Buyer Backing out

South Carolina:
I have a signed, contingency free contract with a buyer for my home. They are backing out of the deal. I also have a signed, contingency free contract for my purchase of a new home.

My buyer has gotten a case of cold feet. I need to know if I can sue for specific performance on my contract with my buyer.

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by dreese1
South Carolina:
I have a signed, contingency free contract with a buyer for my home. They are backing out of the deal. I also have a signed, contingency free contract for my purchase of a new home.

My buyer has gotten a case of cold feet. I need to know if I can sue for specific performance on my contract with my buyer.

**A: I have not seen a contingency free purchase contract in over 22 years.
Are you sure? It is not wise to sign a contract with no contingencies. Where is your Realtor?

I might be mis-stating my situation. My buyer's contract was contingent upon her obtaining financing. She has obtained it. This is what I mean when I say contingency free. She has met her obligations.

My purchase contract is indeed contingent upon my obtaining financing for my purchase. I have obtained the financing. The caveat is, if my buyer backs out, then my lender will probably withdraw financing due to debt ratio problem associated with have two mortgages.

Does this help? Can you give any advice?

Does the BUYER have any earnest money in Escrow? Did you have an attorney review the contract? If you answered YES to both ?'s then what you would be entitled to would be 'damages' caused by the BUYER going into DEFAULT on the purchase.

How do you know the buyer is backing out? According to your post, it sounds like they went through the process of satisfying the contract by obtaining financing. At this point all they need would need to is show up at the closing with $$.

If they have put earnest money into escrow for this contract, it cannot be released until BOTH parties release it. This means that you may have some leverage with negotiating a fair resolution to this situation.

There is earnest money in escrow. No, we did not have an attorney review the contract. I have a pretty fair understanding of the contents of the contract.

My buyer has gotten a case of cold feet. We now have, as of 30 minutes ago, a signed letter from the buyer stating that they wish to withdraw from the contract. The buyer did, in fact, go through the process of obtaining financing. It has been obtained and is ready.

The point to all of this is, what is my recourse when someone simply changes their mind?

I want to force specific performance. However, I am told that the process could be very lengthy.....

I experienced a similar situation in which the buyer had 'buyers remorse' - The buyer in my situation offered full price and decided 6 weeks later that he paid too much.

What I learned from my experience was that you will not be able to 'force' the buyer the purchase your home if they do not want to. According to your post, you have a valid contract in which the buyer has for some reason decided to default on. The earnest money is what the buyer stands to lose by defaulting on the contract. If you choose not to terminate the contract with the Buyer you will be fighting for the earnest money - Suing the buyer and forcing them into buying your home is not going to happen.

In my situation, I was able to agree on a settlement of 50% of the earnest money.

Did the buyer provide you with any reason for backing out? How much $ did the buyer put up as earnest money?