Questions: Buying a townhouse..

[Macky]

- At what point should we give the earnest money? Is this refundable?

Standard earnest money is good for 45 days reservation unless specified otherwise on your contract. It is non-refundable but can be deducted once the sale pushes through. The only provision of refund is if the seller is at fault for the sale not pushing through.

- Earnest money should be named to the owner, right? How is this done when owner is abroad?

Check can still be deposited if the owner still has a local bank account.

- Since the owner is abroad, how would we proceed with the sale?

The same thing happened to us when we were selling our property in Arkansas but already moved to St. Louis. A local Arkansas realtor took care of everything as we signed a contract authorizing him to sell our property (Contract to Sell). I think SPA is more appropriate in your case if you are dealing with a middle man instead of a realtor.

Finally tired of renting, so we're planning to buy a small two-storey, two-bedroom townhouse. We plan to put this thru in a housing loan thru a bank. If the loanable amount is sufficient and within our budget, we'll push thru with the loan(and hopefully be approved) and are expected to give an 'earnest money' while the loan is being processed.

We've outgrown our 2BR/1BA/1 car garage townhouse and we're currently selling for the same price we bought it 4 years ago. We've built some extensions (dirty kitchen and the 1 car garage) since 2003. The subdivision is gated with 24hrs. security and is located in Las Pinas City.

We are also selling our 2BR/1BA 63sq.m condo unit * 901 Tower B Regalla Towers EDSA corner P. Tuazon St. Cubao, Q.C.

Please send me an email * mdx981*yahoo.com if you are interested.