This happened to a friend of mine but he was the guy who pulled out. He had put in $5000 as a deposit and about 6 weeks later before closing he got cold feet and bailed. He not only lost the $5000 but lost about $10000 more. Supposedly he had to pay for the time the house was taken off of the market and the interest he would have paid or something to that extent. I wish I knew exactly was it was but its not as easy as you think to walk away and the deposit is not all you lose. I will contact him to get more details.