From: "jerryl" 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Montalbano Homes - Cancelling Contract Letter
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:08:19 -0400


 wrote in message 
news:1159304463.210791.133320@k70g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I totally understand and in some ways agree.  I am just trying to
> figure out if this has happen to anyone else.  A few months back they
> were letting individuals out of the contracts and keeping the earnest
> deposit.  Now because the market is not working out in their favor they
> are sending out these letters.
>
> In genereal they do have a case but over all why start this now vs. a
> few months back.
>
Could be that several months ago they were still selling homes and getting 
more for them than the previous buyer paid. Now that the market is soft and 
the buyers are not there, he wants to hold on to everything he has. If you 
went to court and could prove that he set a precedent in the past of 
returning deposits (providing their contracts were the same as your) you 
might have a chance. But as I said before in another post, you're talking 
about a lot of money and I'd advise you to get a local lawyer experienced in 
real estate transactions.