Update #2: Thanks to all for the words. We went ahead with the planned walk through over the weekend, even though their agent was trying to delay until today (tuesday). It was an interesting event, after being greeted by their agent as if nothing was wrong, the "to do" list was dissected item by item, until the each item had a tick or cross next to it. Out of 16 items only 3 (very minor) fixes had been done. After several hours of polite verbal bashing by us mostly in regards to the sellers actions and their agents work ethics, (and our agent clarifing real estate regulations) their agent appeared as if he was going to lose it either mentally or physically. At this point we laid down our four options to them. 1. Fix everything with four times the monetary amount held in escrow until close (as determined by third party contractors). 2. Do not fix anything and credit us four times the monetary amount (as determined by third party contractors). 3. We pursue the legal option. 4. We pull out. We would not leave until one of these four options were taken. They opted for number 1 without much resistance. We are heading back this morning (tuesday) for the delayed final walk through. Allegedly most things have been fixed, but we shall see, I will post the results soon.

No, a seller can't cancel a contract on the basis of a subsequent cash offer unless the contingency was not fulfilled. eg contingent on the sale of buyers house by x date and sale didn't close. Or a financing contingency or other contingency not met. This is why backup contracts exist. There are enough primary contracts that fail to close that a backup makes sense. What would be the point of a contract if the seller could simply change his mind and jump into another contract without following the terms already agreed to by the parties? Some contingent contracts have very tight dates that allow the seller to cancel (think 72 hour kick out clause here). These type of primary contracts are especially good for backup contracts but you still have to follow the terms. Those agents that don't present backup offers to their sellers are thankfully few and far between IME. I agree with getting the sellers response to the offer in writing to prevent that scenario.

Hi. Just wanted to pipe in and second roselvrs advice on possibly getting a pod to deal with part of this mess. I am in a similar situation, as our original plans did not work out, and basically we will be living in hotels for about a week until we can move into our new place. When I originally put my house on the market, we were planning on moving from state A to state B due to dh taking a job. In order to "stage" my home, I brought in 1 pod to declutter, and placed that pod in storage. DH has since been terminated from that job, and since my home was already sold, we still needed to move-so we are moving to State C-where the cost of living is much less, and we will also be close to friends and family-and we can start over. Because that first pod is just sitting in storage, I just had to call them and change the place it is to be delivered to. I have 2 more pods now sitting in my driveway for the rest of my stuff. The "pods" place recommended movers to me who will pack the pods (they packed the first one too)-and the pods company will be moving all 3 pods at once to my destination. I have already changed the date of the move 3 different times, and was able to change the delivery date of the pods as well. It has made my life so much easier knowing I have this kind of flexibility. And the real beauty of it is that I can have each pod delivered seperately-so I can unpack them 1 a a time. Because I am packing them in order of when I will need things, this will make unpacking so much easier for me as well-the first pod that is already in storage will be the last pod delivered-as most of that stuff is not necessary items. The last pod packed will be the first I request delivery of. Once I unpack that one, they will come, take it away, and if I want, deliver the second one to be unpacked. It is not "cheap". Each pod I store is 200.00 a month. However, I have alot of "stuff"-each pod supposedly holds the contents of a 1500 sq ft house. It has been a lifesaver for me, as it has given me the freedom to make and chane plans accordingly. Every time I call to make changes, it has been done correctly, and very professionally. I wish you all the luck in the world-I know how stressful this is. I am hoping by this time next month we are in our new place and settled, as this has really taken its toll on me and my family.

You don't need a realtor to sell/buy ... but you should be using a lawyer to protect your interests in any major transaction.