Squash a Deal
One month ago, all you wanted was to find a buyer for your home. Now, you receive a really good offer but are getting cold feet to the idea of leaving your home. If you want to squash a deal on your for-sale home but don’t know how to do so “appropriately”, here are some options you can try according to Trulia:
- Refuse to make repairs – I consider this passive-aggressive. Rather than being truthful about your change of heart, you just refuse to make repairs pointed out in the inspection or you refuse to lower the price based on the cost of repairs.
- Have a contingency in place – This will allow you escape the deal, but doesn’t work as a tactic once a contract has been signed. Remember buyers must agree to your contingencies before signing. That is part of the negotiation.
- Negotiate the deal – If you want to move, but are not ready yet, negotiate to stay beyond closing via a rental agreement. This will be in the contract you both agree to.
- Take responsibility for your actions – If you want to squash the deal, admit it. You changed your mind. You would like to break the contract and you will compensate the prospective buyer for any expenses incurred, maybe even something extra for their troubles.
- Know that it might be difficult to sell later – word gets around. If you put the house back on the market, realtors have long memories. And may advise their clients to avoid your property or severely discount what they are willing to pay.
- Prepare for the worst: being sued – If you change your mind and want to squash a deal, you just might get sued. Chances are you will prevail in court, because the seller has only one house, while the buyer has many choices. However who wants to take the risk and pay attorney costs to find out.
- Get a lawyer – Probably this is the best advice if you want out of the contract. You agreed to the negotiated terms and you signed the papers.
For fun, there are some additional things you can try:
- Burn down the house – It’s kind of like taking your ball home. If I can’t have it nobody will.
- Claim the house is haunted – Houses in which a murder or suicide happened or where there are rumors of haunts or poltergeists fall under the subject of stigmatized property. A stigmatized property could be a material fact in determining the value of the house. Disclosure to the buyer could reduce the value and they might want out of the deal.
- Have the neighbors drop by and claim the house is haunted. They have seen strange lights in the house.
- Claim there is a material defect that you know about that was not disclosed in the inspection.
- Buy the neighbor a big, barking dog.
- Invite a motorcycle gang to visit the next door neighbors when the prospective buyer stops by.
- Start a rumor that the city is going to widen the street resulting in more traffic.
You can see that it is not easy breaking a contract after you and the buyer signed the document you negotiated.
Val Buys Houses LLC we specialize in helping homeowners out of just about any situation, no matter what! There are no fees, upfront costs, commissions, or anything else. Just the simple honest truth about your home, we buy for cash, therefore we can help you sell it fast to resolve any situation, or give you as much time as you need.
Give us a call today at 404-844-8845 and let us see if we can help YOU!