Can i sue my real estate attorney for malpractice?

[broehain61]

my house sold. during the 5 day attorney period my attorney signed off on the liquidated damages clause without conferring w me. My real estate agent never even went over the contract with me to begin with. I quit my job, put contracts on other properties, took a job in another city and the buyer backed out on me 2 days before closing. Now I have no job and gave half my furniture away. NOW the real estate company just called me and told me they were keeping the 5000 earnest money on top of it all!!! Many attorneys also modify the contract to say no sale no commission. But mine only agreed to something against me. And he was recommended by the real estate agent. So I trusted all these people. If i dont sign the termination letter from the buyer releasing them and they wrote clearly in that letter the earnest money was to go to the seller, can the real estate company take the money if i dont release it?????

[tim]

my house sold. during the 5 day attorney period my attorney signed off on the liquidated damages clause without conferring w me. My real estate agent never even went over the contract with me to begin with. I quit my job, put contracts on other properties, took a job in another city and the buyer backed out on me 2 days before closing. Now I have no job and gave half my furniture away. NOW the real estate company just called me and told me they were keeping the 5000 earnest money on top of it all!!! Many attorneys also modify the contract to say no sale no commission. But mine only agreed to something against me. And he was recommended by the real estate agent. So I trusted all these people. If i dont sign the termination letter from the buyer releasing them and they wrote clearly in that letter the earnest money was to go to the seller, can the real estate company take the money if i dont release it?????

Why would you sue the attorney? Sue the BUYER who is backing out.

[jung-hwa75]

Sounds like you made all of your decisions and took all of your actions based on the belief that the sale would go thru.

Real Estate sales are often 'iffy' and, unless you had a cast iron sales agreement with your buyer, your actions seem to have been premature.

If you HAD such an agreement, you may have a cause of action against the BUYER..

If you did not, did your attorney have your authorization to sign documents for you or to enter into agreements in your name (that is not a usual practice). If not, then you had an opportunity to read, review, and comment on all of the documents that you DID sign and that is the reason they have the right ot keep the ernest money.

Escrow will give the earnest money to whomever the existing sale of contract directs it. If you wish to contest that you are going to need yet another attorney... sorry.

.

[oded]

First off, if they didn't get commission they don't get paid. $5000 sounds like a lot, but split that in half at least twice and that's the money they actually made until they sell anothr house. Which could be tomorrow or 3 months from now.
Did you ask for help while reading the contracts? Or did you just say yeah I understand without actually understanding.
Now were this people shady? Possibly, but you need some blame too. They are not there to hold your hand.
Not all real-estate people are shady. Nit there are shady people in every job.
Lifes a B* sometimes.

[larry]

the EM is yours

the job and furniture is not anyone's concern but yours.

the only liquidated damages is the earnest deposit......you don't keep it unless the
buyer defaulted.

u said he backed out but you did not say why.

the RE firm may not keep one penny. They only get paid under 2 circumstances;
they sell the house
or
you have signed a 2nd contract paying them a fee JUST for working on the
house--and I have never seen such a contract.

the EM will go to you

available to guide you further

I think you are freaking out illogically.........[thus, the word freak, right?]

[danil70]

Realtors are snakes in the grass, second only to attorneys. You have learned a huge lesson. One can't move, take jobs, and put money down on "other" properties until the sale is over and the money is in hand.
What was the reason that the buyer backed out? They cant just change their mind. IF they had a legitimate reason, and it was within the legal time frame (probably NOT 2 days before), then you are screwed. IF they just changed their mind, then their downpayment is YOURS....NOT the realtor's.. The attny might charge you a partial fee as well, but it's not HIS either.
No sale, no commission is the LAW. They can't claim a commission against a fallen sale....that's B.S.
Get a decent attorney to sort this out. However, don't TRUST anyone EVER again, and don't EVER put money down or rearrange your life around a real estate deal. There are too many other people that can foul, and it is a domino effect- you being the one who gets knocked down and out!
Good luck!

[colum]

Realtors are snakes in the grass, second only to attorneys. You have learned a huge lesson. One can't move, take jobs, and put money down on "other" properties until the sale is over and the money is in hand.
What was the reason that the buyer backed out? They cant just change their mind. IF they had a legitimate reason, and it was within the legal time frame (probably NOT 2 days before), then you are screwed. IF they just changed their mind, then their downpayment is YOURS....NOT the realtor's.. The attny might charge you a partial fee as well, but it's not HIS either.
No sale, no commission is the LAW. They can't claim a commission against a fallen sale....that's B.S.
Get a decent attorney to sort this out. However, don't TRUST anyone EVER again, and don't EVER put money down or rearrange your life around a real estate deal. There are too many other people that can foul, and it is a domino effect- you being the one who gets knocked down and out!
Good luck!

Don't know any real estate attorney who would have a clause - no sale / no payment. That would be an agent, not an attorney. They did the work.

The attorney didn't do anything. The buyer backed out for no contractual reason at this point, so you would the buyer for your losses. This would be the attorney fees, escrow fees, etc. This is probably not going to cover things that you did, like gave away furniture because it's not really part of the sale, that was a personal decision that you did.