considered the attorney review to be closed claiming my wife allegedly told him during a conversation at an unspecified time that we were committed to the house, and therefore, the contract was in force.
We reviewed all our electronic correspondence to refute this unfounded claim, and it is evident that he never considered the contract to be finalized, since he and we were obviously negotiating the terms of the contract.
The contract has a clause that awards attorney fees to the winner of the case in litigation. We are faced with not recovering a very large deposit made on a line of credit, and the possible added burden of paying the builder's legal fees if we should file and lose the suit. Is there any loophole that might give the builder claim to any of our downpayment were we to go to court?
The builder responded via e-mail, and later through his attorney, to return to negotiations. We declined and reiterated our request for a refund of the downpayment. He claimed he installed items he would never put in a spec home, and could not refund the money. Four more weeks passed without their replying to our correspondence. The builder then claimed through his attorney that they considered the attorney review to be closed claiming my wife allegedly told him during a conversation at an unspecified time that we were committed to the house, and therefore, the contract was in force.
We reviewed all our electronic correspondence to refute this unfounded claim, and it is evident that he never considered the contract to be finalized, since he and we were obviously negotiating the terms of the contract.
The contract has a clause that awards attorney fees to the winner of the case in litigation. We are faced with not recovering a very large deposit made on a line of credit, and the possible added burden of paying the builder's legal fees if we should file and lose the suit. Is there any loophole that might give the builder claim to any of our downpayment were we to go to court?