Is Vantage Homes coercing the seller to breach our contract???

Question

I've been in contract since January to purchase a property that is contracted to close by 5/31.  I have funded escrow and completed by side of the agreement.

Because there were some boundary questions that I wanted resolved before closing, we wrote an amendment in January stating that:

The seller didn't resolve all the boundary issues (the neighbor's garage encroaches) and the deadline to close is fast approaching.  I funded the escrow account and let the seller know that it's OK with me to close despite not resolving the encroachment, that I would resolve it myself after closing.

The seller has been taking his sweet time to sign the closing documents and I just found out why:  Blaine and Jesse of Vantage Homes submitted an offer to the seller back in April that was $20k higher than our contracted price.  Then just today, I found out that Blaine and Jesse have increased their offer to $30k above our contracted price.

The seller is saying that, since he didn't resolve the boundary issue, he can just wait out the contract until 5/31 and then sell the house to Vantage Homes for higher than our contracted price!

I'm about to claw my eyes out.  How is this possible??  I spoke with a lawyer who said that, if there wasn't a specific consequence to cure the boundary issue, like extending the closing deadline, then the seller may have a case.  How can this be??  The amendment was written for my protection, in case I didn't like where the results of any boundary change ended up, so I could back out if needed.  NOT so that the seller could back out because he got a higher offer!

This is just killing me because this deal was going to be the one that was going to finally set me on a path to financial freedom.  I was going to live there and develop this property (it's industrial zoned) and then cashflow it long term.  I tried to contact Vantage but just got voicemail.  I wonder if they'd be as interested in the property if there's a lis pendens on the title, or whether they're doing anything that is bordering on illegal by trying to coerce the seller to not honor the contract?  I just want to talk with the Vantage people to straighten this all out.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do??  This is crazytown!

Account Closed · Answer

I ended up FedExing the seller a "love letter" with a pic of me and my dogs etc. At hour zero, we negotiated a $3k price increase, and I purchased the property.

Account Closed · Answer

My agent at Keller Williams wrote it to protect *me* so I could back out if they adjusted the lot line too much, not so the seller could breach contract because he got a higher offer. What's the point of a contract otherwise?

Apparently Vantage is a hedge fund.  Do you know them Charlie?  They sent the offer directly to the seller, though it was a pending listed property. It would not surprise me if they asked to see the contract to find a loophole they thought they could exploit. The seller is 95 years old and lives in Palm Springs (property is in Oregon). The seller now thinks he can get more for the property and can break our agreement as a result.

Update: seller has verbally said he'd sell it to me for $10k more than the contract price. We've been in contract a year. It's now 10 days until closing.

Who knows if he'll write an amendment but if he does, it's still not what we agreed on! And it's extortion! Even if there might be a loophole, I'd sue for performance and attach a lis pendens to the title.  Long distance lawsuit will be more expensive than what the seller thinks he will gain by breaching contract.

Chris Purcell · Answer

Account Closed

That's hilarious, never saw that coming.

Bobby Vernazza · Answer

Hello Account Closed,

I just stumbled upon this post today and am very curious to hear how things turned out for you.  Would you mind sharing what happened with your deal?  I have been in a few situations similar to yours and it can be extremely frustrating!  Especially when you put in all the time and effort towards a property just to have it snatched up by someone else.

Charlie Fitzgerald · Answer

Oh, and making a higher offer than your offer is not coercion it's making a competitive offer.

Charlie Fitzgerald · Answer

You wrote it poorly and likely they are doing exactly as you suspect and you will have no recourse.  I would start looking for a new property.