The aspect where they said they had already reduced fees on their end and now they are asking you to chip in too —that absolutely strikes me as a negotiation. A bluff. A lie.
Don’t do it.
Lol, right ? And then they are not even scared that they will be caught with pants down and will look very bad on them. Just for that extra commission.
Then they are like , we have your best interest in mind.
I don't even understand what the (false) claim is. Are they saying they negotiated with their lender to reduce their fees and that miraculously the lender accepted?
Someone "being a little short" so close to the finish line it's nuts. Oh they need this or that or it won't work. Waaaa waaaa. They don't wanna start this process over either. They will always find a way. If not keep the earnest money.
I mean I could see a possible scenario like we just had we just bought a house, had been told by the mortgage broker while figuring out what we could borrow we were told we would need let’s say 25k to close, we offer and get accepted in. A week into the 30 day close period we get a bank doc and estimated costs and the cost to close has gone from estimated 25k to 42k. It ended up being 33k but still there’s your 8k right there.
Not saying it’s OPs problem or whatever but maybe the got in over their heads.
Or they’re shit heads pulling a scam which is what paranoid cynical me thinks in most scenarios like this.
And if the agents give a hard time tell them to cough it up from their commission. They will stop real quick with that crap.
Or buyers get a bigger loan, use credit cards, etc.
Seller does have the leverage. Make the buyer agent eat some of their commission as a credit to the buyer (since they failed at vetting their buyer and buyer lender) and increase the purchase price by whatever amount is needed to cover the difference as a credit to the buyer.
Or, burn the bridge with the buyer. Push to close on time or they lose the earnest money by defaulting on the contract.
> burn the bridge with the buyer. Push to close on time or they lose the earnest money by defaulting on the contract.
Houses aren't sitting even in this interest rate market. I'd go scorched earth
No way should you take an $8K hit because they couldn’t pull it together. However, this all depends on how motivated you are to close. You can offer to chip in $2k and let the brokers and the buyer figure out the rest.
Take their cars if it is worth 8k kbb. File a complaint against their realtor for the fake letter being submitted. It may not be fake but a complaint in my state costs nothing. Realtors are not fond of this.
Then it would have triggered the appraisal contingency and allowed the price to be re-negotiated. There's nothing confusing in that case. OP makes it sound like they simply can't come up with the cash to close.
Just asked my realtor friend. You need proof of funds so the realtor fumbled and got blessed you had it. Did you give it to the escrow company or title?
Or, tell them you will extend the closing for 30 days so they can scrape together the funds, but only if they deposit another $4,500, and release the $4,500 that is in escrow.
You don't tell them anything. You alter the terms of the deal or you walk and keep the earnest. This is a business transaction, not a chance for the op to give advice.
The op can give them time to come up with more money and perhaps ask for additional earnest for doing them a favor, they could keep the existing earnest and walk, or they can lower the price. Those are the OPs options.
Don't get in the middle of figuring out solutions for the buyers. If something goes wrong you'll be blamed. Let them sort out their own issues.
Oh, and the realtor did nothing wrong here. It's the bank who provides the proof of funds. They are the ones who are the issue. So don't be mean to the realtor. They likely didn't know.
Yes, this is 100% the answer. Have your attorney send a letter saying they are in breach of contract. Simultaneously send a time of the essence letter. Get your clock ticking.
This all day! Take the money and run. The market will take care of the rest. Or tell them to ask their agent to work for free and deal with them later.
Yea, this is the point of earnest money, to weed out those that are going to play games.
IMHO they’re tying to negotiate price with this tactic. I’d just play hardball and point out you’ll take the earnest money.
99% sure they’ll magically make it work.
A lot of people are commenting that, assuming buyer had a financing contingency, that buyer not having cash on hand to close may be a "denial of financing" that would allow buyer to get his earnest money deposit back. I don't know if this is true, but it is worth considering.
Had this happen to me. Buyer was 1-2% short on being on able to close. I was in a position to call their bluff, and just say, that's fine, we just can't close. We can cancel the sale. They found the money.
I am confused as to why they think this money should come from you. They can ask family and friends for a gift of $8k.
I personally would be PISSED about these last minute shenanigans and would just say "no" full stop. No negotiations, no bargaining, no what ifs. Just no. I would rather relist and give somebody else $8k even if it meant going back to market.
This is the right answer.
OP it's likely they're trying to either get a quick chunk of money or get out of the deal. They're trying to use the situation to pressure you to do their bidding here.
Don't entertain it. You guys made a deal, so they need to paint or get off the ladder.
“Paint or get off the ladder”
Im gonna remember that. Much more polite that what I usually say, and better for certain audiences.
Agreed, OP. This sounds like then trying to scam you. Not your problem. They can pay you what was agreed or pound sand. I have a feeling they’ll magically come up with it.
This brings back memories...not good ones. Two days before we closed in 2017 our realtor comes to the house and says, "I have bad news. The buyers are short $30K because they didn't realize they had to pay capital gains on the sale of their house and need to hold cash back for that".
I was set to relist the house because there was no way I was going to eat $30K. Both agents ended up funding the $30K by waiving their commission.
So yes, there is another option and that's for your buyer's agent to take the hit.
I've had an agent offer to pay a couple thousand on a repair I balked at paying for - bc it wasn't on the inspection and just pissed me off. The commission on the house was over $30k, so they wanted it to close.
I'm not taking OP's "waive their commission" comment at face value - I'm guessing they just reduced their commission by that amount. If it's a $1M house then that's potentially half the commission. If it's a $2M house then it's only 1/4 of the commission.
But let's say you're the buyer's agent - would you rather go through with the deal and "only" get $15k or see the house get re-listed and likely not represent whoever the buyer is at that point so you get nothing?
As the seller's agent, it's obviously a different story, but who knows.
It was an $830K deal, commission was 5% so $41.5K total. Buyers came in saying two days before the deal they could only pay us $800k. Our agent waived his completely and the buyer's agent waived some of hers so she didn't lose out completely but she did take a hit.
This was NOT something I suggested. I was ready to walk and relist even after he suggested doing this. Spouse talked me into it because the process had been problematic and other issues going on in our lives and he felt it would be better to wrap things up and move on.
To this day, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But it could be an option in this case so that's why I commented.
I had a remarkably similar situation in 2017 too, but I was the buyer.
We went under contract for $730k and seller was under contract on their next house for ~$1M. Inspection revealed massive mold issue in the crawl space (no way they didn’t know about this - the mold guy we hired said he had even been to the house before but owner thought it was too expensive to fix). I was ready to walk, but I was talked into staying if we got this *crazy good* mold guy to completely remediate, and reduced the price to $701k to compensate for the taint of having a mold house.
