Posted by Tennessee Bob on April 26, 2004 at 10:49:32:
Steve,
YES!
I always keep the house on the market until I have Cash Paid in full In my hand. If your buyer has to scrape up the down payment, you can expect to be rehabing & reselling the home in less then a year 8 out of 10 times.
Breaking purchase contracts - Posted by Steve Contois
Posted by Steve Contois on April 26, 2004 at 08:36:05:
I need some advice. I accepted $100 and a purchase contract on two seperate occasions as non-refundable ernest money to hold the home for two weeks. The customers claim they need time to save up for the other $400 of the down payment and the first months lot rent and security deposit. The last two buyers I have done this for have cancelled two days before the closing and I missed out on everyone that wanted the home why it was under contract. I’m left scrambling, calling all the customers from my waiting list trying to sell it to everyone I told it was under contract but not final. Am I being a sucker? Should I only take the home off the market until I get the down payment in full? I feel like the customers are giving me $100 and dropping me as soon as they find a better deal or they spend all their money on cigarettes and Mountain Dew. There has to be a more efficient way to structure these agreements than what I’m doing.
Re: Breaking purchase contracts - Posted by Michael(KCMO)
Posted by Michael(KCMO) on April 26, 2004 at 11:26:11:
I have to agree w/ Steve. Just tell your “buyers” that when they put the money in your hand then it’s a done deal - but not before. I know some other folks on this board will hold it for about 3 days to give the “buyers” a chance to fill out an park app. If they haven’t filled out the app in that time then they lose their $100 and it gets sold to the first one to give you the money. That’s about as lenient as I would get. I read someone’s post recently (sorry, I don’t remember who it was off the top of my head) that said he had made about $1,200 in the past month or two just in forfeited deposits. 
My .02,
Michael(KCMO)