Contract moral obligation

[byzmelkite]

This is a rather complicated situation but I need help sorting it out. My wife and I sold our home to a couple about a year ago, they were friends of ours. We owed a certain amount on the home and my wife verbally offered to sell it to them for about $4000 less because they were friends and they had horrible credit and we weren’t sure that they would be able to get a loan. Apparently, by the time they got a mortgage and got the papers for us to sign, they had reappraised the house at about $30,000 higher than our appraisal (we question whether it is a legitimate appraisal) and had gotten a mortgage about $15000 above the listed price. When I signed the papers I did not realize all of this and had I known the information in time, I would never have agreed to verbally sell the house at a price lower than the actual price on the written contract. The question I have is this:

Given that we have no legal obligation to pay them approximately $3000 due the verbal agreement my wife made, do we have a moral obligation to give the money when we believe that information was not disclosed to us in a timely manner ( and to me not until about last week which is a year after the sale) which would have changed our negotiations? On top of this, they have been trying to manipulate us into giving them money to pay taxes and they have tried to get us to let them write off interest we paid on the house when it was ours. We’ve have found out in the process that they have been in financial and legal trouble in the past and are untrustworthy. Are we then dispensed from the obligation of my wife’s verbal agreement? Thanks.

 

[stbruno]

To me, this is more of a legal issue rather than a moral obligation. Please consult an attorney. Don’t try to sort this one out alone otherwise you will be the one to suffer.

 

[stbruno]

To me this sounds more like a legal issue rather than a moral obligation. Please consult a real estate attorney who has your best interests in mind, otherwise you will be on the short end of a this deal. Do it soon! Pray always

 

[byzmelkite]

stbruno:

To me this sounds more like a legal issue rather than a moral obligation. Please consult a real estate attorney who has your best interests in mind, otherwise you will be on the short end of a this deal. Do it soon! Pray always

Thanks for responding. Legally we are fine. We have no legal obligation to do anything else. My wife is concerned that she has a moral obligation before God to honor what she had agreed to verbally with her friend. Its not that we can get into legal trouble, we can’t. We’ve checked this out. But we don’t want to commit a mortal sin either.

 

[geezerbob]

In my opinion, your word should be your bond. What they managed to borrow on the house has nothing to do with the price at which you agreed to sell it. Put the shoe on the other foot and ask yourself the same question.

 

[byzmelkite]

geezerbob:

In my opinion, your word should be your bond. What they managed to borrow on the house has nothing to do with the price at which you agreed to sell it. Put the shoe on the other foot and ask yourself the same question.

You may be right. Though were I to put the shoe on my other foot, I wouldn’t seek to make my friend sell the house at a price at which he would owe me money while I got a house appraised at well above its value. Of course, they wouldn’t think this since they are thieves and dishonest. But you may be right. We may be forced by our word to slowly pay back, over the next year, money to these criminals. Such is life.

 

[Princess_Abby]

Hmmm, I don’t know.

They sound like they were thoroughly dishonest to you and that you made the promise under false perceptions of the situation, based on what they presented to you as truth. That sort of promise isn’t a promise at all.

My husband sounds like your wife, in that he gets extremely concerned about living by the letter of his word. But this sort of agreement is just ridiculous. I would not feel comfortable honoring my part of it when I agreed to something under false pretenses, and I would have absolutely no problem telling my “friend” that, too.

You sound like you have a good heart but don’t be taken in by their game, especially now that you realize it.

 

[byzmelkite]

Princess_Abby:

Hmmm, I don’t know.

They sound like they were thoroughly dishonest to you and that you made the promise under false perceptions of the situation, based on what they presented to you as truth. That sort of promise isn’t a promise at all.

My husband sounds like your wife, in that he gets extremely concerned about living by the letter of his word. But this sort of agreement is just ridiculous. I would not feel comfortable honoring my part of it when I agreed to something under false pretenses, and I would have absolutely no problem telling my “friend” that, too.

You sound like you have a good heart but don’t be taken in by their game, especially now that you realize it.

Thanks, those are my thoughts as well. But my wife and I are not entirely at one on this. Her proposal is to pay what would have been our share of closing costs had we entered normal negotiations with anyone else. I don’t see why we would have any obligation to do that. But its possible that I might agree to it just to ease her conscience. The whole thing really bothers me and what makes it worse is that these people are evangelical protestants who are going into “ministry.” Scary.