Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
My husband and I had a real estate contract signed on April 20th. The home purchase price in the contract is at 166,000 and we placed 1000 in earnest money down. The property appraised at 166,000 and our propert inspection came back positive. We are already in conditional status with loan only needing our closing on our current home to be finished on Monday, provide a copy of our drivers liscenses, and proof of insurance (to be finalized tomorrow). Our radon test came back 5 times the approved limit. We asked the sellers for 3000 or to fix it. They came back twice at 1000 and then 3000 credit only. Now after we pushed back and again said it had to be fixed they want out of the contract, but plan on fixing the issue and then re listing the home. None of these negotiations have been formally written and all have been verbal. our contract states it has to be a written agreement that isn't accepted or agreed on as a reason for either party to back out. Do we have any ground to stand on? How do we proceed if we still want the home?
2 Answers from Attorneys
You should discuss the matter with your closing attorney. The timing of this issues seems extremely out of sequence. If you did not retain an attorney, you are now seeing the consequences. In any event, the typical cost of a mitigation system is closer to $1000.00 and a retest should not be too costly. My impression, without knowing more, is that the sellers were making a reasonable offer and now feel that they can do better resolving the issue and listing the property again. It would require some interpretation of the contract and the detailed background, but there is some chance you could quickly drop the issue and take care of the problem yourselves. At this point, that may be better than losing everything you have in the transaction and losing a property you liked.
I agree with Mr. Repay. If you are interested in closing on this property, Sellers made a reasonable offer of a credit equal to your full demand, but this needs to be reduced to writing. The dates for written notice of dissatisfaction may have passed too, so you need to get someone involved immediately before Sellers attempt to reneg on the offer. One other thing: some lenders will not allow a "credit" on the Master Statement (formerly known as a HUD-1 Settlement Statement) because your loan may be based on full value, so it may better be solved with a $3000 reduction in the purchase price with a slightly lower mortgage if you have the cash to fix the situation yourselves post-closing, so you need to get your proposed lender's input on this.
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