KatieConnor
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Indiana
We purchased a home from a national builder and applied for a mortgage through their mortgage company. They started building the home a couple weeks later, and then we found out that the builder's mortgage company would not be able to carry our loan. They gave us the option to be sent to one of their affiliates or to go to a lender of our choice. We chose to go with our bank, who declined the amount we needed. We went to several other lenders, who would not pre-qualify us because it was too expensive, including the affiliate they were going to send our information to. We told our salesperson that we wanted our $10,000 earnest money back since we weren't approved. Instead, she talked with the mortgage company and cleared up what turned out to be a mistake on the mortgage company's side, and that we were now approved. This was after the 45 days we needed approval, and we told the builder within 45 days that we could not get approved. Since we couldn't get anywhere trying to get our earnest money back, we decided to just forfeit it, that it wasn't worth all the trouble we were going through trying to get it back for 2 months. But then we received a call saying that not only were they keeping the earnest money, but that they expect us to purchase the home because it is being built with the options we selected, even though they started building it before we had any kind of approval. Can they do this?
Katie
We purchased a home from a national builder and applied for a mortgage through their mortgage company. They started building the home a couple weeks later, and then we found out that the builder's mortgage company would not be able to carry our loan. They gave us the option to be sent to one of their affiliates or to go to a lender of our choice. We chose to go with our bank, who declined the amount we needed. We went to several other lenders, who would not pre-qualify us because it was too expensive, including the affiliate they were going to send our information to. We told our salesperson that we wanted our $10,000 earnest money back since we weren't approved. Instead, she talked with the mortgage company and cleared up what turned out to be a mistake on the mortgage company's side, and that we were now approved. This was after the 45 days we needed approval, and we told the builder within 45 days that we could not get approved. Since we couldn't get anywhere trying to get our earnest money back, we decided to just forfeit it, that it wasn't worth all the trouble we were going through trying to get it back for 2 months. But then we received a call saying that not only were they keeping the earnest money, but that they expect us to purchase the home because it is being built with the options we selected, even though they started building it before we had any kind of approval. Can they do this?
Katie
