How to Break a Home Purchase Contract
Buying a home can be one of the most stressful experiences in your life. Especially if this is your first home purchase, there can be much second-guessing of your decision. Should you decide you simply do not want to go through with the purchase after you have signed a purchase agreement, be aware that there will be legal and financial ramifications.
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Instructions
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Speak with your real estate agent. Ask her to approach the seller's agent with your dilemma. Have the two of them hash it out. The seller's agent might be able to discuss the problem with the seller and get a feeling for how he will react.
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Consult an attorney if you feel that there is going to be a battle. There may be something in the purchase agreement, some contingency, that your agent neglected to find, providing you with a legal way out of the contract.
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Resign yourself to the fact that you will most likely lose your earnest money deposit. Unless the two of you agreed in the contract to binding arbitration of any disputes, the seller may sue for breach of contract or file a suit for what is known as specific performance. The difference between the two is that in a breach of contract suit, the seller is suing for money damages. In a specific performance demand, the seller is demanding that the buyer go through with the terms of the contract. Neither party has a right to specific performance. Whether the seller prevails in such an action is up to the court.
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