All Forum Posts by: Andy Tomaswick

Was there a financing contingency in the purchase contract?  If not, they might have the right to keep the earnest money.  But if there is, and you lender changed their tune, then they should have to give it back to you.

Are you doing this deal through agents?  I would definitely talk to mine to clarify if they are in breach of contract or not.

That actually looks really good.  4 bedroom in a duplex is hard to find, at least in my area.  Are you able to have separate water / sewer hookups in your area?

Nice analysis overall!

This answer wouldn't be specific for Maryland, but what does it say in your lease?  Usually there's a section of it that stipulates what the security deposit can be used for.  Mine doesn't include delinquent utilities (at least I don't think it does without checking).  Does your have any further details about what security deposits can do?

Have they already agreed to leave?  I'll be honest, it seems like it might be easiest just to cut your losses at this point.  I highly doubt that the court would be able to do anything to actually get you any money, unless you happen to think there's a reason they have some and aren't paying you.

I'd say the best thing to do is turn the unit over as quickly as possible, and the first step of that would be to get your current tenant out.

I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I would think you're entitled to the deposit.  If they argue about it, you can ask them if they had any proof that it was in that condition when they move in.  I would think a responsible tenant would have documented any obvious deficiencies when they moved in if they were worried about getting the security deposit back.

But I'll reiterate, I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if that's legal or not.  Interesting question though!

It certainly sounds like the current own is making an appreciation play, which in itself isn't necessarily bad.  If the numbers still make sense after accounting for all the deferred maintenance it could still be a good deal, so I won't call it a red flag.  But I would certainly pay close attention to any disclosures if you put an offer in to make sure you would truly understand what you're getting into.

That being said, you didn't seem particularly interested in it in the first place, so maybe it's better to pass on this one if the numbers aren't really really good.

Just to clarify - your mom is not bringing any equity in the form of part of the down payment, correct?  They are just on the hook if you happen to default on the mortgage?

Hard to say to be honest.  Probably not more than 10% if all she's bringing is stability to make a lender happy.  But also it's your mom, and while real estate is a numbers game sometimes its better to do good by family.  As long as you're both happy with it (and your mom doesn't feel insulted by whatever you offer her), you should be good to go.

Agreed - as long as the house is in your name you should be good to be able to house hack it.  If your parents are simply providing money for the down payment, that wouldn't affect who lives there.  But I agree with Tina - you should clear it with whatever lender you want first.

Welcome to the site Dale!  How long have you lived in the area?  I'm relatively new to NEO and don't know the southeastern suburbs very well yet.

@James Wise - sorry, didn't realize the @ didn't worked in the last message.  See above.