when is it too late to back out of a contract when buying a house?

Question

If you notice stuff about the neighborhood you don't like, but you already put in an offer and it got accepted is it too late to back out? if not, when?

Answer 1

- Need to review the contract.
- I just bought a house recently. As far as I know, you can backout if the contract has not passed the attorney review yet. (Especially, if you haven't signed a disclousure document from the seller yet.)
- Tell to your realtor or the seller on what you want if it is still in the early stage. (The seller may allow you to backout. (If you don't really love the house, you may give the seller a hard time in home inspection. The inspector almost alway found something.)

Answer 2

It depends on how you wrote the offer. Are there contingencies like accepting the report from a qualified building inspector, or getting financed, or the house passes termite or pest inspection, or the drainfield and well are up to code, or the roof, foundation, etc will not need more than $X in repairs? If you used a talented and experienced realtor, those clauses should be in there. If you did this deal on your own, you may have learned an expensive lesson.

In general, (and I am not a lawyer or realtor, so this advice is worth the electrons it was sent with), I think real estate was specifically exempted from the uniform commercial code. This is the law that gives you 3 days to nullify a major purchase like a car, for example. So unless your purchase agreement gives you some sort of out like the ones above, you may be the not-so-proud owner of a house. Talk to your realtor if you have one. Otherwise, talk to a real estate lawyer.

Answer 3

If you have a good Real Estate Agent, you can always find a way out of a contract. But you shouldn't have put an offer in on a house without knowing the neighborhood.

Answer 4

The first answer is probably the best. Read your offer, see what it says about inspections and financing. If the inspection finds anything at all, just back out.

Answer 5

It is too late once you receive an accepted offer, UNLESS, you have contingencies in place to get out of the offer. If you do not have contingencies, you stand to lose your escrow if you back out now.

Answer 6

it really depends on what was in your offer. if you had the option to back out based on financing, then you have to be turned down by the bank to pull out. if you put in the option to back out based on the inspection, then you need to get the house inspected by a professional and then you can choose to back out. other than that, I'm not sure how escrow works.