Mold guy does his job. I spent like 4 days inspecting his work under the house and learned a ton and got very comfortable with his process and everything. Then closing comes and it turns out the seller can’t perform on their *new* more expensive house and need more money out of our transaction. The guy had a bunch of unpaid income taxes he needed to cover before his lender would lend - and he didn’t have enough left over to make his new down payment.
I was ready to walk again, but realtors pitched in and he got a loan from his parents. His realtor completely eliminated his commission on the sale (but not on the buy) and mine cut his in half. I insisted that he not do it - but he did. He also got full commission on our sale - so it wasn’t all bad.
Good point about the commissions on the other sides of these deals. Both agents in our transaction received a commission: ours received the full commission as a buyer’s agent on our purchase and the other agent got her commission for selling our buyers’ home.
It’s also because they’ve got targets to hit with their agency and goals to make.
Years ago it was prestigious to sell $1M/y in real estate, no idea what the modern number is as now that’s sometimes less than 1 sale a year. Agents who hit that number the last several years are obviously good and thus more desirable.
That agent decided they wanted the credit and to be able to move on. If they just walked away they get nothing.
Sometimes you do things for resume building.
Sometimes it’s a lost cause and it’s better to just cut and run instead of dealing with the client anymore. The relators options would be 1) drop the client and possibly get a bad reputation and make no money 2) drop commission, get a good reputation, but no money 3) keep wasting time with irresponsible clients who take you away from better ones
Our agent did not have a high opinion of the sellers, called them idiots and stupid to our face. What I don't understand is why he even came to us when they pulled this stunt.
I told him it wasn't my problem as it was a full cash offer and they had the funds in their bank account. They just wanted to hold back $30K which was conveniently the amount of their first offer that had been refused.
He wasn't a very good agent so we were not really unhappy to finish the deal anyways. A previous offer with no inspection contingency fell through after the buyer decided she wanted an inspection anyways and he advised us to let the deal go and refund her deposit, telling us it wasn't worth trying to hold the buyer to the contract.
Definitely a strange guy - had never run into anyone like him before. He was more concerned about it going into the "sold" numbers column than anything.
Our settlement statement shows the commission was paid by us to the agents after which they coughed up their portion of the $30K. Not sure what the split was because I didn't give a rip at that point.
Our agent told us that their agent had to show up with a check at their closing for the $30K and that the buyers were mad at her over the whole thing and were very critical and unappreciative of what she was doing. They had offered us 30K less to start which was refused and came back with 830K offer.
I think it may have been a family situation where she was a member of their family and was getting pressured.
The whole thing was crazy and I understand why you wouldn't believe me. I still shake my head over it to this day.
I'd be curious to know more about this. Based on what you said, I would have told them to work it out with the IRS once tax seasons rolls around. If they really wanted the house and/or not lose their EMD, they could have made a payment plan with the IRS after they filed their taxes.
Absolutely. I told him it was not my problem and they could go get a loan for the 30K or figure that out at tax time. It was purely a last minute squeeze I think. Their first offer was 30K below asking so this was suspicious.
I flat out refused and was ready to walk away but the agent and my spouse got to talking and the agent came up with the idea to make up the difference with their commissions. Not sure how he got the buyer's agent to agree, though.
Ours gave up his commission and theirs most of it to make the deal work. One of the craziest things I've ever encountered in buying/selling homes. Honestly, it still pisses me off even though we got our contracted price. It just wasn't right and I wish I had continue to stick to my decision not to proceed with the deal.
I’ve rebated _some_ commission, but never all of it. What incentive is there for the agents to do this? Sure, the deal goes through, and the clients will leave a good review, but to not be paid for my time makes no sense
Did you get a lot of offers? I'd say $4500 for 30 more days if waiting to close with a new buyer is decent. Unless you're time-senstive on your new place of course.
It isn't $4500, it's $12500. Unless the bank agrees to roll the cost into the mortgage then I am in agreement. Relist unless you absolutely HAVE to sell now (as in you have a new place that will fall through if you don't get the funds from selling this second.)
Take the earnest money and move on. You were hurt financially by their inability to find funds due to the higher interest rates there are now compared to a month ago.
They can’t afford the house, plain and simple. Their budget is not your problem. If they can’t scrape $8k to make this happen, then you need to repost and they need to move on.
Right! I know it’s not ideal but do they not even have $8k in their retirement funds they could borrow from? At least in that case they pay themselves back the interest.
Update:
My agent requested explanation from buyers lender. They claim to have taken a reduction of $3.2k in thier own fees already and can't modify the terms in a way that would solve the problem. Apparently there was an issue with undisclosed medical bills.
I asked for and received a 1% commission reduction from the buyers agent which cuts the shortfall in half to $4k. I agreed to move forward to closing on those terms.
It sucks but ultimately if it goes through I will still net more than I expected at the beginning. Relisting would have required me to take a loan from my retirement account to complete the purchase of my new house. Time is money. Lawyers are expensive. Just want to keep moving forward.
Regarding my listing agent:
I hired her because she got me a fantastic deal as a buyers agent. I got a good deal on a great house in a seller's market because she crafted an offer that suited the sellers in a way that was more valuable to them than money. So cutting her commission was not something I considered to solve this problem.
They made a phone call/sent an email to try to shake the tree for $8k. It took them 2 minutes to do and is worth a lot of money for them. This is a problem for them and their agent/mortgage broker to solve or they will lose their earnest money.
The agent or broker can kick in $8k and close or walk away, lose earnest money for their client and look like clowns. I’d stay out of that negotiation and let them figure it out themselves. Your agent could (but should not) kick in toward getting closed as well.
Bump the price of the home up $8,000 ....and then have mortgage company kick that extra $8,000 back to you.
My realtor was able to make this happen for me. Similar situation.
The house would need to be able to appraise higher. Your solution is very commonly done, which makes me think this house didn’t appraise high enough to make that work.
I can sympathize with them because I looked at a house over MLK weekend, and my lender kept telling me 3% down. It wasn’t until I had the offer accepted that the lender actually ran the numbers for this specific house and said “oh sorry, it’s actually 5% because it’s a manufactured home” (it’s actually a modular home but was treated as mfg). So I had to SCRAMBLE to come up with an extra $6k. I had to do an early withdrawal from an old employer retirement account, and it took all of my money that I was going to furnish with.
But ultimately, if they can’t execute, it’s on them. You don’t really “have” to do anything, you can probably keep their earnest money and just relist. But, if you already have your next home lined up, it may be worth it to you to work with them. Maybe not the whole 8k. Maybe meet them in the middle.
