Sorry that's happening Danny Skelly 

  I've seen the classics, but not recently.  A few that come to mind:

Buyer bought a new car the day before closing.  Lender ran a final credit check the morning of the close, the ratios were busted, loan denied, back on market.

Buyer changed their mind for no apparent reason, walked away from deposit, back on market.

Seller changed mind; wanted out, Attorney on buyer side advised that Seller would prevail in a suit for specific performance (long-time principal residence/homestead).  Off market.  Broker did not pursue it.

I have not personally seen this but, I have certainly heard several stories of this happening lately - especially when the interest rates tick up ½ point while in Escrow. 

Sorry you're experiencing this, Danny.

Luckily no

I had one fall out last week because the buyer got caught up in a company lay-off. First time something like that has happened to me.

I do not know.  Terminating contracts is not something I have experienced. 

I am sorry that is happening.  

Luckily no and my fingers are crossed that a buyer doesn't flake out on us today...  We'll see by close of business.  I'm sorry this has happened to you and think it is a bit of a reflection of the market shift (i.e. raised rates seem to be paired with raised expectations in the buyer pool). It does seem - in our market - that the buyers have "all the power" once a contract is signed.  It's frustrating and I wish the process was tweaked a bit to make it harder for a buyer to cancel.  Oh the joys of real estate!  I hope that these bad contracts lead to even better ones for you. 

Fortunately, I have not had this happen.

Luckily, only had one condo fall out due to the HOA in the last few months.

Sorry to hear that, ours are fine, tell your clients to ignore the tv and focus on not being homeless.

Sorry you are experiencing this, Danny. I have fortunately not had a transaction fall out of escrow for at least several years but have seen it happening on the MLS, no doubt for a variety of reasons.

I am happily retired Danny Skelly BUT if this were happening to me I'd want to know why too.

I see you are licensed in two States, is it happening in both? What reasons are they giving you for the cancelations?

Since Summer '22 yes. I'm closing one today that took 4.5 months, 3 offers, 2 escrows and 8 lenders to close with all-hands-on-deck working our asses off to get us here. They are not closing "easy" these days, which is why only the veterans and pros will get'em done. However, this is nothing new for us veterans of 20+ years - it's a return to the old days.

What are some of the reasons ?

Retirement has benefits. No deals go bad! Then again, no deals made!

So many reasons a sales transaction falls through, right now it may be the higher interest rates or irresponsible spending, job loss...

Have experienced a few in my career but thankfully they are not common!

This sounds like Southwest Airlines... only they are far worse!

Slow down, time-out and cancellations are making the rounds however consider that as a whole, this industry does not stop and there will always be activity regardless of man's meddling in the Real Estate cycles

What's the reason for the fallthroughs?

Always lots of reasons but I'm sure the interest rate increases can make a deal crash. Just before closing is a little rare.

I do remember one year (ages ago) that if you had a listing it took 3 contracts for it to finally 'stick'. 

Hi Danny, not in the past two weeks but I've had a lot of deals (more than usual) canceled in the past couple of months.

I had one contract fall apart but the buyers chose to exercise their right to walk during the HOA doc review period. I am seeing more listing status changes from pending back to active than a few months ago. However, it's not a huge percentage and those are back under contract fairly quickly.  

Oh I am so sorry to hear this is happening.  As of today, right now, I have not had any deals terminate unexpectedly.  I have heard about this in different areas however, it's not happening here - or at least with any of my deals.  Hope all turns out well for you Danny Skelly -- To 2023!

had one recently that rates had gone up since they were qualified and they were no longer qualified for a $400,000 house.  It was 25 days old when they denied the loan.

It almost happened to me this past summer - a "super quick" cash deal kept getting delayed and delayed by buyer for bogus reasons; might've been to extract price concessions (after the contract!). Buyer was at risk for losing deposit, so it eventually worked out with a very minor concession. I was ready with updated, more seasonal photos, I was so sure the home was going back on the market. 

I had one, it was my listing, and there was a pre-approval along with the offer, it's a long story but the buyer couldn't obtain the mortgage and canceled last minute.

Haven't heard of that being an issue in these parts 

As a Loan Officer, I see around 300 deals a year, so I see a fair amount of deals fall apart.  No rhyme or reason, just all over the map.

Cold feet is probably tops, and you'd likely be surprised to hear a lot of clients asking us to lie about the real answer so they can get their earnest money back. Asking us to say something like credit scores dropped, and now the loan is denied.  I won't lie to agents, but I would assume many Loan Officers will. I simply always refer it back to the client if a listing agent calls.  Saying, "you'll have to ask them the reason." 

HOA's, inspection, low appraisals... See it all a million times.  I even had one client years ago spend a chunk of his already verified down payment to pay for a moving company, and then was short at closing, forcing the deal to fall apart. 

Deals dying late in the game because of lenders discovering something does happen, but if you partner with a good experienced Loan Officer, it is extremely rare.

I recently had one where, because of new credit reporting  rules for collections and charge offs bite me.  Nothing was showing on the credit report, the client answered there we no issues, but once we received title, there was a huge judgement that killed the deal.

But bottom line, I've seen no 'pattern' recently to speak of.

It's been a matrotrophic year ever sinch the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Fed raising interest rates.  We are all feeling the pressure.  God Bless you, keep on truckin'

If we have a termination, it is done in the first 10 days which are usually conditional days for inspection, financing, insurance, water and sewer tests etc.   Once those conditions are fulfilled or waived, the home is considered sold.  It will then close in whatever time period is indicated in the accepted offer.  Usually 30 days or longer. 

Everyone is seeing this, at least if they're doing enough business.  The past 2 years, buyers had ZERO leverage, so there was hardly any way for them to terminate a contract without a) having to go BACK into the bidding war frenzy we saw that no buyer wanted to be part of, or b) ending up spending more on the next house because the market was just that crazy

With buyers having some leverage, inventory increasing, rates stabilizing, and DOM growing, it's only natural there will be some additional fallout due to things like appraisal, inspection issues, and the like.

Thankfully, the only fallout I've had has been a result of a natural disaster, but I HAVE had more buyers tell me "we're going to the seller for _______ due to the inspection and if we don't get it we'll be cancelling the deal" --- thankfully the listing agents and sellers I've worked with have been accommodating and seem to understand the current market, so things are being held together ---- but sometimes barely!!

Interesting- are they due to home inspections, appraisals, or financing... or all or none of the above? Buyer's remorse was a real issue for many this past year, which was sometimes disguised through the use of contingencies. I have heard of a variety of other reasons, and job uncertainty has become a more common reason recently. I caution my agents to write and accept well constructed offers and to due their due diligence as much as possible to try to avoid the issues, which unfortunately we can't always control. Wishing you and your clients better luck in 2023!