Sellers defaulting on the contract

Fariha Wasim

New Member
Jurisdiction
Virginia
I am a first time home buyer and sellers don't want to sell the house anymore. First they tried to force us to back out by constant calling and showing up at our home uninvited. We were trying to work with them but then they showed up at our house without invitation. I understand that the address is public info but we never shared our address with them so when they showed up we were both scared and shocked. They started to emotionally blackmail us by begging and crying instead of coming up with the reasonable solution so we decided to not have direct contact with them and proceed with the sale. We didn't hear from them for sometime but then on 12/25 their agent sent an email to my listing agent saying the contract is void due to some missing initials. They have not sent any legal notice to me and they denied sharing their attorney's info. Then they took off the listing again without any notice to me or anyone. Everyone I have spoken to said the contract is valid because both sellers signed it. My realtor's company and my title company both told me that the seller is defaulting on the contract. I got a letter sent to the sellers by another attorney but their listing agent respond again saying that they are standing by their void contract claim. The listing agent also mentioned that they reached out to my lender to tell them about the missing initials on the contract. I am shocked that they do that because if they would have asked us, we would have confirmed that with the lender but no idea why they thought that my lender will share anything about my loan with them. Seems like they are doing whatever they want to do without any accountability. The attorney I chose doesn't do specific performance cases so now I am looking for another attorney with experience in that area.
I have read online regarding the default situations but this situation is unique as the sellers haven't provide any legal support to their claim, neither sent anything. Their listing agent removed himself recently from the case so the sellers are now unreachable accept the mailing option because for some reason, their listing agent used his email on the contract and was sending all the correspondence on their behalf. I would really any type of advice.
 
I would really any type of advice.

You already seem to know the answer: consult an attorney who litigates breach of contract cases including specific performance. When a party breaches a contract, your remedy is to sue for damages or, if the circumstances meet the requirements for it, for specific performance. This assumes that the contract does not have a provision in it that requires arbitration of the dispute.

But do you really want this particular house that badly to spend the time and money it will take to litigate this? Unless your contract says that you will be able to claim your legal fees if you win you'll be stuck potentially paying thousands of dollars to sue for this, and it may take a year or more to resolve. It may be more prudent to simply look for another house you can buy now and save the money and time that litigation will take. Don't be so in love with any particular house that you end up making decisions more with your hear than with with your head. There are other homes out there that likely would be good choices for you too. But that's up to you.
 
Was any earnest money involved? If so, you may have no choice but to sue to get it back if you want to walk away from this property.
 
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