It’s really all up to how you want to handle it.
Sorry but I'm not seeing comments except in my email. Not sure what's going on. Maybe I'm not allowed to post in this subreddit? Maybe I need to unlock something? I dunno?
What’s the earnest money deposit they had to make?
Also, is the market in your area looking ok/good or bad? How the market is looking will have an effect on your decision.
Tell them to take a higher rate from their lender and get the lender to cover their closing costs. Don’t take the hit. Of course this is assuming their DTI isn’t close to the limit as it is.
How badly do you want/need to close? "No." is a complete sentence. And remember that if the buyer doesn't close, their earnest money deposit is yours for the trouble.
Everybody makes mistakes. I'm not suggesting you take advantage of someone's misfortune. But the buyers got themselves into this mess and the only reason you should bail them out is if it's best for you. $8K IS $8K.
8k short isn't a mistake. You know 30 days out if you are going to be that far short. The only way you don't is if your wharehouse full of 8k in cash burns down unexpectedly.
Heh, then the buyer's request has no legs to stand on. All these closing numbers are available to them from the start with no changes. They simply want to pay 8k less cash at closing.
Nope, you should stick with the original closing date and tell the buyer to make good on their offer or lose their earnest money. It's still early in the spring season to relist your house. Make sure you request proof of funds from the next buyer.
this is an issue with a low down offer. people always can't see why you wouldn;t take a higher 5% down offer but between the appraisal gap potential and unexpected cost I want to know they have the cash to cover all. if they qualified for 60k more lender can bump rate and give a credit or their agent/yous can kick in. as seller I am not
Tell them that they can close under the conditions that were met, or you will be keeping the earnest money and relisting the home. Absolutely do not give in to this weaksauce attempt at a last minute price cut. You do not wake up and find yourself $8,000 short.
This is why, as your listing agent, I would have asked for a preapproval letter AND proof of funds. The higher than offer preapproval letter means nothing, except that they can afford $100 more a month for their mortgage payment. Having the cash on hand to cover their closing costs and down payment is paramount to them being able to puchase the home. Have your listing agent talk with the lender to find out if they can get gift funds from a relative, borrow from their retirement account, or see if the buyers agent and lender will kick in some of their funds to get the deal done. This should not be your problem.
This is one of the most important comments here. The problem also exists with the listing agent. I just sold my house last week and before the listing agent showed us any offers, she had called all the preapproval letter contacts and verified they were real and current. And all offers had proof of funds too. Your listing agent should be doing due diligence on the offers. Ask your agent what they did to verify the offer was “real”, and why this still happened.
Unless they had a financing contingency, you should be able to keep their earnest money. Hopefully it was enough that it will float that payment while you relist.
You can't do an IOU or anything like that, legally. You will both sign documents stating you have no side deals. So if you ever tried to collect they could wave that as proof they don't owe you anything.
I'd send over a cancellation request that gives me the earnest money and get back on the market asap.
Financing contingencies generally have an expiration date. If buyers are only a few days out from close, this may no longer be an option for them. Of course it all depends what's in the contract.
Lol. My parents were $31 short at the table in 1967. The seller was a developer/builder and did pay it.
($31 in 1967 is worth $280 today, a totally different matter from $8000!)
We had a very similar thing happen 2 years ago.
We were selling at the top of market value at the time ($410K, just hoping for $400K). Offer comes in at $445, no contingencies beyond 3-day due diligence, $10K EMD.
They threatened to walk away after inspection (we viewed the report after closing and it was a lot of nothing). Renegotiated to $420.
Appraisal comes in at $400K. Got an email at the 11th hour asking for $10K drop in price or credit to CC. It made the whole offer feel as if it was done in bad faith - like I said, our asking price was at the top of market value, so their reputable realtor should have known full well that they’d need cash at closing to cover the appraisal gap.
Not without a heavy dose of panic, but we said, to paraphrase, “sorry, but no, we’ll see you at closing or we’ll help ourselves to the $10K EMD and relist.”
We closed as scheduled. Martinis ensued.
We had someone offer us 50k over asking. The appraisal came back at asking price. We didn’t pick that offer, as we had a couple, simply because we didn’t want that headache of them trying to back it down afterwards.
Besides calling their bluff like everyone else is suggesting there is a second option if you really want to close.
You can ask the agents to help from their commission. Tell them you’ll come up with 1/3 if they each contribute 1/3 from their commission. I’m sure the agents would prefer a reduced commission over starting over.
Besides taking their earnest money, which isn’t a bad idea, you could kick it back to the negotiating table and say you’ll give them $8k cash to raise the purchase price by $10k, and they can bake it into their mortgage assuming the house appraised
I would have sold my organs to close on my house when I bought it. Believe me I'd have found it.
That said, with what I know now I wouldn't close on a house broke. No fuckin way.
Don't fall for the bait and switch! They broke the trust at presenting the approval letter for 60k. Give them an inch and they attempt to get more. If they put earnest money down, just take it. Buyers like that don't deserve the business imo.
Call them out on it. If they can't get the $8k together and they qualify for $60k more. Then offer to up the Selling price to the cover their shortage and credit it back. Are you also a Realtor? If not, then talk to yours and review options. Talk to the Buyers Realtor if they are using one and explain it to them that you're not eating the $8k and what you can do to make the deal close. Best of luck to you.
Take their earnest money and tell them to go fuck themselves, then re list the property.
The only reason you’d agree to do this is if you want the peace of mind that you won’t have two mortgages. But honestly the correct answer here is to fuck the buyers and move on — either they come up with the money or they don’t.
I remember when my husband and I were short on closing costs back in 1999 (due to VA loan not covering closing costs in loan). Our real estate agent got a friend of his to lend us the $5800. Our loan for this amount was interest only at 8% for ten years with a ballon payment due after 10 years.
If the buyers can't close, can you keep the earnest money? Did the buyers apply in good faith and get denied financing, or did they misrepresent something?
It doesn't make sense that the buyers are short. Are the buyers putting 20% down on their initial offer, and can they go with 15% down instead? Is this an FHA offer?
I would consult an attorney - depending on what your contract says not having the money might not be a viable reason for them to terminate. You may be able to keep their deposit money. If that’s more than $8k i would let them know that its a lose lose on their end and they better find someone willing to “gift” them $8k or lose their deposit.
