Valid And Non-Valid Reasons For Backing Out Of A Purchase Offer For A House
Posted on: 27 January 2020
A major step in buying a house is writing an offer to buy it. This offer is a contract that you write and give to the seller. The contract becomes legally binding once the seller agrees to it and signs it. If you wrote an offer and are thinking of backing out of it, it is important for you to understand that there are valid reasons for doing this (if the contract allows for this), but there are also non-valid reasons.
The Valid Reasons for Backing Out of a Deal
First of all, there are valid reasons people back out of real estate deals. When a buyer has a valid reason, he or she has nothing to lose by backing out. In other words, using a valid reason will allow the buyer the ability to get his or her earnest money back.
One valid reason is a low appraisal. If the house is not worth the amount you offered for it, you could back out without losing a dime. Another valid reason is a bad home inspection, as long as your purchase offer stated this. A buyer can also back out if the seller is unwilling to complete the contingencies he or she agreed to. You also have the right to back out if you cannot get a loan. After all, without a loan, you could not follow through with the purchase of the house you want to buy.
The Non-Valid Reasons for Backing Out of a Deal
There are also times when buyers back out of a deal for reasons that are not really valid. A buyer has the right to back out of a deal for any reason, but if the reason is not valid, he or she could lose the money put down as earnest money.
For example, suppose a person finds a better house to buy. If this happens, he or she might back out of the first deal to buy the other house instead. There are also times when buyers get cold feet about a deal and decide to back out. These may be good reasons to not go through with the purchase of a house, but you would stand to lose your earnest money if you back out for one of these reasons.
If you want to fully protect yourself, make sure you are certain you want to buy a house before writing your offer. To learn more about contracts and purchase offers, ask a real estate agency like Steve Cohn - Keller Williams Realty - Petaluma.
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