The Reality of Suing For Specific Performance

Suing For Specific Performance is not what it seems to be. However, it is a favored threat that will usually get a Real Estate Consumer to Do what the Realtor wants them to.

When a Buyer or a Seller wants the other party to follow through on a signed contract but they don't want to, they take it to the courts and they sue for Specific Performance. Trouble is, it often takes years to resolve and there are many "contractual" loopholes as well as he said - she said things that get in the way. Obvioulsy it is best if all parties agree. If a buyer forces a Seller to close, oftentimes it is because the buyer has another buyer. And the Seller can play this game to, they can refuse to close on their real estate transaction with the first buyer because they have another buyer that will pay more waiting in the wings.

I have seen Mortgage Brokers facilitate real estate transactions, yes illegal - yes unlicensed - and no - no one cares, anyway I have seen these closings go to the Title Company, no problem, without a signature from the buyer, whereby the mortgage broker changed the document and all kinds of fraud was taking place. All the while the title company, First American Title, saw no red flags or problems with any of it. The Seller sought out my help as a real estate consultant, I charged nothing, and through examing this shady deal, the Seller walked out of the deal pending a new "legal" contract.

The big bad mortgage broker got mad and told, yes told - and yes they listened, told her buyer to get an attorney and to sue the seller for specific performance. The buyer did, and the real estate attorney took the case. This attorney bullied the seller into thinking they had to sell their home under these conditions. I advised the Seller to step back and take a look at all this a bit harder. I told them that if they still wanted to sell and had no money then they should have the Buyers Attorney wirte up a new deal that was legal and that they were happy with. I also told them they had NO binding contract.

I do not need to be a real estate attorney to know that with no legal description and no buyers signature the Seller could NOT be sued for Specific Performance and the Real Estate Attorney was Flat Out Lying to them, and trying to bluff them into doing what the buyer wanted. You see the Real Estate Attorney believed the Mortgage Broker without even talking with the Seller.

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I have also seen Seller just change their mind, after a signed contract and the Realtor says ok, but my client will be forced to sue you for specific performance, after this the Seller usually give in at the thought of a lawsuit. The Truth is if you dig your heals in there is not a whole lot a buyer can do to make you sell, yes a court can take years to make you sell at that price, but is really worth it. Meanwhile the digruntled Seller is living in the home, knowing that at some point if the buyer wins they will get their price, but meanwhile they live there for free. Oftentimes in this situation of harassment and diress they may damage the property, they may stop paying taxes and bring further adverse situations onto the property that the future buyer will have to deal with. If the Seller does not want to sell and is willing to go past that first "bluff" of suing for specific performance, then I say seriously think about walking away. The years, the money, the stress and time ahead of you may not be worth it.

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I have called the "Bluff" before when a Realtor tried to tell me that their buyer would sue me for specific performance, I said, come on you know how long that would take, the Realtor said yes my last one was six years. So I said my Seller does want to sell but you know that you cannot sue us for Specific Performance. In this instance the contract had many issues where the Seller could have easily chose not to sell.

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So though you should follow through on a contract you signed, still there are many loopholes to get out of it and NEVER - Ever take the Realtors would for it. Dig you heals in, if you don't want to sell or feel something is wrong with the deal, Do Not Sign until your comfortable and if your never comfortable then don't sign. When and if you have your day in court, simply tell your reasons why, back it up with as much information as you can and don't let The Realtor Bully You.

Is it Worth It to Pay for Title Insurance ?

I believe title insurance is just another way to get your money and provide no real service. I have seen properties change hands with a different legal then the Seller was Selling.
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Title Reports cover a Legal Description supposedly and not an address, property type or certain acreage.
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I have seen the Title Report / Title Insurance Miss huge debt / liens on a property. I had to bring it to their attention, Shocking But True.
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And some Realtors PUSH for you to buy an additional title insurance for the time of escrow, apparently some Title Companies are too lazy or don't include in their HUGE fees to check for debt more then once, so they check in the begining, and hope for the best. If you want them to check before the Actual closing then you have to pay more. Kind of makes a good case for a quick closing.
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If this is NOT true then why sell an additional Title Insurance for the time of escrow in case there is other debt. Seriously I had a Seller that was buying in Washington, the Listing Realtor was in Idaho but the property was in Washington, she, the Realtor tried to make the buyer pay for additional Title Insurance to cover the escrow period.
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Talk about Scams. And why was the Realtor even involved in pushing MORE Title Insurance on to the Real Estate Consumer.