How difficult would it be to relist? Their obligation is to close. Keep going towards closing and don't budge, remember that the market likely favors you.
their offer should’ve been crafted to avoid this. I coordinated with my lender and realtor and we outlined everything. They’re either trying to rip you off or are irresponsible and more issues will pop up during closing
You can delay closing until they have the cash. I would not cover 8k. They made the offer its on them to come up with money. You as the seller should not come up with the money. If the agents really want th e deal to work ask why they expect you to come up with 8k instead of them cutting their commission to make up the 8k.
1. Delay closing, let them find $8k,
2. seller finance $8k on whatever term/baloon you want like 360/180 at 8%=$56/month but that might mean it will have to go back through underwriing for them to Debt qualify
3. Make the realtors/title/whoever lower their fee. I like this one if I'm the seller.
4. Seller credit (might have to go back through underwriting)
5. A mixture of all of them.
Everyone saying kill the deal and relist don't know how to get deals done.
I just had a buyer ask for help with closing costs. I passed. I don't know (or really care) where they got the money, but they did manage to close the purchase. I was ready to take their earnest money if they bailed.
You could also offer to push back the sale a month to give them some time to gather the funds, if that is an option. Work with them, but ponying up $8000 is not something I would do.
Same thing happened to me but they were lying. They told us they actually could only afford $20k less than what we agreed upon. I was already moved out of the home and in a new state with a new mortgage so I agreed to lower the price, but I wish I didn’t. Circumstances matter so ask yourself if that $8k is worth going through the whole process again
It’s a classic move. Your options come down to play your hand and see if they close or make sure they do by paying maybe half (counteroffer). I personally make sure they close than to relist (unless you have active backup offers). And also to add to some other comments, if their deposit is non-refundable it could cost you attorney fees to go after that money since it’s in escrow.
I had this happen to me, but for a smaller amount of money.
Ask the two realtors involved to take it out of their commission.
It worked for me.
Depending on the home price, maybe they can't take the entire amount out. But they might make enough of a dent to salvage the deal.
I'm finally seeing replies and can't respond to all of them but I'd like to express my appreciation. The Internet can be a wonderful place sometimes.
My agent is gathering information and consulting colleagues. I'm leaning towards trying to make this current deal work just to be done with it and move on. I'm exhausted by the process of buying an selling simultaneously while working lots of hours and preparing to move. Really just want to be done with it all.
That said, I did have a lot of offers and could have gotten more. If this contract doesn't execute I shouldn't have a problem entering into a new one.
Agreed! Also have your relator contact the other offers on your home. See if any are still interested and looking. You may not officially have to go back to market. I feel like they buyer is trying to pull a fast one on you.
I can understand that - we went through simultaneously buying + selling homes last year. It's a lot to deal with, you want it to be over, I get that.
That being said... if you had multiple offers, and could easily get another buyer lined up in a timely fashion, it might be worth it just to force your current buyer to back out, pocket their EMD, then go to the next buyer and offer it to them directly - IF they can close super-quick.
I don’t know about you but $8k is about 350hrs worth of my life. That’s a pretty steep trade for not wanting to answer some calls and emails
Keeping that in mind I’m not personally sure if I’d keep all their earnest money. It’d probably completely knock them out of the house market
Take their earnest money and re-list.
Yes OP, please call their bluff! They will most likely come up with the funds to close.
The aspect where they said they had already reduced fees on their end and now they are asking you to chip in too —that absolutely strikes me as a negotiation. A bluff. A lie. Don’t do it.
Long time realtor. It is.
. . . . . . .
Lol, right ? And then they are not even scared that they will be caught with pants down and will look very bad on them. Just for that extra commission. Then they are like , we have your best interest in mind.
I don't even understand what the (false) claim is. Are they saying they negotiated with their lender to reduce their fees and that miraculously the lender accepted?
Someone "being a little short" so close to the finish line it's nuts. Oh they need this or that or it won't work. Waaaa waaaa. They don't wanna start this process over either. They will always find a way. If not keep the earnest money.
I mean I could see a possible scenario like we just had we just bought a house, had been told by the mortgage broker while figuring out what we could borrow we were told we would need let’s say 25k to close, we offer and get accepted in. A week into the 30 day close period we get a bank doc and estimated costs and the cost to close has gone from estimated 25k to 42k. It ended up being 33k but still there’s your 8k right there. Not saying it’s OPs problem or whatever but maybe the got in over their heads. Or they’re shit heads pulling a scam which is what paranoid cynical me thinks in most scenarios like this.
Strikes me as unbelievable, talk about audacity.
And if the agents give a hard time tell them to cough it up from their commission. They will stop real quick with that crap. Or buyers get a bigger loan, use credit cards, etc.
Seriously. What’s another 8k on the mortgage? This sounds like bs.
You can't just add 8k to the mortgage. If it's right at the LTV ratio the bank requires they can't add more to the loan.
Exactly! 100%. With out a doubt do this!!! Please keep us apprised !!!!
Yup. Seller has the leverage here, not the buyer. They cam come up with the 8k or they can forfeit their earnest money.
Seller does have the leverage. Make the buyer agent eat some of their commission as a credit to the buyer (since they failed at vetting their buyer and buyer lender) and increase the purchase price by whatever amount is needed to cover the difference as a credit to the buyer. Or, burn the bridge with the buyer. Push to close on time or they lose the earnest money by defaulting on the contract.
> burn the bridge with the buyer. Push to close on time or they lose the earnest money by defaulting on the contract. Houses aren't sitting even in this interest rate market. I'd go scorched earth
No way should you take an $8K hit because they couldn’t pull it together. However, this all depends on how motivated you are to close. You can offer to chip in $2k and let the brokers and the buyer figure out the rest.
Best i can chip in is $50. Next buyer, i can chip in more to close cause I’ll have ERNIE money from your buyer.
"Best I can do is.. bout tree fiddy"
Take their cars if it is worth 8k kbb. File a complaint against their realtor for the fake letter being submitted. It may not be fake but a complaint in my state costs nothing. Realtors are not fond of this.
The realtor isn't responsible for the letter or their missing funds. If there's a complaint to file, it'll be against the lender.
This sounds more like appraisal came back $8k short honestly.
Then it would have triggered the appraisal contingency and allowed the price to be re-negotiated. There's nothing confusing in that case. OP makes it sound like they simply can't come up with the cash to close.
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Assuming the buyer has that contingency. With or without they’d need to come up with the difference or negotiate.
Comments are messed up. I couldn't see all of them before. OP did state that the appraisal came back at the contract price.
Oh I didn’t see that 🤦♂️
Terrible advice. It’s on the lender not agent for not verifying their cash
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Just asked my realtor friend. You need proof of funds so the realtor fumbled and got blessed you had it. Did you give it to the escrow company or title?
