Rescinding an Offer

[drjackal31]

We are new to DVC and resales. I am thinking about rescinding an offer we made on SSR. It has only been a few days with no contact from the seller and the broker has been keeping me updated the best they can without me prompting them.

Prior to this offer we made an offer on Animal Kingdom, but a better offer came in. We are really much more interested in AKL with SSR being more of a backburner only if we found a great deal type of thing. I don't want to waste time waiting around for an offer on my second choice resort. My husband said to wait two weeks but I think that is way too long.

If we do rescind we decided to focus on AKL only and forget about SSR entirely for the time being.

Has anyone rescinded an offer when not hearing back or just in general?

 

[Bing Showei]

If your offer has not been accepted you can withdraw your offer at any point. If your offer was accepted and you signed the contract, you have 10 days from date of your signing to rescind the offer to purchase in writing, sent via trackable courier.

You will want to send an email notification of your withdrawal of the offer if you're no longer interested and there has been no acceptance of the offer. Better to do it sooner than later.

 

[CarolMN]

Agree with Bing Showei. Just send an email and withdraw your offer. IMO, 2 weeks is way to long to wait. It also makes me wonder if the sellers would be dragging their feet on every stop of the process. That would be more than frustrating - the more so if your heart is really with another resort. (Murphy's Law pretty much guarantees that you will see the "perfect" AKV contract just after your SSR offer gets accepted).

In the future, make an offer with a time limit for a response - perhaps Offer valid until xxxx (24 or 48 hours later or whatever you think best). No benefit to you to sit around and wait if you are serious about buying soon. Good luck!

 

[Ben E N]

I rescinded an offer with no issues. I just said, "Sorry, a better contract came around while I was waiting for your response."
Unlike normal real estate transactions, these offers are typically by no means legally binding until the seller accepts and you both sign paperwork.

 

[icc2515]

Rescind your offer, but know 2 things. There will always be a better contract. The sellers will never move as fast as you want them to. I don't know why this is. Whenever I sell something I want it done as quickly possible. I have bought many contracts over the past couple of years and the sellers have always dragged their feet like they did not really want to sell. I mean the first contract is usually just a docu-sign. Takes less than 5 minutes, but it takes them days or weeks to do it. Imagine how long the closing papers that they have to have to put some effort into takes. I think a lot of these sellers are on the fence about selling.

The whole process will take an agonizing 3 months to complete. When I bought Poly 3 contracts fell thru. 2 of them after the initial contract was signed by the sellers.

 

[Ben E N]

Rescind your offer, but know 2 things. There will always be a better contract. The sellers will never move as fast as you want them to. I don't know why this is. Whenever I sell something I want it done as quickly possible. I have bought many contracts over the past couple of years and the sellers have always dragged their feet like they did not really want to sell. I mean the first contract is usually just a docu-sign. Takes less than 5 minutes, but it takes them days or weeks to do it. Imagine how long the closing papers that they have to have to put some effort into takes. I think a lot of these sellers are on the fence about selling.

The whole process will take an agonizing 3 months to complete. When I bought Poly 3 contracts fell thru. 2 of them after the initial contract was signed by the sellers.

That may be the case in many, or most, situations, but not all. I had an awesome seller who returned all the paperwork the same day I did. Our contract was sent to ROFR the day after we agreed on a price, and the whole process took only 40 days to complete.
And I am yet to see a contract within $10 per point of what I paid. The sudden increase after this past summer is to blame for that.

 

[cmarsh31]

We, too, had an awesome seller. Literally day after for all transactions along the way. There are definitely good ones out there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The holidays will easily slow down some responses and transactions right now but as you've changed your mind on where you want to own you should just let the broker know you are withdrawing the offer. They will then be able to get it listed again quickly.

 

[Littlelulu01]

I would think twice about continuing on with this offer. If seller is motivated they’ll get paperwork signed and returned in a timely manner (a couple days)

There’s some reports of sellers backing out at the very end and if the process is starting out on the wrong foot the likelyhood of the deal never actually closing increases. People report that sellers will have financial consequences for failure to perform after the contract is signed around but honestly... is the title company and broker really going to sue sellers for a couple hundred $ if the sellers back out at the 11th hour? Not that it’s going to benefit you in any manner anyways if sellers back out.

