Buyer breach of purchase contract

[sram123]

I signed up to buy an inventory home from a builder. 2 Months later due to economic reasons I decided to backout of the contract even though I qualified for the mortgage. I notified the builder 1 week before closing of my decision to backout. The builder is now suing me for specific performance/damages. I went thro an attorney and tried to settle out of court. I offered to pay carrying costs for about 4 months even though the time between my contract signing and backing out was less than 2 months. The builder wants $50,000 to settle out of court on a property that was valued at $370,000 at the time of contract signing and now is probably worth atleast 30,000 less now. This property is in north carolina. What are my options here and what is my worst case scenario? Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks"

 

[lwpat]

I assume that you failed to have an attorney go over the contract since an attorney would never advise you to agree to specific performance. He is going to win in court and you will end up paying his attorney fees, probably to the tune of an extra 25,000. If the contract had specific performance, it probably also obligated you to pay legal fees.

You may be better off to go ahead with the purchase or try to settle it quickly for as little as possible. This is a common problem in a down market.

 

[sram123]

Thankyou for your reply. When I signed the contract I asked the builders agent what would happen if I backed out before closing and she just said that I will lose the earnest money since it was an inventory home and I would have lost more had I built a new home with them. Ofcourse I didnt have too much time to read thro the entire contract before signing it. Can I hold that against the builder in my current scenario? Pls. advise.

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: When I signed the contract I asked the builders agent what would happen if I backed out before closing and she just said that I will lose the earnest money since it was an inventory home and I would have lost more had I built a new home with them. Ofcourse I didnt have too much time to read thro the entire contract before signing it. Can I hold that against the builder in my current scenario?

A: But then you signed the contract which did not say that. You are bound by what you agreed to in writing. What was said is totally irrelevant.