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It is Impossible to Be an Honest Realtor

Where is the Glitch ? Who is the Problem ? Why are Consumers Not Protected from Realtors ? Why are Realtors NOT encouraged to Obey the Law ? Why are No Realtors Held to Ethics or to Standard of Practice.

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There will Be Many More Messages to the National Association of Realtors asking them Why They DO NOT enforce Ethics or accountability or even encourage it.

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Why NAR does Not even Care to make sure that their members are obeying the laws, following the Code of Ethics and Doing Right By the Consumer.

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Why Does the NAR encourage E and O insurance to Be Mandatory when it Protects the Realtor and in No Way Protects the Real Estate Consumer.

Why Do Realtors Not have to Actually Prove things like "Lake Access" when they advertise a property has access and the buyer is left to fight for what was promised to them in the Buy Sell?

and Oh... So much More...

Why?

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Accountability in Real Estate ? What an Interesting Idea ! Realtors are not Held Accountable for the Damage they Do to the Real Estate Consumer.

There is NO accountability in Real Estate.

The Realtor can Say and Do as they please, especially Broker Owners, Good Ol' Boys, Broker Owner who 'Own the Town' persay and Claim that they control who goes in and out of town. Folks talk of stricter penalties, of more education.

There is no real way in the Current System of the Real Estate Industry to hold the Realtor accountable for their lies. This in turn gives the honest Realtor a bad reputation, I am NOT talking about just Real Estate Agents, I am talking about member of the National Association of Realtors.

The Membership in this Club is what protects the bad Realtor, protects the lying, and the unethical Realtors and in this Keeps the GOOD Realtors down or causes them to switch careers.

Watch your Back, I am telling you the HONEST truth, you are NOT protected as a Real Estate Consumer if and when you Use a Realtor, a member of the National Association of Realtors.

What if there are 2 Easements into the Property ?

Easement Tidbits
Crystal L. Cox
Real Estate Whistleblower

So the Realtor drives you in on one Road, and after the Closing you find out that the "Easement Paper" work that you were given was actually on a different road, and was not even filed at the court house. At this point you will have to right like heck to get what you thought you had. If it has already happened, get as much proof as you can, the buy-sell agreement, all paperwork and disclosures, any advertising about the property, mls sheets and emails and go talk with a real estate attorney.

Tips on Interviewing a Real Estate Attorney

Remember they work for you, if they treat you like the criminal instead of the victim, move on. You deserve to be respected, make the right choice the first time. Talk with other clients if you can, have a couple conversations to see how the dialog will be. Remember this attorney could be a part of your life for months to years. It does not hurt, in my opinion to take a few weeks, just take some time, because if you find out after you choose, pay a retainer or agree to a share of the settlement or judgement it is too late to go back. And if you go on an hourly rate then fire them for treating you bad, lying to you or not doing what you thought they would for you, then you will look unstable, you will be made to look fickle when really it is the real estate attorney that was the problem. So push the communication boundaries, before you sign the contract, odds are if they are short with you, make you feel bad, talk down to you, lie to you or treat you like the criminal then this can come up before you sign if you engage in enough conversation to get a feel for what they are after, their integrity and respect level and how they feel about your case.

About the Same Easement Issue Before You Buy:

Have the Realtor and or Seller show you the easement, have them show you an easement agreement in writing that has been recorded, hire a surveyor to tell you where this easement really is, have it flagged (this could even be a contingency that you ask of the seller).

Make the Title Company give you a copy of the "Legal Easement" that is recorded and have them sign that they gave it to you and in reference to what property.

The Easement to your property may not show up on your title insurance, in my state it does not. Here it is on the property that the easement crosses, so make sure the title company digs it up, if this matches what the Realtor gave you then get your surveyor. This is Time and Money Well Spent and is very important.

