Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Teacher needs help!

Who knows? LawGuru attorneys are handicapped in their ability to answer questions involving contracts, because we haven't read the contracts (nor do we really want to at this stage). You suggest your agent did "gigantic screw-ups," it is not clear whether you would like to sue your agent, or for what. The seller can presumably be sued for a refund of your deposit.

Possibly it would be best for you to sue the seller in small claims court, without a lawyer, for $7500 and write off the $750 difference.

Re: Teacher needs help!

While I fully understand your anger with the situation, I'm not sure I see where the agent made a mistake that would entitle you to a claim against their Errors & Ommissions insurance. First, let's understand that a real estate salesperson is only licensed to represent you in a purchase transaction. They are not licensed nor skilled as attorneys, and are not responsible for settling disputes between the parties. Their job is to negotiate and document the purchase transaction, walk you through the processes associated with buying a property, and hand you the keys on the day escrow closes. Once you cancelled, and the Seller refused to honor your cancellation (which, by the way is about 80% of the sales transaction disputes we see in our office), the agent is responsible for documenting your cancellation with the Seller and escrow, but I can find no basis for the agent being responsible for getting the Seller to sign the cancellation or to negotiate on your behalf. The fact that the agent moved to another brokerage is irrelevant - the broker in the office you retained is the ultimately responsible party, not the agent you were working with. You can make a claim against their E&O insurance, but it will most likely be denied. You can (and will probably have to) file suit against the Seller to get the money released from escrow, and you can certainly ask for a penalty for bad-faith failure to refund your deposit, but its going to be a question of the facts - how diligent were you in seeking out lending sources, what did the contract provide for with respect to loan terms that were "acceptable". You'll need to contact an attorney to review the matter in more detail and discuss a potential lawsuit. Its a bad situation, and sadly one we see very frequently.

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