Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: real estate

You may be sued for breach of contract. The alleged damages may be lost opportunties to sell the house at other bids or at past appraisals when the market was better, lost rental, advertising, ect. Call me directly or e-mail me at the address below.

Re: real estate

It depends on a few factors:

The standard C.A.R. (Cal.Assoc. of Realtors) contract used by most realtors gives the Buyer a 17 day contingency period, during which the Buyer can inspect all aspects of the property. If, within the 17 day period, the Buyer becomes dissatisfied with the condition of the property, the Buyer may cancel the escrow and get his/her deposit back.

Feel free to call to discuss your particular contract, and whether or not you can back out at this point in time.

Re: real estate

The penalty is usually what you agreed to as liquidated damages. Since you are the buyer, the seller is entitled to recover the excess of the amount which would have been due to the seller under the contract over the value of the prprety to him or her, consequential damages, and interest. (Civ. Code sec. 3307.) This is usually the difference between the Fair Market Value on the closing date and the contract price.

Most contracts contain a liquidated damages provision. In that case, the seller only has to prove that you breached, although the seller will be limited to 3% of the purchase price. (Civ. Code sec. 1675 subd. (c) and (d).)

A seller can obtain more than 3% if he can show that this penalty is reasonable.

Very truly yours,

Re: real estate

I forgot to mention, the seller is entitled to retain the buyer's deposit as funds from which to recover its damages, so you have also lost your earnest money deposit. (Beason v. Griff (1954) 127 Cal.App. 382.)