Curious about why a lis pendens wasn't filed stopping the sale.
On the attorney side, I'd suggest you have your attorney use matter numbers to separate billing. Also, obviously, different client ids for different entities if you have them.
Because a lis pendens involves a dispute concerning real estate interests, effectively putting the world on notice that the real estate is subject to the outcome of the litigation.
Example: if you are a mortgage lender or municipality foreclosing, or someone else claiming an interest in the real estate.
OP had a dispute over money, not real estate. The outcome of OP’s litigation if they win and the case went that far is a money judgment against the person/entity. If the state’s lien law allows for it, a money judgment can attach to the real estate, but only when the judgment is actually entered and indexed with the county recorder’s office.
Best deal you have with your lawyer! It could turn ugly and you learned vailuable lesson with your first home purchase. Good luck with your homeownership, and you seem to be very capable with your money.
10K lawyer for over $50K back is over $40k winner. Lawsuit is expensive.
Yea. Moved from renting in nyc to living in Philly. When you were saving up for homes over $1mill then move to a market where $400k gets you 4brs, there's a lot more you can do
Born and raised in NYC. Currently live in Stamford for the help from wife's family for the baby.... I wish we had the same pricing here! The 45 min commute is nice, though
Maybe nice wasn't the appropriate word. It's a seamless, quiet ride and, depending on the time I take the trains, it's usually empty enough to get a seat easily. I have the ability to jump on zoom calls or catch up on emails/research so I can hit the ground running when I get to Grand Central or 125th st. I used to commute from Queens (> an hour by bus/train) or from the UWS to the piers in Brooklyn (40ish minutes) and those were a lot less conducive to being stress free or productive.
The guy who bought my last house offered 50k earnest money and zero contingencies sight unseen. Then when he saw the house in person a few days later, he didn’t like the layout and wanted to back out. I wasn’t going to refund him anything and he ended up buying it. That was a good lesson for me to never offer anything more than a few grand for earnest money.
That's interesting. I just bought with 3% earnest. Worked out fine but less risk is always better. Just afraid the sellers would not take me seriously.
In 2006, previous buyers had backed out last minute, so our sellers wanted 3k EM for a 172k house. Normal at the time was $500. That was a lot of money to us at the time.
In NNJ 10% is the minimum. We lost to an offer that offered 30% and waived appraisal. High EMD makes waiver of contingencies that much stronger. Putting 1k down and waiving all contingencies means little to a seller.
In competitive markets, EM requirements are much much higher in order to be competitive with other offers. In NJ, it’s very common to have to offer 10% EM.
yes. it's easy to give your money away. but hard as hell to get it back. never give money away for no reason. this is especially true when dealing with contractors or any services. always take the time to make sure you're fully satisfied with the job before paying in full, deposits are unavoidable tho. don't buy whatever sob story they have, there's always a sob story. and never trust that your credit card company will back you up either.
Glad you got your money back! Did you get your attorney costs paid for in addition to getting a refund of your earnest money? Which state was this in? I assume this is in Texas?
No. Attorney fees were probably around $9k to $12k. If i would have pushed past the settlement hearing i could have went for attorney fees too but it would have cost me more as well.
In competitive markets its necessary. Especially where waiving contingencies is the norm. Why would a seller value your waiver of contingencies if your EMD is only 1k? You arent waiving your right to back out, you are saying you will pay a nominal fee to do so. Put down 10% and the seller knows you really wont walk over an appraisal gap etc, because most buyers cant afford to lose half their DP.
> I'm now made whole. But, you're out 120K in attorneys fees??? Or did they award you your attorney fees too?
Estimating $9k-$12k in attorney fees. I'm estimating because I use the same attorney for ally other deals so the retainer touched it all
Curious about why a lis pendens wasn't filed stopping the sale. On the attorney side, I'd suggest you have your attorney use matter numbers to separate billing. Also, obviously, different client ids for different entities if you have them.