I’ve purchased contracts where sellers and title company closed a deal extremely fast and deals that took forever. Deals that took forever I attribute to title company and broker issues because on those deals the sellers, buyers and Dvc had everything completed in a timely manner. It was simply broker and or title company that wasn’t doing their jobs.

 

[drjackal31]

We never heard if they were going to accept, decline or negotiate, we were willing to negotiate.

I am going to withdraw this offer and focus on finding the right AKL contract.

Thank you!

 

[gharter]

If you are not sure about wanting SSR, rescind the offer. This time of year, many people are gone and that could be what is taking so long.
We have purchased both of our contracts with the buy where yo want to stay philosophy. If you really want to stay at AKL, I would look for contracts from there. Depending on when you plan to stay, the 7 month window can be difficult. Prices have been going higher lately. Will they come back down? Who knows.

 

[kboo]

Both of our contracts moved very quickly - negotiations and signed contract within 3 hours for the first (I got spoiled), and within 24 hours to signed contract on the second (we are buying a foreclosed contract from the lender). We've moved quickly on our regular real estate transactions too - in this even in the days before cell phones and email. I am a firm believer that radio silence from the seller indicates problems that may not end after you have a signed contract.

 

[Debbie Jean]

I am not surprised you haven't heard. It's the holidays... not just for your potential sellers but for your broker. Who knows what their hours have been? Who knows whether they left town?

As a seller, I have to deal with the broker, too. They don't want you to know that the delays may be theirs... easier to blame the seller. Not saying that is the case here but I am constantly astonished at how many potential buyers haven't figured out that sellers are caught in the same dance that they are... with the broker and later on the title company. The last contract I sold their were errors in documents from BOTH which needed to be redone. Yeah, broker listed the wrong resort, can you believe it?

Since you haven't heard you are not obligated beyond having made the offer so I would rescind it. You are lucky in this case since you could be under contract to a resort you have decided you don't really want. Next time, be sure before you make the offer that this is in fact the contract you want. And yes, I also had a buyer make an offer which I accepted. They got cold feet several days later and rescinded. Not nice.

 

[Ben E N]

I am not surprised you haven't heard. It's the holidays... not just for your potential sellers but for your broker. Who knows what their hours have been? Who knows whether they left town?

As a seller, I have to deal with the broker, too. They don't want you to know that the delays may be theirs... easier to blame the seller. Not saying that is the case here but I am constantly astonished at how many potential buyers haven't figured out that sellers are caught in the same dance that they are... with the broker and later on the title company. The last contract I sold their were errors in documents from BOTH which needed to be redone. Yeah, broker listed the wrong resort, can you believe it?

Since you haven't heard you are not obligated beyond having made the offer so I would rescind it. You are lucky in this case since you could be under contract to a resort you have decided you don't really want. Next time, be sure before you make the offer that this is in fact the contract you want. And yes, I also had a buyer make an offer which I accepted. They got cold feet several days later and rescinded. Not nice.

While it is possible it is the broker to blame, that is also a bit of a red flag. If a broker receives a message from you, and then takes days to do anything about it, what does that say for the rest of the process? If they are out for a holiday, there should be an automated reply set up in their email letting you know that they will respond to any messages on a particular date.

Obviously if you are making an offer on Christmas Eve and expecting a reply by the end of the day on Christmas, you may end up a bit unhappy. If, however, you are giving someone a few days during anytime of the year, it is their responsibility as brokers and sellers to either get back to you quickly or get out of the way.

 

[WALTSAGOD]

A good deal on a resort you don’t like isn’t a good deal,.....

 

[Nurse4kids]

Rescind your offer, but know 2 things. There will always be a better contract. The sellers will never move as fast as you want them to. I don't know why this is. Whenever I sell something I want it done as quickly possible. I have bought many contracts over the past couple of years and the sellers have always dragged their feet like they did not really want to sell. I mean the first contract is usually just a docu-sign. Takes less than 5 minutes, but it takes them days or weeks to do it. Imagine how long the closing papers that they have to have to put some effort into takes. I think a lot of these sellers are on the fence about selling.

The whole process will take an agonizing 3 months to complete. When I bought Poly 3 contracts fell thru. 2 of them after the initial contract was signed by the sellers.

