Seller backing out of contract?

[Austin L.]

Hello everyone, A family friend wanted to sell one of his houses. We did a off market deal with no realtors. We agreed on a purchase price of 240,000. I found a simple online purchase agreement saying he will sell the house for 240,000 and I will buy it with a closing date of June 25th(one month). We both signed it on May 25th. The purchase agreement does not mention anything about backing out of the deal and no earnest money was deposited. The seller received his tax assessment today which has the house valued at 265,000 and in today’s market could probably sell for 290,000ish. The seller now wants to back out of the deal and list it with a real estate agent to get the most he can. Can he back out of the deal since it was an online simple contract with no specific mention of backing out of the deal? I already started the loan process. I have sent multiple documents to the loan company and locked in an interest rate. They are supposed to do an appraisal on the house today. Does the seller need my permission to back out or can he do it at his own will? Will I have to pay for the work the loan company has already done? This is in Washington if that matters.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Danny Randazzo:

Austin L. You mentioned you have the property under contract with a family friend. How is that relationship and how do you want to keep it? You probably have a legally binding contract which could be enforced to have the seller sell the house. You could have an attorney review the contract and take action but that will cost time, money and a headache. It seems the best course of action would be to talk to the family friend and see how they want to proceed and if they still want to sell. If the seller wants to get top dollar and get an agent, stage their property and go through the formal sales process they could do that. You might be able to offer a quick close without the hassles of listing on the mls. Try to find a win win with the seller so you both can be happy with the deal. Good luck!

in that market at that price point no staging required house will sell for full price in 3 to 5 days..

with no Earnest money in WA and OR and CA you have no binding contract.. its one of the tenants of contract law in our area.  And we don't use attornies to close these deals like you do in SC.... they will bill buy the hour at 350 to 450 an hour you will run up a 5k bill before you know what hit you and will lose anyway..