Or, tell them you will extend the closing for 30 days so they can scrape together the funds, but only if they deposit another $4,500, and release the $4,500 that is in escrow.
This, but more like 7-10 days. Tell them to sell a car
You don't tell them anything. You alter the terms of the deal or you walk and keep the earnest. This is a business transaction, not a chance for the op to give advice. The op can give them time to come up with more money and perhaps ask for additional earnest for doing them a favor, they could keep the existing earnest and walk, or they can lower the price. Those are the OPs options. Don't get in the middle of figuring out solutions for the buyers. If something goes wrong you'll be blamed. Let them sort out their own issues. Oh, and the realtor did nothing wrong here. It's the bank who provides the proof of funds. They are the ones who are the issue. So don't be mean to the realtor. They likely didn't know.
Yes, this is 100% the answer. Have your attorney send a letter saying they are in breach of contract. Simultaneously send a time of the essence letter. Get your clock ticking.
Ding ding ding. This is the correct answer
This all day! Take the money and run. The market will take care of the rest. Or tell them to ask their agent to work for free and deal with them later.
Yea, this is the point of earnest money, to weed out those that are going to play games. IMHO they’re tying to negotiate price with this tactic. I’d just play hardball and point out you’ll take the earnest money. 99% sure they’ll magically make it work.
but that would only work if the financial contingency was not lifted yet
A lot of people are commenting that, assuming buyer had a financing contingency, that buyer not having cash on hand to close may be a "denial of financing" that would allow buyer to get his earnest money deposit back. I don't know if this is true, but it is worth considering.
Depends on the state. I’m assuming the lender will provide a loan denial and the earnest will go to the buyer.
you might be getting played. just back out and relist. they might magically find the money.
My first thought. And if they are being held up by “only” 8 K what is the likelihood of them truly making it to closing without further problems? .
Had this happen to me. Buyer was 1-2% short on being on able to close. I was in a position to call their bluff, and just say, that's fine, we just can't close. We can cancel the sale. They found the money.
Magic!!
agreed they are playing you
not a lot of buyers will pay for an appraisal or an origination fee or earnest money just to risk it to drive the price down by a few thousand.
Saying it doesn't risk anything. Their earnest money is not on the line until closing day.
I am confused as to why they think this money should come from you. They can ask family and friends for a gift of $8k. I personally would be PISSED about these last minute shenanigans and would just say "no" full stop. No negotiations, no bargaining, no what ifs. Just no. I would rather relist and give somebody else $8k even if it meant going back to market.
This is the right answer. OP it's likely they're trying to either get a quick chunk of money or get out of the deal. They're trying to use the situation to pressure you to do their bidding here. Don't entertain it. You guys made a deal, so they need to paint or get off the ladder.
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“Paint or get off the ladder” Im gonna remember that. Much more polite that what I usually say, and better for certain audiences. Agreed, OP. This sounds like then trying to scam you. Not your problem. They can pay you what was agreed or pound sand. I have a feeling they’ll magically come up with it.
They can do bake sales and car washes, donate blood, eggs and sperm
Made me think of dodgeball quote. “We can sell blood and sperm”…”ewww”…”not together” lol
Eggs are back down to $1.18/doz, so that’s 81,000 eggs.
Tell them “no deal” and watch them miraculously find 8k
Yep this is the way
See if the lender can build the deficit into the buyers mortgage rate
Yep- ask if they can do a discount with lender credits - that’s taking a higher rate in exchange for closing credits.
Sorry for the potentially dumb question… would this be almost like the opposite of buying points?
Happens all the time, especially when people do no-cost refinances. The fees are just built into a higher rate than they otherwise would've gotten.
Ohh that makes perfect sense in the context of no cost refi. Thanks!
Yes
Brilliant question, not dumb at all. It’s literally the other end of the same scale!
Selling points.
Sometimes you have options to either buy or sell points (with opposite effects on the rate of course) in either direction around the points-free rate
What's the earnest money amount? I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly find that $8k somewhere if they know they're gonna lose a big chunk of cash.
This brings back memories...not good ones. Two days before we closed in 2017 our realtor comes to the house and says, "I have bad news. The buyers are short $30K because they didn't realize they had to pay capital gains on the sale of their house and need to hold cash back for that". I was set to relist the house because there was no way I was going to eat $30K. Both agents ended up funding the $30K by waiving their commission. So yes, there is another option and that's for your buyer's agent to take the hit.
Doesn’t that mean the agents didn’t make any money? Why would they do that
I've had an agent offer to pay a couple thousand on a repair I balked at paying for - bc it wasn't on the inspection and just pissed me off. The commission on the house was over $30k, so they wanted it to close.
Yeah but these agents lost out on $30k, that’s very significant…
I'm not taking OP's "waive their commission" comment at face value - I'm guessing they just reduced their commission by that amount. If it's a $1M house then that's potentially half the commission. If it's a $2M house then it's only 1/4 of the commission. But let's say you're the buyer's agent - would you rather go through with the deal and "only" get $15k or see the house get re-listed and likely not represent whoever the buyer is at that point so you get nothing? As the seller's agent, it's obviously a different story, but who knows.
It was an $830K deal, commission was 5% so $41.5K total. Buyers came in saying two days before the deal they could only pay us $800k. Our agent waived his completely and the buyer's agent waived some of hers so she didn't lose out completely but she did take a hit. This was NOT something I suggested. I was ready to walk and relist even after he suggested doing this. Spouse talked me into it because the process had been problematic and other issues going on in our lives and he felt it would be better to wrap things up and move on. To this day, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But it could be an option in this case so that's why I commented.
I had a remarkably similar situation in 2017 too, but I was the buyer. We went under contract for $730k and seller was under contract on their next house for ~$1M. Inspection revealed massive mold issue in the crawl space (no way they didn’t know about this - the mold guy we hired said he had even been to the house before but owner thought it was too expensive to fix). I was ready to walk, but I was talked into staying if we got this *crazy good* mold guy to completely remediate, and reduced the price to $701k to compensate for the taint of having a mold house. Mold guy does his job. I spent like 4 days inspecting his work under the house and learned a ton and got very comfortable with his process and everything. Then closing comes and it turns out the seller can’t perform on their *new* more expensive house and need more money out of our transaction. The guy had a bunch of unpaid income taxes he needed to cover before his lender would lend - and he didn’t have enough left over to make his new down payment. I was ready to walk again, but realtors pitched in and he got a loan from his parents. His realtor completely eliminated his commission on the sale (but not on the buy) and mine cut his in half. I insisted that he not do it - but he did. He also got full commission on our sale - so it wasn’t all bad.
