My partner and I are thrilled about finally becoming first-time homeowners. We found a house we absolutely love and our offer was accepted. After passing the inspections, we lifted our contingencies and expected a sixty day closing.
However, with only a few weeks left to go, our seller still hasn’t found a new place. Our realtor suggested a rent-back agreement, which would make us the landlords and put us at risk for a variety of issues. We decided not to go that route.
He also asked if we could release our escrow funds early so that it would make the seller’s offer more appealing. We decided against that, too. We don’t want to be landlords or bankers, we just want to buy the home we contracted for.
We spoke to our realtor, escrow officer, and an attorney about the situation. The seller needs our money from escrow to make their offer more attractive, but our lawyer advised us not to put our financial future on the line for someone else’s dream home. The seller also wouldn’t consider a bridge loan. The lawyer also advised against a rent-back agreement, as the seller could not provide a definitive timeline for moving out.
At this point, we’re not sure what to do. We want to keep the contract intact, but we don’t want to mortgage our future. If the sale falls through, will we get our deposit back? The contract cancellation agreement they sent us states that the cancellation is ‘mutual’ and that we may lose fees and costs already incurred.