Home Improvement → Re: Purchasing a Home with Undisclosed information

Well the problem is that it is already in contract and the Realtor has my $500 of earnest money. I have also paid out for the $450 in home inspection, termite inspection, and gas line inspection. If I drop the ball now all of that is lost.

What are my rights, now that the septic backup information was not disclosed?

-CBC-

$1,000 now that you can chalk up to a great lesson learned or tens of thousands later... Of course, the choice is yours. You can probably still get your $500 earnest back if the seller backs off from getting that fixed by a licensed contractor, so it's more like $500 now to walk away from a bucket of headaches.

I can't stress it enough: in a few years, you will look back and think that you would GLADLY pay someone $500 to get that house off your hands.. but then you will also have the house to pay for so $500 will look like peanuts then...

You will get your earnest money back. You will be out the inspections of course, but if you are not certain of the deal it will be worth it to back out.

Your earnest money should come back to you, unless YOU back out of the deal for a reason that you both disagree on. What I mean is that the owner has the right to correct, but you also have the right to have it inspected after he corrects it. If your inspection proves that he didn't do it correctly, you can have your earnest money back OR give him another chance to correct it properly. Either way, I would not worry about the earnest money, I would be more concerned about dealing with a dishonest seller, and possibly his agent as well. Always remember, the agent does not work for you, the buyer. They work for the seller and only the seller unless you hire a buyers representative.

Good luck

If you don't accept the seller's counter offer, the deal is off and earnest money should be returned to you. You will be out the $450 inspection fee, but it's better than owning a lemon with a 30 year mortgage.

To the OP...the above text from R4M0N is dead on. My fiancee and I signed the papers for our place just about a year ago. At the time, paying the Engineer $600 for 2 hours worth of inspecting seemed silly. However, looking back - I'm still refrerring to his report - I would have paid even more for the accurate information I received.