Can a seller pull out of contract if we have an agreement..

for these "so called" buyers to buy your contract for the extra $5,000 and then execute on your written contract as an assignment. Problem solved.

sully,if stated in the contract that you have until june 30th ..AND YOU HAVE FULFILLED everything in your contract then he has to honor it until june 3oth.thats what a contract is .now this is also why he is calling and LOOKING for a breach on your part ..hence the call to see if your check is there.i would make sure you have all contract promises complete and if you dont find the $$$ or other investor then i would be doing everything i could to HELP THIS SELLER so i could at least not lose the deal and profit SOMEHOW .Bill has a great idea but how are you going to know who offered him more and you didnt bring these people that offered more to the seller.Work like heck sully to find the $ or another investor.hope i am reading the question right ???

just read over your ? again ok i would now say it depends TOTALLY on what wording you have in the CONTRACT. my opinion !!
good luck sully ...eager to hear the outcome !!
jay

remember that if the seller just decided to sell to another person your sole recourse would be to sue for specific performance. If you have have the additional money for lawyers fees that's great, but if you don't or were just going to assign the deal to make 5K it's not worth the aggravation.

I just had the same conversation with another investor who said the same thing! He stated to just see if the seller is willing to give me the names so I can contact them myself and have them buy my contract.
My only concern here is: I dont know what they are offering him, but I know it is more than what we have contracted for ($49K). So if Im understanding this correctly, the process would go something like this: I would contact the seller, ask for the names. He gives me a name. I contact that person and say, "listen I have it under contract would you like to just buy it from me?". If he says "sure", what is the price? and it is more than he is offering to the seller (I am trying to assign it for $60K, but will move if need be) I risk having him go back to the seller and say, "listen Marc is trying to sell it to me for $60K, whats up with that? Seller comes in breach's with me and sells to him for whatever they intially talked about, right? Is that just the risk at hand here?

Other option, I move my sell price to whatever it is the other buyer is offering and not make as much? I really dont want to do that as I know there is a large upside to this property and the $10K assignment fee is fair.
What do you think?

The wording is as follows:

Financing Contingency. Buyer's obligation to close under this Contract is subject to a financing contingency that Purchaser obtain mortgage financing in the amount of $49,000.00 for a term of 30 years at an interest rate not higher than 6%. Purchaser agrees to work diligently and in good faith to obtain such financing and shall, within 5 days after Seller's acceptance of this contract submit a completed application for mortgage financing to at least one financial institution curently providing such loans requesting financing in the amount and on the terms provided in this Contract. If Buyer fails to timely submit such an application, this financing contingency is waived by the Buyer.
Buyer shall provide Seller with written notice that this Financing Contingency has or has not been satisfied not later than June 30, 2011(Financing Contingency Date). If Buyer does not provide the Seller with written notice that a commitment for financing has been obtained by the Financing Contingency Date, Seller shall have the right, in Seller's sole discretion, to Terminate this Contract.

15. Buyer's Default. If the Buyer, without just cause, shall fail or neglect to pay the balance of the purchase price at the time of closing as herein provided, then at the election of the Seller this Contract shall terminate, and Seller shall be entitled to have and retain the down payment as full and complete liquidated damages for the breach of this Contract by the Buyer, and all other obligations of all parties hereto shall cease and this Contract shall be void without recourse to the paries hereto.
16. Sellers' Default. In the event that the Seller shall be unable or shall fail, upon tender by the Buyer of the balance of the Purchase Price as herein provided at the time of closing, to deliver to Buyer or nominee, a good and suffcient conveyance as hereinabove provided, then this Contract may be terminated by Buyer and Buyer shall be entitled to have and receive
back from the Seller all sums theretofore paid by Buyer.

So the way I read this is that with the Buyers Default in place as long as I pay by closing, no harm, no foul. With the Sellers Default as long as he can provide a clean title than we are good there.

You are right. I do realize that they can just walk away and there will be no penalty that he incurrs. That is basically why I am so caught up on this b/c he can breach and I am back to square one.

Have you thought about filing one with the county recorder office? That way, IF he does go behind your back to sell, it clouds the title so they can't close the deal, unless they pay you because you are still under contract with the seller.

Coming out of the woodwork again! I am researching it now.... Have you Ever used one yourself?

The only hurdle I see here is coming up with a tactful way to present this option to the seller so he will sign it.
Guess there is only one way to find out. Wish I had this in my purchase and sale from the beginning..

Sully,

the truth is that regardless of how legal your contract is, if the seller wants to breach it, he can and will do so, and there is really nothing you can do about it, unless you want to spend some $ on legal fees...
If you're dealing with an honorable seller, everything will be fine, but if you're dealing with a seller who wants to make the most $, then you need to get your buyer in asap or else just walk away. That is why you want to have your buyer ready, so the transaction happens fairly quickly, and you don' t give other buyers the opportunity to come between you and the seller...

wishing you success,

Valerie

how about this scenario. Talk to your seller and ask him how much the new buyer is willing to pay. Assuming that it is substantially more (+10,000), ask the seller if he would be willing to make an addendum to the contract to split the additional sum in half by doing an assignment. At least the seller will be on your side as he will be making more money too.

Or you can move forward on your own by finding an assignment partner.

But please re-read your paragraph 16. You have given him a pretty simple way to void the contract too by not performing and the only "penalty" is that you get your money back.

My vote is NO to the memorandum of option concept. As Leghorn Foghorn might say, " That's just chickens**t". Also, as you point out, how will that conversation sound like this far after the contract's origin. (Lesson- Get all paperwork completed at the same time while everybody has the imputus to get it done.)

Or offer to cancel the contract for $5,000 and put this headache to rest.

Many other options too, but the nuances of the contract and the parties are unknown to give you more specific information.

The more I reseach the Memorandum of Option it is definately something I should have had in with the contract. Sour grapes if I introduce it now.

In your scenario you state, "ask the seller if he would be willing to make an addendum to the contract to split the additional sum in half by doing an assignment. At least the seller will be on your side as he will be making more money too" So right now its contracted for $49K, lets say new buyer is offering $55. Your saying make an addendum for $3000 ($6K/2) and then he assigns back to me? Im confused here, what interest is going where in this instance? Normally I am assigning to an end buyer, but is he now assigning back to me?
Also, wouldnt suggesting to cancel the contract for a fee, just **** the seller off? Or is that the best way to intice him not to walk away and if he does than he pays for it?

I caught this thread late but found it interesting. I am curious how it all worked out.

As far as I could see you only had two options, A: Find a new buyer that will commit, PRONTO! or B: Take Bill's advice and split the difference. Possibly getting less than half the profit you intended but at least not losing out completely.

Steve