Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Contract on New House

My husband and I signed a non-contingent contract on a new house in Clarksburg, MD that we signed in August 2007. We have to sell our current home which has been on the market since Oct. 07. I just found out yesterday that the prices of the new houses in Clarksburg have dropped $35,000. I have already lost 35,000! I am looking for a loop hole to get out of my contract. Is it possible. This is a Ryan home in Clarksburg, MD. We have already made a deposit of $5,000 and an additional downpayment of $50,000. I am willing to lose $5,000 but not the total $55,000. Help!!!! Can I get out?

Thanks a million,

--name removed--Kekeris


Asked on 1/31/08, 9:19 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Lawrence Holzman Holzman Law Firm, LLC

Re: Contract on New House

Your rights are governed almost completely by the contract that you signed. You really have to get an attorney to read through it with you and look for ways to get out if you want to breach the contract.

There are things you can do to minimize your loss to get out of the deal, the question is what leverage you can find, and how the math holds up.

Obviously, it would not be a wise business decision to put yourself in a position now where in order to get out of a "paper" loss of $35 that you make yourself a real life loss of $55k plus attorneys fees.

If you are able to go to closing, you may find that your best path is still to go through with the purchase...remembering that real estate will always come back --- that area is not going to stay depressed for ever.

But, you won't know until you have legal counsel actually review your contract and discuss the circumstances with you.

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Answered on 1/31/08, 1:25 pm
Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

Re: Contract on New House

An experienced real estate attorney would have to review your contract to see if there is any basis for you to cancel the contract. New home contracts are generally written by the developers and are therefore oriented in that direction. Without financing contingency protection, it would have to be premised on some deadline missed by the developer, or some information that it failed to timely disclose. You can try negotiating a buyout with the developer, but in today's market, they would not be particularly receptive to losing a sale.

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Answered on 1/31/08, 9:33 am


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