Seller backs out of signed contract…what to do

[Cody W.]

Here’s the story…

Looking for single family vacation home and found a place. We offered full asking price on day one and went under a signed contract contingent upon appraisal. Appraisal came back well under signed contract so we began renegotiating. We agreed on a price and the new contract was generated, but not been signed yet when we heard about another potential property coming for sale. We decided to hold off and we looked at other property. The other property was a better fit for what we were looking for so we made a deal for full asking price on property #2 and got a signed contract. We then went and talked to property #1 sellers face to face and told them we were no longer interested as appraisal was low and found a better property.

A couple days go by and property #2 sellers call us and say they are backing out of contract due to property #1 sellers saying we were dishonest.

Arguments….

-We never had an updated signed contract with them.

-they relisted and sold in 48 hours.

Could we go after seller #2 in court system since we do have a signed contract and did nothing wrong?

[John Underwood]

Better to move on to next property or only attorneys will win.