Hey BPers, I recently tried to purchase a condo in South Padre Island, Texas. After a looooong 3 months of dealing with a bad HOA trying to get its stuff together so Wells Fargo would finance the deal, the final answer from Wells Fargo was No. This was primarily because the complex shared their pool with the neighboring complex.

Anyways, I had sent $900 to the title company which was put into escrow. Now, since the deal fell through, they want me to sign a paper releasing the money to the owners. I, of course, want the money back. I told my agent to tell them, let's just split the money 50/50 and call it a day. They refused, saying we dragged on the closing process too long and they would rather go to court for the full $900.

My young agent doesn't seem to know what to do, and Wells Fargo is telling me not to sign the release form, but don't really have any advice for me, aside from getting a lawyer, which seems dumb being that that would cost more than the money I might win.

Any suggestions? Thx, y'all rule!

Stevo in Dallas

@Steven C. Suarez Did you have an active financing contingency?

You can kind of cheat and tell them to show you were in your contract they are entitled to keeping the deposit. You might want to get familiar with your contract though....

Was this deal done on the standard 1-4 Family Residential Contract along with a Third Party Financing addendum having the top box in section B-1 checked?  If so and you've met all your obligations, you need to lean on the title company to release your earnest money.  It's not always easy.  But if you properly dotted your "i"s and crossed your "t"s, you should prevail.  

@Steven C. Suarez

What does your agreement say?

Why is the title co so biased towards the seller?

Your purchase contract should have a financing contingency.