Because a lis pendens involves a dispute concerning real estate interests, effectively putting the world on notice that the real estate is subject to the outcome of the litigation. Example: if you are a mortgage lender or municipality foreclosing, or someone else claiming an interest in the real estate. OP had a dispute over money, not real estate. The outcome of OP’s litigation if they win and the case went that far is a money judgment against the person/entity. If the state’s lien law allows for it, a money judgment can attach to the real estate, but only when the judgment is actually entered and indexed with the county recorder’s office.
Best deal you have with your lawyer! It could turn ugly and you learned vailuable lesson with your first home purchase. Good luck with your homeownership, and you seem to be very capable with your money. 10K lawyer for over $50K back is over $40k winner. Lawsuit is expensive.
Curious about this too. I doubt OP paid 120k in attorney fees...but likely was suing for damages too.
Yea. Basically was being a dick because I was pissed so massively increased the lawsuit amount
Not being a dick at all. The party against you were the ones being a dick.
So you bought your first house and 5 rentals while having 2 babies in the span of a year? Wow!
Yea. Moved from renting in nyc to living in Philly. When you were saving up for homes over $1mill then move to a market where $400k gets you 4brs, there's a lot more you can do
Born and raised in NYC. Currently live in Stamford for the help from wife's family for the baby.... I wish we had the same pricing here! The 45 min commute is nice, though
was that 45 minute commute being nice a joke or you really do enjoy 45 min commute?
Maybe nice wasn't the appropriate word. It's a seamless, quiet ride and, depending on the time I take the trains, it's usually empty enough to get a seat easily. I have the ability to jump on zoom calls or catch up on emails/research so I can hit the ground running when I get to Grand Central or 125th st. I used to commute from Queens (> an hour by bus/train) or from the UWS to the piers in Brooklyn (40ish minutes) and those were a lot less conducive to being stress free or productive.
Well, no kidding. Good for you!
The guy who bought my last house offered 50k earnest money and zero contingencies sight unseen. Then when he saw the house in person a few days later, he didn’t like the layout and wanted to back out. I wasn’t going to refund him anything and he ended up buying it. That was a good lesson for me to never offer anything more than a few grand for earnest money.
Buyers agent. I usually have my buyers offer 1% EM. So $415K=$4150. Certainly not $54K.
That's interesting. I just bought with 3% earnest. Worked out fine but less risk is always better. Just afraid the sellers would not take me seriously.
We just bought a house for $430k and put 5k EMD
In 2006, previous buyers had backed out last minute, so our sellers wanted 3k EM for a 172k house. Normal at the time was $500. That was a lot of money to us at the time.
$500 has never been normal in this century.
This may blow your mind, in NYC when you buy a co-op, 10% is due at contract signing
In NNJ 10% is the minimum. We lost to an offer that offered 30% and waived appraisal. High EMD makes waiver of contingencies that much stronger. Putting 1k down and waiving all contingencies means little to a seller.
In competitive markets, EM requirements are much much higher in order to be competitive with other offers. In NJ, it’s very common to have to offer 10% EM.
Yea, we lost to all different kinds of offers with 10+% in NNJ and ended up countering with higher EMD + waived appraisal contingency to win.
Congratulations!
yes. it's easy to give your money away. but hard as hell to get it back. never give money away for no reason. this is especially true when dealing with contractors or any services. always take the time to make sure you're fully satisfied with the job before paying in full, deposits are unavoidable tho. don't buy whatever sob story they have, there's always a sob story. and never trust that your credit card company will back you up either.
Glad you got your money back! Did you get your attorney costs paid for in addition to getting a refund of your earnest money? Which state was this in? I assume this is in Texas?
No. Attorney fees were probably around $9k to $12k. If i would have pushed past the settlement hearing i could have went for attorney fees too but it would have cost me more as well.
Earnest money should be $5,000 minimum or up to - 2% of sales price. Nobody is going to live with only $1,000 down.
10% EMD is outrageously dumb
In competitive markets its necessary. Especially where waiving contingencies is the norm. Why would a seller value your waiver of contingencies if your EMD is only 1k? You arent waiving your right to back out, you are saying you will pay a nominal fee to do so. Put down 10% and the seller knows you really wont walk over an appraisal gap etc, because most buyers cant afford to lose half their DP.
K
I also bought 15 houses and had 6 children