Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

I am interested in purchasing a specific peace of land but some one recently put a contract on the land with the sellers but nothing has been finalized yet. How do I find out who the potential buyers are that has the contract on the land. The agent for the sellers will not tell be. Breach of contract rules. I wont to know so I can approach the potential buyers with a deal of my own.

Thank you.

Ronald Gray


Asked on 11/22/10, 6:33 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Phillip M. Cook Cook Legal Services, LLC

There is likely no way you can find out the identity of the buyers prior to the consummation of the sale. The reason is that the purchase and sale agreement would not be recorded in the public land records -- there is no law that requires it and very few people like to advertise their private contractual dealings to the general public. With that said, in some cases certain buyers like real estate investors, developers, etc., will record a memorandum of sale in the county land records basically saying that the property is under contract. Filing the memorandum of sale serves a bunch of purposes from the buyer's perspective (contact me if you want to know more). You may want to check the county land records under the Seller's name to see if a memorandum (or affidavit or statement) of sale (or something similar) has been recorded recently -- you may get lucky.

Once the sale is closed, a Deed will be filed in the county land records. It will disclose the buyer's name and contact information. At that time, you can approach with your own deal.

Best of luck.******The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.*******

Read more
Answered on 11/28/10, 5:56 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Real Estate and Real Property questions and answers in Maryland