If you are thinking about selling your home, you may be in for a windfall. After all, Sarasota’s housing market remains hot, with houses currently selling for about 25% more than they were just a year ago. Still, if you have unique or otherwise hard-to-sell property, you may be happy to find an interested buyer.
Many things can go wrong after accepting an offer, of course. While there are ways to address many of these matters, you may wonder what happens if your buyer simply gets cold feet.
The purpose of earnest money
Earnest money demonstrates a buyer’s commitment to purchasing the property. While the earnest money for your sale is likely to be only a small fraction of your home’s value, you may be able to keep it after your buyer backs out of the deal. If you believe buyers may be prone to cold feet, you may want to ask for more earnest money.
The problem with contingencies
Before closing, many homebuyers want to inspect homes. During an inspection, the buyer may find something to use to stop the sale. Still, the buyer should not use an inspection report as a pretext to cancel the deal due to cold feet. To combat this, you may want to make any repairs the buyer’s inspector recommends. You may also be able to make other concessions to the buyer to save the deal.
Ultimately, if your buyer has decided not to purchase your property, it is critical to explore all possible legal options before taking any other action.
