The buyer doesn't want to close, demands a refund; the seller wants to forfeit the deposit. 

@Casity Kao, thank you for your specific perspectives and the things I should consider when deciding whether to forfeit the commission to get a lower. 

Now when real property is 1-year delinquent in tax payments, the property is “forfeited” to the county treasurer, unless the county “opts out”, in which case the property will revert to the state.

Payee forfeits all future rights to monetary gains from this contract."

Maybe even a "utility escrow" which they would forfeit in the event of default...

And remind her that she has already forfeited her security deposit.

If they change their mind and fail to sign the lease and start renting, they forfeit the holding deposit and I put it back on the maret.If you don't have anything in writing, you put yourself at risk of someone canceling and walking away without penalty.

If I bail for whatever reason, then that LLC should still close that transaction, or forfeit their earnest money, which should be substantial (At least 1% of the sales price IMO).In that instance, they are not earning a commission.

If you don't close, you forfeit your EMD, unless the title can't be cleared then you get your EMD refunded.I have done wholesale deals where the buyer was allowed to include a due-diligence period in the contract, but that was because of the scope of the project $1M+ offer price.The key is, no matter what numbers you are given,  you should be able to do your own due diligence to determine if the deal is a deal for you.

Account Closed  My trip to the ninth circuit was as a co defendant I would not settle it was a civil Rico. big developer from china.. and me a little 30 year old RE broker .. caught in the middle of the big dogs.the plantiffs attorney got the largest penalty for acting in bad faith in CA history... so they took it to the ninth circuit and lost.. so my name is there as a co defendant even though I really had nothing to do with it I was let out along the way..