Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Interesting, if you posted your question on the 18nth, it only arrived on the boards today, on the 23rd. So there must be a delay.

The big question that I have for you is whether obtaining financing is a contingency of the purchase of the condo? Most contracts to buy and sell real property are contingent on a buyer obtaining financing. The failure of the buyer to obtain financing is not viewed as a breach of the contract, but rather a failure of a contingency.

In that situation, the parties have to execute joint instructions to escrow, that should include instructions on refunding the deposit. Absent agreement, however, you may have to go to court over the matter if it cannot be resolved.

I think LawGuru is delaying "free" questions four days.

I agree with Mr. Roach that your entitlement to get your deposit refunded will depend upon whether failure to get a loan is a contingency of the contract, and whether you made a reasonably diligent effort to get financing. If there is no such contingency, or you didn't make an effort to get financing (sure sounds like you did), or the failure to get financing was in some other way your fault (such as prequalifying based on false information), you may forfeit the deposit, but not more than 3% of the purchase price.