Oak Lawn IL Real Estate News

I just got off the phone with a Hickory Hills resident that purchased a home in a different town and county via an auction.  They were not able to get financing and called me to see if they would get their earnest money back.

I had nothing to do with this purchase and asked her if there was an area in the contract relating to return of earnest money.  She said there wasn’t.

I asked her if she had an attorney and she did not.  In 23 years I have never handled a sale at auction (I’m not sure if REALTORS® are used in certain home selling auctions).

In my opinion, these buyers should have consulted with an attorney before signing this contract and/or delivering earnest money.  Hopefully, they will get their earnest money back.

I cannot give legal advice and per the buyer’s description this was not a contract we use in our area.  So I really couldn’t help her too much but to give a recommendation to have her mortgage company write a letter or send a form stating they did not get a mortgage committment.  I told her to send this form to the seller’s attorney.  She suggested she’d write a letter to go with the mortgage letter/form.  I told her that sounded good.

I also told her if they give her trouble returning the earnest money then she would need to contact an attorney from the area.  I wish these buyers luck and hope there isn’t a problem getting their money back.

This does show why as a real estate buyer or seller, you need to know what you’re signing and in Illinois you should use an attorney.  Your attorney will read through the contract and give you recommendations on changes that should be made or at least explain what the contract encompasses, especially if the attorney sees something that might not be in your best interest.

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