Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Michigan

My rights as a home seller

I am currently selling a home in MI. I had an accepted offer and another offer came along with no contingencies and closing within 30 days. The seller was preapproved for the loan. I bumped the origal offer and accepted the new offer as the primary. To get the financing the buyer had to have a well and septic inspection. They both came out with positive results. Two days before the closing the buyer backed out. He said he does not want to go through with the deal. His only reason is that he does not want the house anymore. I know that I can keep the earnest money, but is he obligated to honor the contracts that we established? If not what good are all of the legal documents that we as sellers and him as a buyer have to fill out? Any help on this matter would be appreciated.


Asked on 10/12/03, 12:00 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Gary Weingarden Gary D. Weingarden

Re: My rights as a home seller

It depends on what you mean by "honor the contract." You may be able to recover damages if you are out-of-pocket some money. Your contract probably says that you are entitled to "specific performance." Specific performance means asking the court to force the buyer to complete the deal. Generally, courts will not do that for the seller because they find money damages to be adequate. For more specific advice, you should have a lawyer take a look at the documents that you have.

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Answered on 10/13/03, 8:27 am


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