Metro Atlanta seller says money vanished from escrow account after buyer backed out of home sale – WSB-TV

Metro Atlanta seller says money vanished from escrow account after buyer backed out of home sale  WSB-TV

A Douglas County woman says she never received thousands of dollars in earnest money she was contractually owed after a home sale fell through, even though the real estate brokerage holding the funds agrees the money belongs to her. DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — Jazlin Pitts packed up and moved out of her townhouse the weekend before a scheduled Monday closing. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] “Everything is empty. There’s an echo in the house,” Pitts said while showing Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray her vacant home. Pitts said the buyer backed out on the day of closing, but she believed she would at least receive the $2,500 in earnest money that was deposited into an escrow account 21 days earlier.

“At least I’ll get my earnest money,” Pitts recalled thinking. “I signed a contract. That money is contractually owed to me and it’s not in my pocket,” Pitts said. The buyer deposited $2,650 in earnest money through an Automated Clearing House, or ACH, transfer. The funds were held in an escrow account maintained by Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage for 21 days. Both the buyer and Pitts later signed a mutual agreement terminating the sale and directing the earnest money to be paid to Pitts. But Atlanta Communities says the money was no longer