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After Everything, the Buyer Walks: Now What?

By
Real Estate Agent with Cadwell Realty Group

What is the best route to go if the buyers lose their jobs, change their minds prior to closing or are unable to qualify for a mortgage? A survey just released by the National Association of Realtors revealed that 33 percent of the trade group's members reported transactions in which the contracts had been canceled, most often because the seller's bank doesn't approve the short sale, the home doesn't appraise at the purchase price, or the buyer's financing falls through.

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What the numbers don't show is the emotional and lifestyle chaos that is caused when a buyer backs out just a matter of hours before escrow closes. Belongings are packed or even already moved, and your next home already bought or rented. That only makes the idea of now having to go through the whole ordeal of facing such a competitive listing market and reshowing and reselling your home even worse than it would have been if your buyer had backed out much earlier in the timeline.

 

Fortunately, you do have some rights and resources available to you. Here is a short list of items you should be aware of if you ever need to put an action plan in place for responding to being dumped right before closing.

 

Keep the earnest money deposit. The entire point of the buyer placing an earnest money deposit is to assure the seller that the buyer is "in earnest" about doing the transaction, justifying the seller's work and investment in pulling the place off the market, and forgoing other buyers.

 

Get your home back on the market, as soon as possible. Once your agent notifies the buyers and the escrow company that you plan to retain the earnest money deposit, the buyers will either authorize the escrow holder to release it or refuse to do so, and you'll have to either initiate a legal proceeding or other form of alternative dispute resolution (depending on the terms of your contract) to go about getting that cash in your hands.

 

Keep in mind, though, that the most important thing to do if you ever find yourself in that situation, is to get your home back on the market as quickly as possible.                                                

 

Posted by

Mary Hartley

Broker, GRI, ASP Licensed in the state of Oregon

541-230-2222     maryhartley@remax.net

 

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