If you get a new contract in 1 month's time, a 30 day closing will put you at the end of October. You might not want to burn that bridge.

100% financing has vanished. Many buyers do not realize they no longer qualify for the loan they were pre-approved for a few weeks ago.

I can imagine how frustrated you are. What a shame about the last buyer, I would think that there was a way around that as he isn't the 1st person to buy a house before signing official papers. You would think a copy of the divorce being filed would be enough as well as maybe him taking out a newspaper ad saying she is not responsible for his debt.

Make sure that the new agent you hire is the best for your area. There are a bunch of posts here giving tips, plus I have a post with agent questions that you can use when interviewing.

Good luck. There really needs to be something in place to protect sellers.

Selling houses right now is a very frustrating process, and I'm sorry you're experiencing it. Our first buyer backed out of our last house sale because she didn't like what the inspection found. She didn't even ask us to fix anything! She got her earnest money back, no questions asked. I don't even know what the point of earnest money is anymore...seems like anyone can get it back for any reason.

I would agree that some buyers are backing out due to financing, though my husband and I received 100% financing a month ago. We have excellent credit histories (highest score is an 800) and a long relationship with the bank that holds our mortgage, so I'm sure that helped us.

I guess if I were you I would have been inclined to cut your second buyer a little slack. Seems to me he was better than nothing.

I guess if I were you I would have been inclined to cut your second buyer a little slack. Seems to me he was better than nothing.

I agree and wonder if there was something that could be done so that he doesn't need his ex's permission. As I said, divorcing people do this all the time.

Hey everyone - thanks for all the advice! Just wanted to clarify the second buyer situation. According to his new lending agent, he needed a disclaimer from the soon to be ex in order to qualify for the loan to buy the house. Apparently he did go to the soon to be ex and was told that she would give him the disclaimer if he paid off her student loans. Unfortunately, if he took on the student loan debt (he has no cash), his debt to income ratio would be too high to qualify for the loan to buy our house.

I guess my husband and I were concerned that waiting until the end of October to hope that this guy's divorce went through and that his ex didn't nail him to the wall financially was too long to be off of the market, especially with no guarantees that the loan would go through. When our second buyer asked for more time on the inspection process and to change the closing to later in September, we granted his request (we later found out that he'd already had the inspections done and wanted more time for the disclaimer situation). So we did cut him some slack. It's when he came back again and asked for late October and we found out that his loan was in jeopardy because of the impending divorce that we felt it was too much.

What's really hurt the most is that we didn't have all the information we should have had to make informed decisions. I always thought that was part of the role of the realtor - is that not the case? And that the buyer didn't enter into any of this in good faith as well. I agree with terrig - what's the point of earnest money anymore?

Part of the problem now is that we're out of state, so we really have to rely on our realtor to be our eyes and ears. We do have relatives that are stopping by on occasion to check things out, but it's not the same as being there.

Fairygirl...Now that you've explained it more, your second buyer does sound iffy. Sounds like he's better off rebuilding his life and finances before jumping into a mortgage. I think you're better off without him.

Hopefully your new agent will get some showings (and a good offer) for you soon!

fairygirl43, you did the right thing. Divorces are messy and until his divorce is finalized he shouldn't be making any long term financial commitments. Too much can happen to his finances between now and when his divorce is finalized.

I know the frustration you are feeling since my wife vents about the market and today's buyers all the time. She really tries to qualify her buyers before she does any work for them and conversely she tries to find out as much as she can about them before she presents her sellers with a contract. Even with all the pre-qualifying she does, its really hard apparently to tell if the buyers are going to flake out.

fairygirl - I feel your pain! We just listed in Tucson, been on the market nearly three weeks and not one showing. It's very frustrating.

I'm in the NW btwn Ina and Cortaro, west of Thornydale. There hasn't been alot of action at all.

Our pricing is less than other houses in the neighbourhood. A house smaller than ours, same floorplan just sold, no AC only swamp and $155/sq. ft (ours is $140). I talked to their realtor at his open house and he said he had 4 lookers total in 4 open houses. It's very slow here.

I'd be very leary of a divorce situation. It is one that can definitely fall through. We bought this house from a couple divorcing and we will never do it again!

Can you give me an idea of vicinity of your house? If anything, since you've had two offers, that would give me some hope!

