Title co/IBUYER with lots of mistakes, can I cancel sale?
Got the typical phone call from an IBUYER in TN, offering to buy my investment home. He sent me a sales contract with the agreed price of $125k, As-Is, no realtor fees or other closing costs and promise of $500/earnst to title/escrow after due diligence. I signed the one page document and after 2 extensions for due diligence, he found the house acceptable and were headed to close. I told the buyer I wanted to use my own title company and I was told he preferred I didn't, that all the paperwork was with his preferred agency and wanted me to use them. I was told closing would be in 2 weeks on a Monday April 12th. After 4 business days Title company couldn't get my payoff, so they asked me to get it, so I did. They asked me for a copy of the my tenants lease, so I provided it. I told them I lived out of state and wanted to see the closing documents prior to close, as I might be flying out for closing. I wanted a check at closing.
Long story short, I was sent an email on Thurs before closing and told I had to sign my closing documents asap, and FedEx them same night or no later than Friday morning! Since it was after hours I spent my time reading the closing docs. I saw several errors including the fact that I had been assigned a Realtor /broker with a $3500 commission fee, there was no accounting of a $500 earnst deposit, my name was spelled wrong on several pages, and the buyer had re-assigned the contract to someone else!
Needless to say I refused to sign. And the more I thought about it I became nervous and upset about the whole situation. I asked the to immediately produce all documents in their possession showing that I had a contract for a $3500 fee with this broker. They emailed me back and said it was a mistake, through someone under the bus and basically told me to get over it. I told them that was a BIG mistake and I didnt feel they were honest, and possible deliberate, as they didnt even follow the contract on collecting the $500 earnst money on my behalf. Like they only had the interest of the Ibuyer, yet I was paying them to represent me as well. I told them they failed to do that and I paid them to handle details, that is there job! Instead of responding professionally, they sent me an separate piece of paper showing my new payout without the commission fee and said they pushed the closing to Monday so I could attend. Honestly, it wasn't enough for me. It seemed liked they just took the verbal authority from the buyer on all fronts, what he wanted the contract to say, including realtor fee and not paying earnst deposit. I told them the separate piece of paper seemed to have the right numbers , but I would verify if those numbers matched the final closing documents and I would be there on Monday the 12th at closing. The next day I got a email saying they cancelled my closing because they felt insulted by my claims that the numbers might not be correct?!?!?
In my opinion , they failed to follow basic contract and accounting principles. How could I trust them to handle the sale of my home and properly get my money to/from escrow? I wanted them to understand I was leary and would only sign if the final docs matched up.
Anyway, my closing date has past and we are no longer on time or technically under contract. I question if we ever were, consideringthe contract was not followed and no earnst money was given. The original buyer won't give me access to the assigned buyer and has taken the liberty of signing me up with another title agency to close later in the week. I asked him not to do anything further on my behalf, as I need to speak to the assigned buyer. Am I still obligated to close this deal?
Thanks in advance for any feedback!