Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Oregon

Re: House down payment refund

I'm assuming you're referring to earnest money to the seller, rather than a downpayment to the lender towards the total loan amount.

If you can get your money back will depend on whether ability to obtain financing was written into the earnest money agreement as a condition to the closing of the sale.

Check to see how specific your "subject to financing" clause is, whether it mentions the ability to obtain a VA loan, or a loan whatsoever (if it is the latter than you probably need to show you are not able to obtain other types of financing as well).

Have you changed your mind and don't want this house or are you unable to obtain financing at all? This would affect your strategies at this point.

Ask for a refund in any event, but the wording of the agreement is usually dispositive.

$10k is a sizeable amount. The amount should not be too large, because then it will be construed as a "penalty." However, the seller is entitled to be compensated for having taken the property off the market while you were trying to obtain financing.

This scenario can also be avoided in the future if you've prequalified for a mortgage loan.