You bought your dream home. Then the world shut down and the
market collapsed. Do you still have to close the deal?
Generally speaking, if a purchaser signs an Agreement of
Purchase of Sale but does not close for whatever reason, the seller
can sue the purchaser. So long as the seller can prove that he or
she was ready, willing, and able to close, which means that the
seller's lawyer had all the paperwork ready to close the deal,
then the seller can put their existing home back on the market and
sue the buyer for the difference between the original purchase
price and the amount the house ended up selling for. In addition,
if the deal does not close because the purchaser backs out of the
deal, then the seller keeps the deposit, regardless of whether the
seller sues the purchaser for damages. When the seller sues the
purchaser for the difference in purchase prices, the deposit is
then deducted from the total loss.