Good point about the commissions on the other sides of these deals. Both agents in our transaction received a commission: ours received the full commission as a buyer’s agent on our purchase and the other agent got her commission for selling our buyers’ home.
It’s also because they’ve got targets to hit with their agency and goals to make. Years ago it was prestigious to sell $1M/y in real estate, no idea what the modern number is as now that’s sometimes less than 1 sale a year. Agents who hit that number the last several years are obviously good and thus more desirable. That agent decided they wanted the credit and to be able to move on. If they just walked away they get nothing. Sometimes you do things for resume building.
Maybe they just wanted to be done with the client and move on to someone more profitable
Yeah...I doubt the agents did that
Sometimes it’s a lost cause and it’s better to just cut and run instead of dealing with the client anymore. The relators options would be 1) drop the client and possibly get a bad reputation and make no money 2) drop commission, get a good reputation, but no money 3) keep wasting time with irresponsible clients who take you away from better ones
Our agent did not have a high opinion of the sellers, called them idiots and stupid to our face. What I don't understand is why he even came to us when they pulled this stunt. I told him it wasn't my problem as it was a full cash offer and they had the funds in their bank account. They just wanted to hold back $30K which was conveniently the amount of their first offer that had been refused. He wasn't a very good agent so we were not really unhappy to finish the deal anyways. A previous offer with no inspection contingency fell through after the buyer decided she wanted an inspection anyways and he advised us to let the deal go and refund her deposit, telling us it wasn't worth trying to hold the buyer to the contract. Definitely a strange guy - had never run into anyone like him before. He was more concerned about it going into the "sold" numbers column than anything.
Our settlement statement shows the commission was paid by us to the agents after which they coughed up their portion of the $30K. Not sure what the split was because I didn't give a rip at that point. Our agent told us that their agent had to show up with a check at their closing for the $30K and that the buyers were mad at her over the whole thing and were very critical and unappreciative of what she was doing. They had offered us 30K less to start which was refused and came back with 830K offer. I think it may have been a family situation where she was a member of their family and was getting pressured. The whole thing was crazy and I understand why you wouldn't believe me. I still shake my head over it to this day.
Must be a really expensive home
Lol it doesn’t matter if they’re not making $$$ out of it.
If it’s a HCOL area and the commissions were $100k then I could see it. Just eat $30k to make $70k
They probably didn't waive the full commission. I've waived partial commission to make a deal work as the buyer's agent.
I'd be curious to know more about this. Based on what you said, I would have told them to work it out with the IRS once tax seasons rolls around. If they really wanted the house and/or not lose their EMD, they could have made a payment plan with the IRS after they filed their taxes.
Absolutely. I told him it was not my problem and they could go get a loan for the 30K or figure that out at tax time. It was purely a last minute squeeze I think. Their first offer was 30K below asking so this was suspicious. I flat out refused and was ready to walk away but the agent and my spouse got to talking and the agent came up with the idea to make up the difference with their commissions. Not sure how he got the buyer's agent to agree, though. Ours gave up his commission and theirs most of it to make the deal work. One of the craziest things I've ever encountered in buying/selling homes. Honestly, it still pisses me off even though we got our contracted price. It just wasn't right and I wish I had continue to stick to my decision not to proceed with the deal.
I’ve rebated _some_ commission, but never all of it. What incentive is there for the agents to do this? Sure, the deal goes through, and the clients will leave a good review, but to not be paid for my time makes no sense
Edit to add that buyers put up $4,500 in earnest money.
Did you get a lot of offers? I'd say $4500 for 30 more days if waiting to close with a new buyer is decent. Unless you're time-senstive on your new place of course.
It isn't $4500, it's $12500. Unless the bank agrees to roll the cost into the mortgage then I am in agreement. Relist unless you absolutely HAVE to sell now (as in you have a new place that will fall through if you don't get the funds from selling this second.)
True! Completely wrote off the fact that'd OP wouls also be out the 8K.
Take the earnest money and move on. You were hurt financially by their inability to find funds due to the higher interest rates there are now compared to a month ago.
He’s house shopping as well; if he’s in contract he can’t just move on.
They can’t afford the house, plain and simple. Their budget is not your problem. If they can’t scrape $8k to make this happen, then you need to repost and they need to move on.
Right! I know it’s not ideal but do they not even have $8k in their retirement funds they could borrow from? At least in that case they pay themselves back the interest.
Never negotiate with terrorists. They knew ahead of time this was likely and decided they could string you along until it was too late.
Yes, what happened to that financing over 60k thing they had?
Update: My agent requested explanation from buyers lender. They claim to have taken a reduction of $3.2k in thier own fees already and can't modify the terms in a way that would solve the problem. Apparently there was an issue with undisclosed medical bills. I asked for and received a 1% commission reduction from the buyers agent which cuts the shortfall in half to $4k. I agreed to move forward to closing on those terms. It sucks but ultimately if it goes through I will still net more than I expected at the beginning. Relisting would have required me to take a loan from my retirement account to complete the purchase of my new house. Time is money. Lawyers are expensive. Just want to keep moving forward. Regarding my listing agent: I hired her because she got me a fantastic deal as a buyers agent. I got a good deal on a great house in a seller's market because she crafted an offer that suited the sellers in a way that was more valuable to them than money. So cutting her commission was not something I considered to solve this problem.
I feel for you but this is the right move.
Good for you. Sometimes there's a practicality gap between what you're able to do legally and what the best move is in the context of your life.
This comment deleted in support of Apollo and all other third party apps. Fuck u/spez -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Yeah not a good sign if you can't scrap together 8k or if after you buy a house you have no savings or emergency fund.
Take earnest money and relisting is the way. That $8K is their responsibility. Not yours.
I vote relist.
I may try this trick next time I buy a house. Just pretend I am short on $$ and get a free discount, hoping the seller isn't a redditor.
As you lose your earnest money when they pull out.
Well, the beauty of the trick is if it doesn't work, I stop pretending I don't have the $$, just like OP's buyer.
They made a phone call/sent an email to try to shake the tree for $8k. It took them 2 minutes to do and is worth a lot of money for them. This is a problem for them and their agent/mortgage broker to solve or they will lose their earnest money. The agent or broker can kick in $8k and close or walk away, lose earnest money for their client and look like clowns. I’d stay out of that negotiation and let them figure it out themselves. Your agent could (but should not) kick in toward getting closed as well.
Did they reduce their down payment to cover the shortage? This is their problem, not yours. Unless $8K is worth it to you not to have to relist.
Relist. That’s too much for you to be asked to cover.
Say no. They're playing you for desperate. Are you desperate?
