Buyer Contingencies: Learn how to avoid creating false expectations in your buyers about their ability to back out of a deal. Learn how to assist your Sellers when you suspect contingencies are being misused, and when they should be referred to an attorney.
4/27/16: Buyers Using Contingencies for Purposes other than they were intended! While the buyer contingencies give buyers wide discretion to terminate contacts, the contingencies are not “free look” contingencies. The buyer must have an objection that fits an appropriate and relevant objection. In the same way that drivers might frequently get away with speeding, buyers might get away with using contingencies inappropriately, especially in a market in which sellers might be able to easily resell the property to someone else. Yet when sellers are disappointed with the buyer back out, all it takes to engage an earnest money battle is for the seller to decline to sign releasing the buyer’s earnest money. Learn how to avoid creating false expectations in your buyers about their ability to back out of a deal. Learn how to assist your Sellers when you suspect contingencies are being misused, and when they should be referred to an attorney.