Find out what you can and prove this legal access, way before your closing, check the legal description, talk to the owner whose land it crosses and turn over every rock you can Before your Closing. You want to make sure that the road you drove on is really the road you will have legal access on. You want to make sure that the land owner is not adverse to you being there, better to know now, before it is a future - stressful drama.

Believe me if this is not all proven absolutely and Not just the Realtors word, the Seller or Title agents word and not just because the "buy sell" says so, this could cause you a huge amount of stress for years, put you in a huge - never ending neighbor fued and cause your real estate value to plummet. If you get a loan, your lender may not know, the appraiser may not know. I have seen these situations folks, find out more.

Knowledge is Power.

how often does your realtor call you - Today's Search Real Estate Question

This was today’s questions searched on my blogs.

Here’s the thing, either you have a good working relationship with your Realtor or you do not. I recommend that you sell as a FSBO using the power of the internet, but if you must use a Realtor, remember your selling Is not their priority, the priority is to sell something, and quite often your property comes in handy as bait.

I tried to stay in contact with my Sellers at least once a week, email is a good way, that way your Realtor can stay in touch when they have a moment. They should let you know about leads and keep you involved, but keep in mind this may not even be true. I have seen Realtors show their listings to their Secretaries just before it expires to be sure and keep the listing.

Use your Intuition, put what you expect from your Realtor in your Listing Contract. Remember that those “Standard “Realtor” Forms” are to protect the Realtor and are not designed to protect you, the real estate consumer.

So you can write in and initial ANY changes that you want to make, you are a “party to the contract”. You can also exclude ANY Realtor or buyer on that contract and put in a Clause that if for ANY reason you are not satisfied with your Realtor, the Way your Real Estate for Sale Is being marketed or for any reason that you may cancel this contract at any time. Don’t let the Realtor say that you will owe a marketing fee if you Cancel your Listing.

The Realtor uses your listing as bait to sell something and even if you don’t’ sell, cancel or just move on they still have a pool of potential buyers that they got from your Real Estate Listing. Don’t let them make you pay to market their business.

Are you Still Paying 8% for your Realtor to list your Land? Realtors are Scaming you, Realtors Lie.

This is a VERY big scam. There is less liability and less work to do when listing land, and yet the Realtors convince the Seller that land is worth more commission to the Realtor. I fought this my first year in real estate, I offered 5% but my fellow Realtors convinced my Sellers and potential Sellers that I was not offering the same service or as good for those rates, when in fact I was offering more then “the same service”. And one of the Realtors went door to door telling folks how me offer "cheaper rates" was because I was not as good or offering less of a service. Yes Unethical and in the Realtor Ethics and Standards of Practice, but these games and attempts at boycotting Realtors who give you a break, as a real estate consumer, these things happened ALL the time and they still do.

Don’t let Realtors convince you that land is worth a higher commission, this is a scam.

Your Real Estate Transaction

a Real Estate Transaction involves More then One Contract. For Example, the Buy - Sell Agreement, the Listing Contract, the Buyers Contract,

If you are a Party to the Contract, it is said that YOU have a Right to make changes to the contract.. initial the changes and have all parties initial them as well.

I Believe that ALL contracts between ALL parties and ALL related Documents SHOULD have to be turned over to the title company at the time of closing, to have a 3rd party to the sale keep records of EVERYTHING.. including Home Inspections and Contracts between all parties, believe me not seeing the listing contract in full by the Buyer brings up all kinds of issues. And when you Sue, the documents will change and/or disappear and the real estate attorney really is cluelesss as to what should be in the contract. And they REALLY do trust that the Realtor turns over all related documents during "discovery" in a lawsuit and it is just not true.

Many Title Companies Will Protect the Realtor over the Consumer, however it is one more step to quality control over unscrupulous agents.

Title Companies are NOT to be trusted in full, but it is a way of better protecting the consumer by somebody other than the office that in the future becomes the accused, having the only set of "evidence" and even if the Realtor office has the copy of a previous home inspection, for example that they failed to disclose to you.. they don't have to have this copy so they just say that they Do Not...

Find Out What Really Goes On behind the Doors of Your Real Estate Transaction.. Protect Yourself... with Knowledge... www.SavvyBroker.com