It’s not uncommon for a seller to want to back out of a contract. Menlo Park real estate attorney Nancy Chillag agreed on the causes and cures when I interviewed her on this topic.”Sometimes the seller will put their house on the market; just testing the water” Chillag went on to say “It could sell in two days, then the sellers start looking around for a replacement home” “When they can’t find something they want, they want to back out of the deal.” “Sometimes it’s just that they assumed there will be a lot more houses on the market where they want to live” said Chillag, “But they are in contract to sell their home and literally have no place to go.” I asked her what happens when the sellers change their mind? She says they: “Go to an attorney to get them out of the contract and it doesn’t work that way.” Chillag added, it is “Very, very difficult when you’re a seller and you signed a contract.”

Chillag concurs that “Sellers need to have everything in place prior to entering into a contract and to include a Seller Locating Replacement Property Contingency form. This of course applies to any seller at any price range. This is what risk-management is all about.

Excerpted from the television program Kapowich on Real Estate, 1999 program #7