Sellers Backed Out One Day Before Closing

[yellowdogg]

My question involves real estate located in the State of: Michigan. As the title says the sellers of the home we are to purchase informed there realtor a day before the scheduled closing that they no longer want to sell there home. We do have a purchase agreement in which we fulfilled all of our stated obligations and as far as I can tell there are no clauses in which the sellers can just pull out of the PA for whatever reason. My question is what are my options and can we force the sellers to sell us there home. From prior conversations with the sellers the only reason they are pulling out of the deal is they cannot get a mortgage to there liking and there is no clause in the PA stating they can pull out of the deal if they are unable to get a mortgage.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Sometimes there will be a seller's contingency in the purchase agreement whereby if they cannot close on the home they're buying they can back out of the deal, so you need to check the contingencies.

If there are no contingencies you have a potential lawsuit to compel the sale ("specific performance") or for damages (but they can be difficult to quantify in a sale of a typical home at market value). You can discuss the cost of legal action with a local real estate lawyer, and see if there are any clauses in the contract that would allow you to attempt to recover the cost of litigation.

This was a sale with no real estate agents on either side? No escrow? In a typical real estate sale, at this point you would not be the only aggrieved party.

[jk]

in reference to Mr K's first statement:

Not finding a mortgage to their liking for a subsequent purchase is not a valid justification them not closing on time. For the closing time issue to be enforceable, it would have to be due to something out of their control (unless specifically stated otherwise). Whether they have to rent or live in a tent is irrelevant unless specifically allowed for in the contract.


Hopefully their agent is pushing for his fee as it appears he has earned it, regardless of whether the sale is finalized or not. That often pushes a seller to complete the sale.

[yellowdogg]

Sometimes there will be a seller's contingency in the purchase agreement whereby if they cannot close on the home they're buying they can back out of the deal, so you need to check the contingencies.

If there are no contingencies you have a potential lawsuit to compel the sale ("specific performance") or for damages (but they can be difficult to quantify in a sale of a typical home at market value). You can discuss the cost of legal action with a local real estate lawyer, and see if there are any clauses in the contract that would allow you to attempt to recover the cost of litigation.

This was a sale with no real estate agents on either side? No escrow? In a typical real estate sale, at this point you would not be the only aggrieved party.

No both parties were represented by realtors.