Expert: Hans Weber, Licensed Broker Associate - 2/23/2006

Question
I am a first time buyer.I wrote a purchase agreement with a owner.Here the owner herself is  a real estate agent so she acted as buying agent to me. Of course the listing agent is different, and that is her sister only.But I am increasingly getting doubts about her fairness as she did not disclose all the details about the property to me when I wrote the offer on 02/08/2006.I removed the financial and inspection contingencies.On 02/20/2006 she was telling me that her lender has to agree for the contract as she is selling the property for $560,000(which is $25,000 less than her purchase price of $585,000).She did 100% financing with 0% down payment.Now what will happen if the lender does not agree for that price ie 560,000. I am not going to buy that property for more price.I spent aroung $1000 for inspections and others. Will I get back my deposit amount($17,000) and the damages(the $1000 I spent)in case her lender doen not agree?

Answer
Dear Iaxmi,

I am not clear about your questions.

Is she the owner, your buyer representative and lender too?

I think your primary question is if the property does not appraise what will happen?  If it appraises for less than 560 you have to pay the difference in cash.  If it appraises for more you should not have to pay any more money than the contract price.  If you don't buy the house you lose the deposit.

First of all you should have had your own buyer agent.  Also the seller cannot be your buyer agent.  Do you have any disclosure forms that she had you sign?  You may want to talk to your lawyer or the local board of realtors to find out if she violated any disclosure laws.

Hans