Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I wrote an offer to purchase a home on a standard CAR form. It turns out that the property was going to auction shortly and I was to deal with the auction company instead of the lender. The auction company has their own contract of which is very exclusionary; in other words, you basically have no rights to inspect, ask for a termite report, ask for a reduction in cost due to defects or condition and it supposedly supersedes the CAR purchase contract. Since I had inspected the property beforehand, I was okay with the exclusions, however, a couple of the conditions I requested were a termite report and an equal split of the escrow charges.
I never received a formal acceptance of my offer and didn't know for sure where I stood until I received escrow instructions approximately three weeks later. There was no evidence of the escrow charges being split and my portion was going to be $1100. I am a paralegal student and buy and sell homes to help finance my education and I have never paid more than $750, so I thought this to be exorbitant.
The day before we were to close escrow, my dad unexpectedly passed away. Thinking I was going to have to help pay for burial due to an extreme financial hardship, I asked for a reduction in cost to help cover the cost of escrow and whatever my mom felt she would need to assist with the plans. I know this is not a legal argument, however, all they had to do was accept, reject or counter.
I have yet to hear from this auction company and the last I heard, they cancelled the sale and put the home back on the market. I am still waiting for a cancellation of escrow and the return of my deposit or some kind of communication of their intent. I am still interested in purchasing this property, so at the direction of my realtor, I submitted another addendum indicating that I would proceed at the original agreed upon price. In addition to this, I asked for them to waive the per diem for extending the closing and I asked for an extension until the end of this week. Still no response.

Asked on 4/15/13, 4:29 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

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You don't have a legal problem, and have not asked any legal question. It seems to me you have a real estate agent problem. How can you be in escrow and not know if your offer has been accepted? How can you be making last minute changes to the terms and timing of the escrow and not know exactly what's going on? How can you not know if the sale has been cancelled or not? It's your real estate agent's job to keep track of all that and keep you informed.

Answered on 4/15/13, 9:58 pm

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