Contract....I Am Mad!
Ladies & Gentlemen:
I bought a home in pre construction. The contract received an OK from a real estate lawyer. Now, the good faith estimate states that I should pay 2% of developer costs (although the fees were stated in the contract, I was unaware of those, I paid an attorney to tell me that !!!! ) plus impact fees & hook up fees, those fees are $14,000 in addition to the closing fees!!!!. The home price is $223,000. Was i deceived? What can i do?. Florida resident. :-x
ANY contingencies to help you escape the contract?
Financing contingency?
Is this the first time you have used this attorney? Did he not sit down and explain it to you? Apparently there was a miscommunication in what you wanted and what he perfomred as a "review".
Why are you paying developer's cost? Those are usually rolled into the home price. Double check the contract and make sure that it is not a contigency if the option is broken
When you say you got an OK from a real estate lawyer, did you pay for a review, analysis and report on all the terms of the contract, or did you pay for a "yup-this is a contract" level of review?
When you read the contract now, it is clear that you have to pay these fees, but you didn't read the contract carefully enough to see these costs before you signed? Hiring a lawyer to look over the contract doesn't mean that he will tell you the purchase price and all the costs, particularly if those are clearly stated in the contract.
Be careful of walking away. Many people mistakenly believe they can just surrender the deposit and not worry about the contract. But most contracts allow the seller to seek specific performance--to sue you to go forward with closing.
Your easiest way out may be to find a new buyer. Lots of people make money locking up a pre-construction deal and then assigning the contract when the home is built. Investigate the market and see if you can turn your lemon into lemonaid.