Buyer's Check Error Delays Closing? How the Seller's Attorney Quickly Resolved the Issue!
Hello everyone
Today, I’d like to share an interesting real estate case.
Recently, in a real estate transaction, we represented the seller. Everything went very smoothly, but during the closing, a small issue arose.
Standard Loan Payment Process
Our seller still had a mortgage on the property, with about $700,000 left to pay.
In real estate transactions, if the buyer owes us $1 million, the standard process is:
The buyer does not pay the full $1 million directly to the seller.
Instead, they write a $700,000 check to the mortgage bank to pay off the loan.
The remaining $300,000 goes to our client.
This is a very standard practice.
The Check Error During Closing
During the closing, the buyer’s attorney handed us a $700,000 check, but we noticed a problem—
The bank name was incorrect!
The correct payee should have been HSBC Bank USA, but the check was made out to HSBC USA, missing the word “Bank”.
After checking, we realized that if it was written this way, the bank might reject it when we send it for processing.
If the bank refused to process the check, it could lead to interest charges and additional fees, which should be covered by the buyer, since the mistake was on their end.
Buyer’s Attorney Refused to Take Responsibility
However, the buyer’s attorney kept persuading us to accept the check, but refused to let their client bear the risk.
Our stance was clear:
We could accept the check, but if the bank rejects it, the buyer must cover any interest and fees incurred from today until the bank informs us of the rejection.
The buyer’s attorney disagreed—they wanted us to accept the check but wouldn’t take responsibility if things went wrong.
That was unacceptable!
They made the mistake but refused to take responsibility, so we stood our ground.
Final Resolution
After over ten minutes of back-and-forth, the buyer’s attorney saw that we were firm and decided to:
Have the buyer go to the bank to cancel the incorrect check.
Issue a new, correct check.
This caused a delay of about two hours, but in the end, we received the correct check and proceeded with the closing.
Conclusion
That’s the real estate anecdote I wanted to share today.
If you are looking to buy or sell property in New York, feel free to contact us!
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Goodbye!
大家好
今天跟大家分享一个房地产案件的趣闻。
我们最近在一个地产案子里，代表卖家。整个交易过程都非常顺利，但在过户时发生了一点小插曲。
贷款支付的常规流程
其实我们的卖家这套房子是有贷款的，大概还有 70 万的贷款没有还清。
在房地产交易中，如果买家需要支付 100 万美元的房款，我们通常会说：
买家不需要直接支付 100 万美元给卖家
而是先开 70 万美元的支票给贷款银行来还贷款
剩下的 30 万美元才支付给我们的客户
这是一个非常常规的操作。
过户时的支票错误
在过户时，买家律师给了我们 70 万美元的支票，但我们发现了一个问题——
银行名称写错了！
我们的贷款银行是 HSBC Bank USA，但买家律师开出的支票是 HSBC USA，少了 “Bank” 这个单词。
我们仔细检查后觉得，如果这样寄出去，银行很可能无法兑现这张支票。
如果银行拒收，就会涉及利息和额外费用，这笔费用理应由买家承担，因为这是买家造成的错误。
买家律师拒绝承担责任
然而，买家律师却一直劝我们接受这张支票，但又不同意让买家承担风险。
我们的立场很明确：
可以接受支票，但如果银行拒收，买家必须承担从今天起到银行拒绝的这段时间内产生的利息和费用。
但买家律师不同意，既想让我们接受支票，又不愿承担责任。
这就没办法谈了！
他们自己出了错误，却不愿意承担责任，我们当然不接受。
最终解决方案
双方在这个问题上僵持了十多分钟，最后，买家律师看到我们态度坚定，决定：
让买家去银行撤销错误支票
重新开具正确的支票
这一过程耽误了大概两个多小时，但最终，我们拿到了正确的支票，顺利完成了过户。
总结
这就是今天要分享的房地产交易小趣闻。
如果你想在纽约市买卖房产，欢迎随时联系我们！
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拜拜！
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