When you’re in the midst of a real estate transaction, you hope for a smooth closing process that ends with you happily moving into your new home. And in more cases than not, the seller takes the money that they make from the closing to purchase a different home to move into themselves. However, there are cases where the seller’s own deal for a new home falls through. This can result in the seller refusing to leave their home if they don’t readily have another place to go, and in such a case, you have three options:

1. Keep your money. Lock away your funds and postpone the closing until the seller is officially vacated from the property. In addition to this, for your own compensation, enforce a daily penalty. (Tip: The penalty should be severe enough that it would be cheaper for the seller to stay anywhere else, like a hotel.)

2. Proceed to close. Some buyers want to move on despite discrepancies with the seller. Though it is quite a way to stand your ground, this scenario proves to be demanding financially, emotionally, and legally.

3. Decide not to close. If you were on the fence about the property and the time, hassle, and effort proves to be too much, then maybe this home wasn’t worth it to you in the first place. Better to discover this now when it is easy to walk away from a closing table rather than afterwards when you’re locked in.

Nevertheless, no buyer imagines they’d be put in this position, but it does happen. Knowing your options before a sour deal on the seller’s side happens keeps you ahead of the game and prepared during what may be the greatest investment of your life.


At Title Junction we care about helping you stay informed throughout your real estate transaction. Have questions? Give us a call at 239.415.6574.

In case you missed it, check out our last Title Junction post: Inspection and Appraisal: What’s the Difference?

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