My seller dragged their feet on the final closing paperwork and then waited 90 days. They never did sign it (I guess changed their minds). I hope Fidelity made them pay up for breach of contract. I had to suffer through the whole process...giving them a deposit, waiting and passing ROFR, and sending in the balance due after signing the closing paperwork myself. The 90 day wait for them was awful, because I suspected they changed their mind, but there was a possibility they were going to sign. Meanwhile the prices climbed higher and higher. I kept seeing perfect contracts that I had to pass up because they kept me in limbo. They should have just told me their intentions ao I could have bid on something else!

 

[frabjous]

It took my seller 5 days (but was also over a weekend) to sign and execute the contracts before ROFR.

 

[Bing Showei]

My seller dragged their feet on the final closing paperwork and then waited 90 days. They never did sign it (I guess changed their minds). I hope Fidelity made them pay up for breach of contract.

I remember seeing your storiy as it unfolded. I'm really sorry that happened.

From below market price on a contract to the eventual collapse, I was interested because it reminded me of one of my resale contracts.

The price I negotiated was below market rate and I had to go back and forth repeatedly with the seller on price. From the get go I was worried the seller would bail given the initial reservations they had on price, but then came the rapidly increasing asking prices on similar contracts. When the seller was slow to send in the closing docs, I reached out to the broker and asked what would happen if they backed out.

Me: Wouldn't they be on the hook for the broker's fee?
B: They would be on the hook for the broker's fee.
[pause]
Me: Would you guys actually leverage that?
B: They wouldn't be allowed to sell with us again.
Me: So you wouldn't pursue that?
[pause]
B: Rarely ever does the seller back out at this stage, you shouldn't worry about it.

All the meanwhile asking prices kept going up. Your story was my feared outcome.

The resale process slants in the sellers' favor. I suspect the broker-fee penalty for sellers backing out is rarely enforced as it's too much effort for too little money. And the long closing process presents ample opportunity/motivation for sellers to second guess the price they accepted.

A bit too cynical? Maybe. But people are very good at looking out for themselves, and the imbalanced buyer/seller positions on the resale market positions buyers with much more skin in the game.

 

[frabjous]

I suspect the broker-fee penalty for sellers backing out is rarely enforced as it's too much effort for too little money. And the long closing process presents ample opportunity/motivation for sellers to second guess the price they accepted.

I don’t know if they actually do this or not but it’s pretty low effort to hand off an unpaid balance to a collection company and/or file reports against their credit. Commision on a contract can be in the thousands, and its still revenue. If it happens rarely maybe they do just let it go.

 

[Nurse4kids]

I remember seeing your storiy as it unfolded. I'm really sorry that happened.

From below market price on a contract to the eventual collapse, I was interested because it reminded me of one of my resale contracts.

The price I negotiated was below market rate and I had to go back and forth repeatedly with the seller on price. From the get go I was worried the seller would bail given the initial reservations they had on price, but then came the rapidly increasing asking prices on similar contracts. When the seller was slow to send in the closing docs, I reached out to the broker and asked what would happen if they backed out.

Me: Wouldn't they be on the hook for the broker's fee?
B: They would be on the hook for the broker's fee.
[pause]
Me: Would you guys actually leverage that?
B: They wouldn't be allowed to sell with us again.
Me: So you wouldn't pursue that?
[pause]
B: Rarely ever does the seller back out at this stage, you shouldn't worry about it.

All the meanwhile asking prices kept going up. Your story was my feared outcome.

The resale process slants in the sellers' favor. I suspect the broker-fee penalty for sellers backing out is rarely enforced as it's too much effort for too little money. And the long closing process presents ample opportunity/motivation for sellers to second guess the price they accepted.

A bit too cynical? Maybe. But people are very good at looking out for themselves, and the imbalanced buyer/seller positions on the resale market positions buyers with much more skin in the game.

Yes, as the buyer you would be out your deposit if you backed out. I do not think the sellers pay anything upfront, so nothing to lose. It was so strange because they had the property listed at 85.00 pp and I offered 80.00 (it was the very first time I ever made an offer so I thought what the heck) and they took it right away. No counter offer or anything. I would have gladly paid the 85.00 pp if they said no. I really believe when everything was all on paper they realized they were actually paying to sell the property (they had to pay their Disney loan off and fees). Then the taxes for them being an International buyer had to be paid too. I just wish the Real estate company would have told me they were going to back out so I could have bid on another property while I waited for that contract to expire.