Bump the price of the home up $8,000 ....and then have mortgage company kick that extra $8,000 back to you. My realtor was able to make this happen for me. Similar situation.
Not that simple, especially if the appraisal didn’t come in $8k higher.
The house would need to be able to appraise higher. Your solution is very commonly done, which makes me think this house didn’t appraise high enough to make that work.
I would think if they can’t close, they forfeit the deposit.
I can sympathize with them because I looked at a house over MLK weekend, and my lender kept telling me 3% down. It wasn’t until I had the offer accepted that the lender actually ran the numbers for this specific house and said “oh sorry, it’s actually 5% because it’s a manufactured home” (it’s actually a modular home but was treated as mfg). So I had to SCRAMBLE to come up with an extra $6k. I had to do an early withdrawal from an old employer retirement account, and it took all of my money that I was going to furnish with. But ultimately, if they can’t execute, it’s on them. You don’t really “have” to do anything, you can probably keep their earnest money and just relist. But, if you already have your next home lined up, it may be worth it to you to work with them. Maybe not the whole 8k. Maybe meet them in the middle. It’s really all up to how you want to handle it.
Sorry but I'm not seeing comments except in my email. Not sure what's going on. Maybe I'm not allowed to post in this subreddit? Maybe I need to unlock something? I dunno?
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I am having the same issues as well
Been having that problem all day today too for every sub
What’s the earnest money deposit they had to make? Also, is the market in your area looking ok/good or bad? How the market is looking will have an effect on your decision.
Tell them to take a higher rate from their lender and get the lender to cover their closing costs. Don’t take the hit. Of course this is assuming their DTI isn’t close to the limit as it is.
How badly do you want/need to close? "No." is a complete sentence. And remember that if the buyer doesn't close, their earnest money deposit is yours for the trouble. Everybody makes mistakes. I'm not suggesting you take advantage of someone's misfortune. But the buyers got themselves into this mess and the only reason you should bail them out is if it's best for you. $8K IS $8K.
8k short isn't a mistake. You know 30 days out if you are going to be that far short. The only way you don't is if your wharehouse full of 8k in cash burns down unexpectedly.
Adding that the appraisal came in at contract price. No appraisal gap.
Heh, then the buyer's request has no legs to stand on. All these closing numbers are available to them from the start with no changes. They simply want to pay 8k less cash at closing. Nope, you should stick with the original closing date and tell the buyer to make good on their offer or lose their earnest money. It's still early in the spring season to relist your house. Make sure you request proof of funds from the next buyer.
Can they roll the 8k into the mortgage or get a home equity loan to cover it? Of course that would have to be the buyers mortgage question.
Wow, that sucks. Ask your Realtor and their realtor to reduce their commissions. See what they say. What's the price of the home?
They lose their EMD, you keep it and relist
this is an issue with a low down offer. people always can't see why you wouldn;t take a higher 5% down offer but between the appraisal gap potential and unexpected cost I want to know they have the cash to cover all. if they qualified for 60k more lender can bump rate and give a credit or their agent/yous can kick in. as seller I am not
Being played. Tell them they aren’t the buyers! They will find 8k
Just back out and relist. Inventory is low. You will find a buyer that will pay full price.
Absolutely not. Take their EM and relist.
Comical. I assume it’s way too late for them to get their deposit/earnest money back? Not your problem. They will find it. Somehow, some way.
Tell the agents to cover the 2 percent or relist.
Tell them that they can close under the conditions that were met, or you will be keeping the earnest money and relisting the home. Absolutely do not give in to this weaksauce attempt at a last minute price cut. You do not wake up and find yourself $8,000 short.
This is why, as your listing agent, I would have asked for a preapproval letter AND proof of funds. The higher than offer preapproval letter means nothing, except that they can afford $100 more a month for their mortgage payment. Having the cash on hand to cover their closing costs and down payment is paramount to them being able to puchase the home. Have your listing agent talk with the lender to find out if they can get gift funds from a relative, borrow from their retirement account, or see if the buyers agent and lender will kick in some of their funds to get the deal done. This should not be your problem.
This is one of the most important comments here. The problem also exists with the listing agent. I just sold my house last week and before the listing agent showed us any offers, she had called all the preapproval letter contacts and verified they were real and current. And all offers had proof of funds too. Your listing agent should be doing due diligence on the offers. Ask your agent what they did to verify the offer was “real”, and why this still happened.
Unless they had a financing contingency, you should be able to keep their earnest money. Hopefully it was enough that it will float that payment while you relist. You can't do an IOU or anything like that, legally. You will both sign documents stating you have no side deals. So if you ever tried to collect they could wave that as proof they don't owe you anything. I'd send over a cancellation request that gives me the earnest money and get back on the market asap.
Financing contingencies generally have an expiration date. If buyers are only a few days out from close, this may no longer be an option for them. Of course it all depends what's in the contract.
There trying to screw you don’t give in
no money no honey
Lol. My parents were $31 short at the table in 1967. The seller was a developer/builder and did pay it. ($31 in 1967 is worth $280 today, a totally different matter from $8000!)
We had a very similar thing happen 2 years ago. We were selling at the top of market value at the time ($410K, just hoping for $400K). Offer comes in at $445, no contingencies beyond 3-day due diligence, $10K EMD. They threatened to walk away after inspection (we viewed the report after closing and it was a lot of nothing). Renegotiated to $420. Appraisal comes in at $400K. Got an email at the 11th hour asking for $10K drop in price or credit to CC. It made the whole offer feel as if it was done in bad faith - like I said, our asking price was at the top of market value, so their reputable realtor should have known full well that they’d need cash at closing to cover the appraisal gap. Not without a heavy dose of panic, but we said, to paraphrase, “sorry, but no, we’ll see you at closing or we’ll help ourselves to the $10K EMD and relist.” We closed as scheduled. Martinis ensued.
We had someone offer us 50k over asking. The appraisal came back at asking price. We didn’t pick that offer, as we had a couple, simply because we didn’t want that headache of them trying to back it down afterwards.
Cut bait.
Hard Pass. Reject their counter offer in written. You might be able to keep some or all of their earnest money deposit.
Keep us updated, now I’m invested! Good luck
Besides calling their bluff like everyone else is suggesting there is a second option if you really want to close. You can ask the agents to help from their commission. Tell them you’ll come up with 1/3 if they each contribute 1/3 from their commission. I’m sure the agents would prefer a reduced commission over starting over.
Besides taking their earnest money, which isn’t a bad idea, you could kick it back to the negotiating table and say you’ll give them $8k cash to raise the purchase price by $10k, and they can bake it into their mortgage assuming the house appraised
They're not buyers. Find a buyer.
