You can also watch this video about how to cancel a contract to sell your home on YouTube.

I occasionally get calls from home sellers who are in a panic because they want to get out of a contract they have to sell their home.

Typically, by the time they call a strange real estate agent they found online – me – communications between the sellers and their real estate agents are contentious.

These sellers often blame their agents for talking them into accepting offers that, after some reflection, they don’t like. In this situation, sellers often feel they’re being railroaded by their own agents.

It’s a huge mess!

Even if a seller gets a buyer to agree to cancel the contract, the buyer may want the seller to pay the buyer some money to cover the cost of the home inspection and the huge inconvenience to the buyer of starting their home search all over again.

Usually, however, a buyer will want the seller to fulfill the contract and sell the house to the buyer as agreed upon in the signed contract.

In addition, if the seller and buyer mutually agree to cancel the contract, the seller may still be on the hook for the full commission to the seller’s agent! The seller’s agent did indeed find a ready, willing and able buyer for the home per the listing agreement between the seller and the seller’s real estate agent.

What a Mess!

Every state has a different contract form, every individual contract is different, every buyer is different, every seller is different, their agents are all different, it’s a totally unpredictable mess.

There’s a lot of blame to go around.

Seller’s Agent’s Mistakes

  • Agent should not have pressured the seller to list the home
  • Agent should not have pressured the seller to accept the offer
  • Agent should have clearly explained to the seller that the seller has no contingencies – once the seller accepts an offer, the seller is locked in to selling the house as stated in the accepted offer (the contract).

Seller’s Mistakes

  • Seller should not have “dabbled” in selling the house. Plan to sell the house or plan not sell the house but don’t be in between.
  • Seller should have researched the selling process before listing the home with an agent so the seller wouldn’t have been so dependent upon the advice of their real estate agent.
  • Seller trusted or ignored the agent and didn’t study the contract before signing.
  • Before they listed the house, the seller should have planned how to move everything out of the house and where they were going to live after the sale. This is not an, “I’ll figure it out when the time comes” situation.

It’s a Bad Situation

I’m sorry but you probably can’t cancel your contract to sell your home, and if you are able to cancel the contract, it may cost you some money.

Watch the video at the top for more details.

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