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-   -   Signed new home purchase agreement but backed out (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=272742)

  • Oct 23, 2008, 09:40 AM
    kboyd783
    Signed new home purchase agreement but backed out
    My fiancé and I are paying for a wedding and thought about getting a house. We went to one community just to get info since we would be new to this. We advised sell person that we were paying for a wedding and just wanted info. We filled out a contact form and was contacted all the time about incentives given. After a couple of months we were told that they had a lot of incentives and would even be able to help with wedding bills. After hearing that we agreed to get a home built. We advised that if wedding bills could not be paid or any assistance with them from builder we would back out. House has been built we were told that we would get visa gift cards which none of the wedding bills can we pay with that. We advised builder and in return was told to save the money for the wedding and use the gift cards for everyday life. This was no the agreement and we did not go to closing. We did sign a new home purchase agreement and put down a binder. The builder explained that they would sue us and mess up our credit. How can we get out of this and can they sue us, shouldn't they just take the binder money that we put down?
  • Oct 23, 2008, 09:45 AM
    twinkiedooter

    You signed the purchase contract. You are responsible for your portion of the contract. If you think you are wrong in withholding the monies for the home I would suggest that you retain an attorney at once as the builder is definitely going to sue you for breach of contract. You need to re-read your actual purchase contract and see just exactly what the builder was going to pay concerning your wedding bills. If you actually have nothing in writing in the purchase contract about the wedding bills, you are essentially stuck.
  • Oct 23, 2008, 09:48 AM
    kboyd783

    I don't have anythint in the purchase contract about the wedding bills but I do have a separate sheet from builder with a breakdown of invoices that would be paid for the wedding with signatures
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:00 AM
    twinkiedooter

    Why did he decide not to honor these figures in the breakdown?
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:09 AM
    kboyd783
    They gave us visa gift cards instead of paying the invoices stating that they couldn't right a check... which I don't understand why not they even called our wedding vendors and were told visa check cards would not work they are not redeemable for cash. So in turn they told us to save the money to pay for the wedding and just use the gift cards for everyday life.
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:30 AM
    twinkiedooter

    If you really want this house now that it is built just take their visa check cards. If you want the cash instead, then you'll have to involve an attorney. Since the home is built that is a different story. Maybe the builder didn't know who you were using for wedding would not take the visa check cards. It seems that the builder was willing to pay for the wedding bills as promised, but you didn't like the way they were paying for the bills. I think you would lose if the builder took you to court over this.
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:33 AM
    kboyd783

    Well we don't want the house now because that indeed was not the deal and we told them way ahead of time that visa check cards were not sufficient and would not work with the vendor. Thanks for your advice but we will take our chances we have God on ourselves and he will work through the circumstances. I just wanted to know another persons feed back on the situation.

    Thanks again
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:34 AM
    ScottGem

    Frankly I have to agree with the builder. I think its nitpicking to not accept the gift cards. I'm sure that you could probably find someone to accept them where you would have paid them cash instead.

    That being the case, it would appear to me that the builder lived up to his end of the contract and can force you to live up to your end.
  • Oct 23, 2008, 10:45 AM
    kboyd783
    Thanks for you comments, but it's the principal if you were in the situation you may not be saying that. The wedding is most important and the builder was told that. We feel as if they were just trying to sell a house and using the issue that we were young, never built a house before, and did not have a real estate agent to take advantage. They were well aware of our terms as we were aware of their's. There were times during the process that we felt that we just couldn't pay the mortgage and told the sales person this, and at no time did she say we would have penalties just that we builded a nice house and it would be easy to sell. I am aware that they may very well take us to court, and I will just take that chance.
  • Oct 23, 2008, 12:03 PM
    ScottGem

    I agree you were taken advantage of. But you allowed yourself to be taken advantage of. The job of a salesperson is to sell. They generally don't care too much about your needs so they push past your objections.

    But the time comes when you have to sign the papers. And once you do that you commit yourself.

    I'm sorry, but I don't see your case standing up in court, but I wish you luck and keep us posted.

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