When Buyers Walk

The negotiation to sell a home is like any other deal—it can fall apart at the last minute.
As a seller you may think you are on the verge of finally closing the deal, you may have already uncorked the wine, and the glasses are waiting to be filled, only to find that you have to start all over again.

There are any number of reasons a potential buyer may back out of a deal, including:

Not getting the financing: a buyer may really want to purchase your property, but a preapproval letter is not guarantee. If they don’t get the loan, they will have to renege on the deal.

Unexpected life change: A family with one child is set to buy your cozy little home and finds out the wife is pregnant with triplets. Again, they may have really wanted the property, but now find that it is too small.

Then there are times when the potential buyer does a little soul searching (or house hunting) and simply has a change of heart.

Cold feet: Although the buyer as gone through the entire process, he or she may still feel tentative, and back out at the last minute. It could be anything, the price, the area, the size of the yard…unfortunately for you the buyer’s nagging doubts don’t surface until you are far along in the process.

Commitment-phobe: Making an offer doesn’t mean a buyer stops looking. Sometimes in their continued search, they find a property that they want more than yours.

I am not telling you this to discourage you, but rather to say, that there are many factors you cannot control. If you have done your best to present your house in its most appealing condition, you have done well. You are not to blame if a buyer changes his or her mind.