When can a buyer get out of a contract?

[Silverfall]

Our Oregon contracts clearly state that the seller's liquidated damages are the earnest money.

I actually had this happen where the buyers caved to family pressure to NOT move (they were moving away from family, a whopping 45 minutes away). So they backed out. The seller agreed to take the earnest money, and release them. Who wants to be in a lawsuit?

It happens.

So...your good agent and the attorney will know what the contract says and that will answer your question. This varies so much from state to state, that we really can't help you all that much here.

[Roselvr]

Another seller here, under contract, did repairs also, waiting to close. Worry that this will happen to us also.

There is another post here, the seller chose to not sell the house for some reason, it makes me sick the buyer is allowed to get up to $20,000 back. WTF.

Here you are, you took your house off of the market for the last bit of the spring selling season & they want to back out. Talk about fuming.

Did they give a reason? Not that it really matters, just curious how stupid the reason is.

Hopefully it was a touch of nerves and they are over it now.

Good luck

Originally Posted by Southern_Transplant

We sold our home to a buyer and went through all stages of the process (contract ratification, home inspection, appraisal). Now that there are no opportunties for the buyer to back out, they want to cancel the contract. The home has been off the market for a month during which many interested parties had planned to submit an offer until they saw it was under contract.

I see the contract as completely binding at this stage but I wonder what the buyers can do. Please advise. Do they just say tough, sue me? Obviously, we can keep the earnest deposit, but that doesn't mitigate our damages. Our damages include work done to meet their demands, time off the market, probable loss of income from the sale, and most likely increased cash outlay for our next home due to the extra time required to resolve this matter or find a new buyer.

How common is this sort of thing? Shouldn't the buying agent have told his clients that such a breech is no longer an option? Please advise based on your experiences. We have a good agent and have spoken to an attorney, but more information is always a good thing.

[Southern_Transplant]

State of ownership: Virginia

Update: The reason given was divorce, but no supporting documents were supplied. If the reason is truthful, I feel badly for them, but such issues do not arise overnight.

I appreciate your kind words. In fact, I would be less angry had the buyer agent shown a little consideration. Instead, he chose to act as though we would certainly release the contract and refund the earnest deposit. I am certain that he would not do so if he was in our situation.

We had several interested parties who wanted to submit contracts but we had to decline because we had a ratified contract. In short, we honored our contract while they opted to back out after the financing was approved, inspection passed, appraisal was above asking price, and all contingencies were met. All of which provided much easier ways to get out of the purchase.