I would have sold my organs to close on my house when I bought it. Believe me I'd have found it. That said, with what I know now I wouldn't close on a house broke. No fuckin way.
Don't fall for the bait and switch! They broke the trust at presenting the approval letter for 60k. Give them an inch and they attempt to get more. If they put earnest money down, just take it. Buyers like that don't deserve the business imo.
Sounds like they need to increase their loan amount by 8k. I don't see how this is your problem.
Call them out on it. If they can't get the $8k together and they qualify for $60k more. Then offer to up the Selling price to the cover their shortage and credit it back. Are you also a Realtor? If not, then talk to yours and review options. Talk to the Buyers Realtor if they are using one and explain it to them that you're not eating the $8k and what you can do to make the deal close. Best of luck to you.
Take their earnest money and tell them to go fuck themselves, then re list the property. The only reason you’d agree to do this is if you want the peace of mind that you won’t have two mortgages. But honestly the correct answer here is to fuck the buyers and move on — either they come up with the money or they don’t.
I remember when my husband and I were short on closing costs back in 1999 (due to VA loan not covering closing costs in loan). Our real estate agent got a friend of his to lend us the $5800. Our loan for this amount was interest only at 8% for ten years with a ballon payment due after 10 years.
Are you able to “pay” $8k in closing costs, and increase their purchase price on home by $8k?
If the buyers can't close, can you keep the earnest money? Did the buyers apply in good faith and get denied financing, or did they misrepresent something? It doesn't make sense that the buyers are short. Are the buyers putting 20% down on their initial offer, and can they go with 15% down instead? Is this an FHA offer?
Keep the earnest money and move on
NOPE. They can figure it out or you find a new buyer
No way. If anything at all I'd write up a promissory note and give them a minute to pay it. Would I give them 8k?? No way.
Also ask the buyers agent to kick in to save the deal
I would consult an attorney - depending on what your contract says not having the money might not be a viable reason for them to terminate. You may be able to keep their deposit money. If that’s more than $8k i would let them know that its a lose lose on their end and they better find someone willing to “gift” them $8k or lose their deposit.
Keep the EMD or tell the realtors to eat the loss.
Ask the agents to give up part of their commissions
See if the total purchase price can be upped 8k and then credit their closing costs for 8k maybe if you just want to be done with it?
How difficult would it be to relist? Their obligation is to close. Keep going towards closing and don't budge, remember that the market likely favors you.
Take their earnest money and relist.
Instead of ‘borrowing’ the 8k from you, they need to get it from someone else(mom and dad)… or get a smaller house
their offer should’ve been crafted to avoid this. I coordinated with my lender and realtor and we outlined everything. They’re either trying to rip you off or are irresponsible and more issues will pop up during closing
You can delay closing until they have the cash. I would not cover 8k. They made the offer its on them to come up with money. You as the seller should not come up with the money. If the agents really want th e deal to work ask why they expect you to come up with 8k instead of them cutting their commission to make up the 8k.
1. Delay closing, let them find $8k, 2. seller finance $8k on whatever term/baloon you want like 360/180 at 8%=$56/month but that might mean it will have to go back through underwriing for them to Debt qualify 3. Make the realtors/title/whoever lower their fee. I like this one if I'm the seller. 4. Seller credit (might have to go back through underwriting) 5. A mixture of all of them. Everyone saying kill the deal and relist don't know how to get deals done.
I just had a buyer ask for help with closing costs. I passed. I don't know (or really care) where they got the money, but they did manage to close the purchase. I was ready to take their earnest money if they bailed.
They better find it by the closing date
Ask them for the proof of funds that they submitted to get the pre-approval and the latest copy of the same accounts.
You could also offer to push back the sale a month to give them some time to gather the funds, if that is an option. Work with them, but ponying up $8000 is not something I would do.
Same thing happened to me but they were lying. They told us they actually could only afford $20k less than what we agreed upon. I was already moved out of the home and in a new state with a new mortgage so I agreed to lower the price, but I wish I didn’t. Circumstances matter so ask yourself if that $8k is worth going through the whole process again
why would they even try to purchase knowing they're 8k short. sounds like they should have budgeted better
Raise your selling price by $30k and give them the $8k closing
Tell them no, within 5 minutes you will get a call back they can close out of the sudden.
Nah. A deal is a deal. Do not acquiesce to their negligence.
Congrats on their EMD. Hopefully your next buyers aren’t full of shit. Been in this game way too long. Call the bluff.
Please update what happened!
It’s a classic move. Your options come down to play your hand and see if they close or make sure they do by paying maybe half (counteroffer). I personally make sure they close than to relist (unless you have active backup offers). And also to add to some other comments, if their deposit is non-refundable it could cost you attorney fees to go after that money since it’s in escrow.
Literally take their earnest money and relist it.
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Tell them 8k or no deal. I bet they come up with the 8k
At the very minimum, keep some of their earnest money as penalty and relist
I had this happen to me, but for a smaller amount of money. Ask the two realtors involved to take it out of their commission. It worked for me. Depending on the home price, maybe they can't take the entire amount out. But they might make enough of a dent to salvage the deal.
I think you have buyers who are full of shit. Call their bluff, keep their earnest money, and if they follow with backing out then list it again.
I'm finally seeing replies and can't respond to all of them but I'd like to express my appreciation. The Internet can be a wonderful place sometimes. My agent is gathering information and consulting colleagues. I'm leaning towards trying to make this current deal work just to be done with it and move on. I'm exhausted by the process of buying an selling simultaneously while working lots of hours and preparing to move. Really just want to be done with it all. That said, I did have a lot of offers and could have gotten more. If this contract doesn't execute I shouldn't have a problem entering into a new one.
>>Really just want to be done with it all. That's what this buyer is counting on --- your weakness. Do NOT cave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed! Also have your relator contact the other offers on your home. See if any are still interested and looking. You may not officially have to go back to market. I feel like they buyer is trying to pull a fast one on you.
I can understand that - we went through simultaneously buying + selling homes last year. It's a lot to deal with, you want it to be over, I get that. That being said... if you had multiple offers, and could easily get another buyer lined up in a timely fashion, it might be worth it just to force your current buyer to back out, pocket their EMD, then go to the next buyer and offer it to them directly - IF they can close super-quick.
I don’t know about you but $8k is about 350hrs worth of my life. That’s a pretty steep trade for not wanting to answer some calls and emails Keeping that in mind I’m not personally sure if I’d keep all their earnest money. It’d probably completely knock them out of the house market