Beware of Buyers

When I left the US in January, I decided to put my Seattle condominium on the market.

After 4 1/2 months of lukewarm interest (including a price drop), I finally woke up to an email from my real estate agent one morning that I had an offer!  It was lower than I had hoped for, but the buyer accepted my counter offer.  Now, just to wait a month or so...

It just so happened that I had a meeting in Vancouver a couple of weeks later, so I took the opportunity to go to Seattle and sign various things that needed to be done in person.  Everything seemed to be on the right track as we got past the period for the buyer to get out of the deal based on the resale certificate (condominium rules, finances, etc.).  Then one day I had an email from my agent that the buyer wanted out of the deal based on something in the Board minutes and wanted her $10,000 earnest money back.  Unfortunately, the notice was after her review period expired and she did not check a box on her offer that would allow her to get out of the deal based on something in the Board minutes.  As a result, my agent recommended that I refuse to sign the paperwork to terminate the deal.  After some exchanges to try to resolve the issue, it seemed clear that the buyer basically had cold feet.

The buyer then went silent for some time, leaving me to wonder whether or not the deal was going forward.  Finally, as we got near to the closing date, my agent informed me that the deal would not go forward but I would get the earnest money.  So, now I am back on the market and I am taking on a renter to help offset costs until the next buyer comes along.