Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia
am I entitled to the earnest money
Seller and I signed purchase & sale agreement on a Friday which showed $1,000 receipt in earnest money. Seller backed out by Monday - reason - doubts about being able to afford living in the house (cold feet). My realtor states seller should keep her earnest money based on property sold with right to terminate within 10 days clause. That is based on 10 days from ''binding agreement date'' which I take to mean 10 days after closing. Otherwise, it's a month until closing and she couldn't turn down the house for up to 20 days prior or any days following the closing, which makes no sense. If the 10 day clause is from the date of the purchase agreement, then why have the earnest money in the contract? It seems the earnest section and the right to terminate are separate of themselves and the right to terminate does not include the right to keep the earnest money. The earnest money is created for such a reason - to defray the loss of the seller. I wasn't in favor of the termination clause, I was going for the right to request repairs clause instead, but my realtor advised me that this was in my favor. If the right to terminate supersedes or overules the earnest money rights, it obviously wasn't. What's the scoop on this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: am I entitled to the earnest money
Your question is inherently based upon a reading of the exact terms of the contract, which we do not have. Have a lawyer review it. However, possibly contradicting what I just said, I'll point out that "binding agreement date" often means just what it says -- the date the agreement becomes binding. If a party to a contract means to use the closing date for any deadline, they can easily say "closing date." Contract terms are interpreted by looking to the actual language. Again, how this applies to your situation would require a review of the documents.
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