Talk to an attorney . Agents are not allowed to give you legal advice. Are you working with a buyer's agent ?

Hello, Lisa Brodsky here. I am a realtor in the hudson valley, ny. The sellers can not just decide on their own to deduct what they think are their "damages" ! I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY...Again, I am a Real Estate Associate Broker in New York. and this is strictly my opinion. Typically, here in the Hudson Valley, our contracts include the language "on or about". I beleive it is pretty much the same through out NY. If the selllers could not close on target, unfortunately, it isnt reason for the buyer to get out of the contract. If you pulled out of the deal, they MAY have cause to keep your deposit, or a portion of it Again, I am in NY, and the laws regarding real estate law in Pennsylvania may be different . In addition, your rate lock isnt really the responsibility of the seller to worry about or protect. I am sorry if this isnt what you had hoped for..Real estate purchasers need to have guidance, especially a first time buyer. I hope you didnt actually lock your mortgage rate in too soon. I once had a buyer lock their rate in almost right away, then the sellers got flakey. The deal ultimately fell apart. I lost my buyers, who thought I should have advised them of the posibilities. I was in a no-win situation for sure. The buyers mortgage broker advised them to "lock in", and they did! I wish I had advised them NOT to lock in, but I didnt discuss NOT locking in too soon because I never thought they would! Needless to say, I now advise my clients / buyers NOT to lock in their mortgage until the deal is VERY solid, after inspections. I learned my lesson. You DO need good legal advise...A number of months have gone by. If the matter is settled, I would be interested to hear what happened. I hope it all work or worked out well for you.

If you have other questions, ask away... I can be found at http://www.centralvalleyneighbors.com or http://www.coldwellbanker.com/for/lisa.brodsky .

If you still want to buy something, I am part of our relocation team. I would be happy to refer an experienced, trained, and certified relocation agent to you.

Let me know,
Lisa Brodsky

Bottom line - If you do not sign the release of deposit monies then it will stay in escrow - possibly forever! Seek legal advice - ON THE contract there will be a clause that will give you a phone number to call the 'Real Estate Hotline' - these guys are attorney's and (mostly) brokers too - ask them as they CAN and WILL give FREE ADVICE. If you have trouble finding it do a googl search for real estate hotline in Harrisburg PA...Hope tha helps!

Hello Amanda. Let me start out by saying that I do not know the laws of Pennsylvania and I don't want you do consider anything I say as legal advice. I am just telling you what I think, but you do need to seek legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state if you desire legal advice.

It sounds like there were a few things that went wrong in your transaction. First, when the seller was not ready to close on the 8/16, I think the contract should have been amended to specify a new close of escrow date and the expiration of the rate lock should have been addressed as well. If no such amendment was made, it would appear that you were within your right to cancel. Otherwise, having a specific settlement date in the contract would seem meaningless.

It also sounds like you had a rental agreement for the house that you were purchasing. Since I don't know the exact relationship between the rental agreement and the purchase agreement, it's impossible to make any comments. Obviously, the rental agreement was going to terminate upon the settlement. Based on what you are saying in your post, I have to conclude that you cancelled the purchase agreement and moved out of the house. Presumably, you moved out after the 8/16 settlement date that was specified in the contract. I am not sure what damages the sellers are claiming. Is it that they are claiming lost rent or damages they claim as a result of your cancellation of the purchase agreement?
Unless your contract specified that certain deductions could be made from the deposit in the event of the cancellation of the contract, I think the sellers cannot make any deductions. They might, however, not agree to the release of the funds while they pursue their claim for the alleged damages separately in a court of appropriate jurisdiction or through arbitration/mediation if you agreed to alternative dispute resolution in the contract. This could mean that your money will be tied up for quite some time. I am not saying that they'd be within their right to tie up the funds, but from a practical point of view you should know that the deposit money may not be available to you to put down on another house if you and the seller cannot resolve the dispute. Good luck. In the end, you'll have to decide what's more important. Get your the reduced deposit now or fight for the full deposit and wait.

Hi Amanda:

I think I have more questions than answers.

I'm confused:

1) Was this a lease/purchase situation, or did you take pre-possession of the property?

2) If you took pre-possession, was a contract written up for a pre-possession rental rate, and hopefully, by an attorney?

2) If the sellers weren't living there, which apparently they were not since you were, what were the reasons for "not being ready" to consummate the purchase?

3) The good faith deposit of which you speak, was this part of your option money if this was a lease purchase, or was it your earnest money you put down when you made the offer?

4) When you say that the sellers want to deduct for 'damages', do you mean tenant-caused damages, or damages for breach of contract? If it's tenant damages, did you put down a security deposit when you began to rent? Because if so, this is where damages would be deducted for tenant damages, not your earnest money. If it's damages for breach of contract, it is apparent the ones in breach of contract are indeed the sellers.

As Paul stated, without knowing the specifics of your contract(s), it is very hard to advise you. And he is correct: it would be in your very best interest to contact an attorney immediately, especially if your good faith deposit is in the sellers' possession!

Good luck to you.

While I highly recommend seeking legal advice, it would be quite surprising if the breaching party (seller) would be able to enforce damages on the nonbreaching party (you). Depending on your local contract, you may or may not have been required to provide the seller with written notice of the material breach prior to outright terminating the transaction, though. In my area, there is a "cure period" which offers the breaching party the opportunity to remedy the breach prior to unilateral cancelation. Your agent should be able to counsel you on the specific terms of your contract. Most areas will not reward the breaching party by enabling them to recoup resulting damages, but Pennsylvania is far from my area of expertise and contract law is outside the scope of a Realtor's practice. Sorry for the copout, but you really need the involvement of an attorney if your deposit is a matter of dispute. Who is holding the deposit? Title company? Broker? I certainly hope it's not the ... gulp, seller. Depending on the mechanism in place for the release of funds due to an unsuccessful transaction, the holder of the deposit may have full authority to decide who gets what, or it might remain frozen while both parties fight over it. This is never a good thing because attorney fees can eat up much of the deposit that the victor is awarded. Best of luck.