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.

If done right it can work but if you come off as a jerk they may cut off there nose to spite their face. The most effective one I pulled was a $15K credit the day before contingency removal about 2 years ago. It worked even in a hot market because I figured out the sellers were set to close on a replacement property in 2 days and knew that they would be able to keep the buyers deposit(10K) if they walked after contingency removal. Theyw ere pissed but they did it cause I had them over the proverbial barrel.

That is totally outrageous! That is not the way to do business. No wonder people are so fed up with this whole industry.

Lindi,
I dont know if your comments were directed at me but in my case they were for real issues with the property that the seller would have said no to without a carefully orchestrated request that was difficult to say no to.

Just trying to hold a seller hostage at the last minute before closing would not go over well and would damage a Realtors reputation.

Its best to do it before contingency removal. After contingency removal you could end up in dispute resolution (mediation, arbitration, litigation etc.). Before cont removal you win or walk without worry.

What’s fair? Someone who bought a $200k house 4 years ago and wants $680k for it today and calling it a fixer-upper or starter-home? To me that is more crooked than someone hedging their bets.