Hi sparksals - our house is in the Sabino Canyon area just off of Cloud and Webster. It's a great area and we really loved it for the 9 years we lived there. But my husband's position has brought here to Louisville, KY.

We've had a lot of showings in the almost 7 months we've been on the market and had two buyers who flaked out. Neither buyer backed out due to the house itself.

Hopefully you'll have better luck with your house!

Hi Kitchenshock - sounds like your wife is very thorough and professional. But it is hard to tell what buyers are really going to do and if they're not being up front about their situation, there's not much that can be done until the underwriters start digging - that's how we found out that this guy wasn't even divorced yet (I wonder if his fiancee knows - yes, he has a fiancee).

I think you just have to hope that buyers who enter into a contract are serious about the process.

Wow Fairygirl - sounds like you're in the price range in which people are still looking. Ours in in the under $250K and it's stagnant!

Just wanted to clarify the second buyer situation. According to his new lending agent, he needed a disclaimer from the soon to be ex in order to qualify for the loan to buy the house. Apparently he did go to the soon to be ex and was told that she would give him the disclaimer if he paid off her student loans. Unfortunately, if he took on the student loan debt (he has no cash), his debt to income ratio would be too high to qualify for the loan to buy our house.

I guess my husband and I were concerned that waiting until the end of October to hope that this guy's divorce went through and that his ex didn't nail him to the wall financially was too long to be off of the market, especially with no guarantees that the loan would go through. When our second buyer asked for more time on the inspection process and to change the closing to later in September, we granted his request (we later found out that he'd already had the inspections done and wanted more time for the disclaimer situation). So we did cut him some slack. It's when he came back again and asked for late October and we found out that his loan was in jeopardy because of the impending divorce that we felt it was too much.

October really isn't that far away. Would it be possible to have a contract where you can still show it and get offers, he then has to "put up or shut up" if someone else shows interest?

The market may go down, you may have to lower more. Right now you have a bite, even though his divorce is a little unknown. Most are like that, with each party trying to get whatever they can. Does he have his own house?

Hi roselvr - he does have his own house but it's not listed as a contingency. Our guess is that his house is where his soon to be ex-wife and their kids are currently living (it's our understanding that he does not live in his house). Our understanding of his financial situation from his lender is that he cannot take on any more debt or he doesn't qualify for the loan to purchase our house. Given that his almost ex-wife wanted him to pay for her student loans (and I'm guessing he may also incur alimony and child support when the divorce is final in mid-October) in order to sign the disclaimer, he's not getting out of this divorce with his finances in order.

Personally, I don't want to get in the middle of someone else's divorce. And it does bother me that this guy hasn't been honest from the beginning. What else don't we know?

At this point, the contract has been cancelled anyway. I'm talking to the title company about getting the earnest money because the buyer never acted in good faith. We'll see what happens. I'm not going to pursue this too hard but I think it's important to at least make the point that had the buyer acted in good faith, I would not be pursuing the earnest money (I didn't when the first buyer backed out as she never misrepresented herself or her situation).

I don't know the divorce laws in AZ but in NJ alimony is pretty hard to come by. I didn't work for the 7 years of my last marriage, then had a part time job (allowed me to put my young daughter on & off of the bus) but the judge told me to find better employment.

Most states that I've seen anyway, the house is usually sold or they get it appraised. If the wife wants it, she has to buy him out or it goes towards things he owes her (like back child support). While the wife can ask for all that she wants, she may not get it depending on laws. Who knows if he will even be divorced come October by the sound of it.

If his house will go for sale or she will buy him out, he will no longer have the other debt and by October may be able to buy the house.

I do understand where you are coming from. You lost valuable time and possibly a sale. The market has gone down in most places. The earnest money probably can't come close to what you've lost.

Good luck. I don't think I'd be too happy either.

Rose - For the record, AZ is a community property state. I don't know how that figures into alimony and paying the OP's buyer's student loans though.

Hi folks - just got a message back from the Title Company regarding our request for the earnest money. They say that because the contract was cancelled by the buyer during the extended discovery period, he gets the earnest money returned. I reminded them again that the extended discovery period was granted by us (through an addendum) based on false information from the buyer (he asked for more inspection time even though the inspections were already completed - information we didn't have until after the buyer cancelled the contract on Sunday) so doesn't that make the addendum null and void? If so, then the original discovery period ended on Wednesday (not Sunday) and he cancelled after the discovery period.

It's a long shot, I know. But we'll see what they say.