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Seller Demand to Release Deposit in California

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

For a fact, I know that I am not the only listing agent in Sacramento to expect buyers and their agents to conform to the purchase contract, but the reaction I sometimes receive astounds me. It's as though the agents cannot believe that we would ask the buyer to perform in accordance with the contract, and they don't understand why we don't just "lay off" the requests for documents such as the Contingency Release.

It's not like we enjoy asking for documents. We have a fiduciary relationship to our sellers to do what is best for our sellers, and what is best for our sellers is for all parties to adhere to the terms of the purchase contract. We're not trying to be ogres or make unreasonable demands, but you wouldn't know it by the way some agents react.

Fortunately, we have a new form released by the California Association of Realtors for agent use through ZipForms that allows a release of deposit, signed unilaterally by the seller. You can read more in my personal blog today about The Seller Demand to Release Deposit Can Shake Up California Escrows.

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments (5)

Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Elizabeth, that is amazing, do they want to move forward?    Buyer's agent should be on top of this. 

Jan 25, 2015 01:15 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

We gotta have those contingency releases.  It may seem bazaar to lay people, but a sales contract is a bundle of agreements which have time frames and dates tied to performance.  A lack of a contingency release often equates to "Out of Contract."  

Jan 25, 2015 05:12 AM
Troy Erickson AZ Realtor (602) 295-6807
HomeSmart - Chandler, AZ
Your Chandler, Ahwatukee, and East Valley Realtor

Elizabeth - We also are getting a new form, but ours has to do with HOA's. Sounds like in your case this form will provide some protection for the seller, when a buyer does not perform.

Jan 25, 2015 05:47 AM
James Dray
Fathom Realty - Bentonville, AR

We need that law in Arkansas.  It would stop most of the bickering about the earnest money.

Jan 25, 2015 07:12 PM
Conrad Allen
Re/Max Professional Associates - Webster, MA
Webster, Ma, Realtor

Hi Elizabeth.  I think that law makes a lot of sense.

Jan 25, 2015 07:46 PM