NE Real Estate: buyer refuses to sign Cancellation Agreement

[Pennan]

OMAHA NEBRASKA

Our Nebraska Purchase Agreement stated cash “no financing required”. 24 hrs before close our realtor notified that buyer now needed financing and would postpone closing with no date provided. Buyer did not request extension - missed closing and we cancelled contract and sought the earnest deposit. Buyer refuses however to sign the Cancellation of Purchase Agreement, wants the house and now says he will close in 1 wk. According to our attorney we no longer have a contract since the last expired when buyer missed closing (without request for continuance). We relisted our home at a slightly higher price (10k more) (since the one next door went on the market for MUCH higher than ours and another sold down the street last week for MUCH higher than ours).. this told us we are terribly under-marketed (which explains why buyer wants our house so badly). What if another buyer comes along and initial buyer does not sign cancellation of contract and impedes the sale of our home to another party???

 

[justalayman]

What if another buyer comes along and initial buyer does not sign cancellation of contract and impedes the sale of our home to another party???

It could be a cause for confusion and result in some problems in the transaction.

To the failed contract; was the "close by date" a definite date? Generally, in my area, the date is listed as "on or about" which can cause a lot of problems in situations such as yours. If it was a firm and definite date and there was no extension granted, you should be good to go on another contract. The problem is, if the old buyer wants to jerk you around, they could file a lis pendens and institute an action to attempt to force you to sell to them. Although you should prevail, it would cause serious problems with any other sale until it is cleared up.

as to the old buyers attempt to force the sale in 1 week; that is up to you to accept or reject. Obviously you could accept the sale but based on what you have provided, you have no requirement to do so. You do need to be cautious about what you say concerning this. If you give anybody reason to believe you are accepting the extension, it could cause you problems. You need to be quite blunt about refusing to continue on with the sale.

So, what if the old buyer does cause problems? You might have an action against them. Proving damages would be difficult unless you can show that his actions frustrated an actual sale at some given price.