Fill Form 8854 Termination 2023-2024

Hi everybody! Dana Sparks, Broker of Maximum One Greater Atlanta Realtors, here. This week's contract tip has to do with the release of earnest money upon termination of a contract. So, just a couple of tips to remind you: 1. The holder of any trust funds may not release the earnest money to any party unless we have both parties' signatures agreeing to which party gets those funds back. Therefore, there needs to be a release agreement after you terminate a contract. 2. Any one party can terminate, but you need both parties' signatures to release the trust funds. They have to be in agreement as to who gets that money back. Until the holder of the earnest money gets that signed agreement, they may not release the funds back to any party. 3. Another important point to remember is that both the REFORMS and GARF forms state that the holder of the earnest money does not have to release any trust funds until they have cleared the bank. 4. Additionally, every brokerage has a policy on how long they will hold trust funds when received in the form of a personal check. Maximum One's policy is to hold personal checks for ten banking days. 5. As an agent, if your buyer writes a contract on a property and remits the earnest money in the form of a personal check, remember that if they terminate under due diligence within a few days, those trust funds are not available for use on another property. The holder must get the agreement from both the buyer and seller on the release form in order to release those funds. 6. Furthermore, if the earnest money was in the form of a personal check, Maximum One will hold the funds and they are not available...