Are there any legal ramifications to losing a real estate deal?
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Are there any legal ramifications to losing a real estate deal?
About 8 months ago, I put in an offer on a house that had been foreclosed on. The bank counter-offered and I counter-offered. They refused that offer, then took the property off the market. I continued to watch for it to come up for auction or back on the real estate market. I found out that it had sold 5 months ago for 20,000 less than my initial offer. The person who owns the adjacent property bought it. He bragged that he bought it for so little because his lawyer was able to obtain the name of the bank and threatened to be a thorn in their
side over property lines. The bank bowed to his bullying and he bought the home for the amount that was owed on it.
Asked on June 28, 2019 under Real Estate Law, Illinois
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
No, there are no ramifications here or recourse for you. There is no right to be sold any given piece of real estate, and seller, including a foreclosing bank, can choose to whom to sell it to for what amount--and could elect to take a lower offer if there is some other reason (e.g. avoiding potentially expensive litigation) to do so. The buyer and his lawyer could threaten to tie up the bank in litigation, and the bank could choose to sell to him to avoid that. This was legal.
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