Metro Villiage Realty, LLC

The complaint against our brokerage is both frivolous and without merit. The complainant, the buyer, isupset because his $500 earnest money deposit wasn't returned. Two points he fails to understand, ourbrokerage is not holding his earnest money, his brokerage is. And, by law, they're unable to...

release themoney back to him. That's because the other party, the seller, believes the buyer breached theResidential Purchase Contract he signed with them (paragraph 10, "Earnest Money Deposit"), so theywon't sign a Mutual Release form. Without a signed Mutual Release form or a court order, the buyer'sbrokerage is not allowed to return the earnest money to the buyer nor turn it over to the seller.The original purchase contract, dated 5/22/2015, stipulated the buyer would secure a conventional loanand was purchasing the home in "as is" condition, with the seller crediting him $500 in lieu of repairs. Aweek later, the buyer decided it was better for him to seek an FHA loan and asked if the seller wouldagree to amend the contract. The seller and buyer signed an addendum on 6/4/2015. The addendumstated the seller would allow for the terms of the contract to change to an FHA loan if the buyer agreedthe seller would not be responsible for anv FHA appraisal conditions. Both parties signed theagreement.The MLS listing for the property clearly indicated this home had OFF-STREET parking only. There was nomention of a garage anywhere in the advertising. There is a photo of the BACKYARD that shows an oldwood structure, but nowhere does it mention a garage. This was intentional because, while thestructure was likely a garage at one time, it's now a dilapidated building that's unsafe and should be torndown. The seller opted not to tear it down, however, because a buyer might want to use the reclaimedwood, which is very popular right now.The FHA appraiser was informed there was no mention of a garage in the MLS listing, and the woodstructure in the backyard was not part of the contract. But when the FHA appraisal came back, itstipulated "the garage" needed to be scraped, painted and a new roof put on in or order for the FHAloan to proceed.Trying to be helpful and keep the sale alive, the seller got several estimates for the work includingestimates for removing the structure, which made the most sense. Since the building was notstructurally sound, no roofing company was willing to put a new roof on it fearing it could collapse. Theseller presented to the buyer, through his agent, several of these options. None were to his liking,according to his agent. The buyer wanted the seller to entirely pay for the work to scrape, paint andput on new roof on the dilapidated building. When the seller offered to meet him half-way, he refused,despite the fact that he signed a purchase contract stating "the seller would not be responsible for anyFHA appraisa! conditions". At that point, the buyer terminated the purchase contract. His terminationnotice indicated the reason for his termination was "FHA appraisal conditions". Therefore, the sellerrefused to sign the Mutual Release form because she felt the buyer breached the terms of the purchasecontract he entered into.Once the complainant terminated the contract, the seller had the dilapidate structure removed so itwould no longer be an obstacle for future sales. The seller did enter into a new contract with anotherbuyer.One final point--in his statement, the complainant says he "talked to the company on 6/22/15". This isinaccurate. I have never spoken to him nor had any direct correspondence with him. I've only spokenwith his real estate agent.I understand he is upset that his earnest money deposit has not returned. However, our brokeragefollows the rules spelled out by the Columbus REALTORS* and the Columbus Bar Association. If hedoesn't like the way the process works, he may want to discuss it with his real estate agent or hire a realestate attorney.