When you put in an offer to buy a home, your purchase contract states several different ways you can back out of the deal and get your deposit back, AKA, contingencies.
One example of a buyer contingency is your inspection contingency.
That means that you can do whatever inspections you want at the property within your inspection contingency period, usually 10 days from the start of escrow.
If inspections go well, you remove your inspection contingency in writing and move on with your purchase.
Keep in mind that moving forward you can no longer back out of the deal using this inspection contingency since it has been removed.
For most home buying contracts, all contingencies are removed within 21 days.
But what happens if all your contingencies are removed and you wake up one morning and decide the property just isn't right for you?
Sorry, changing your mind is NOT a contingency.
You can not back out of the deal simply because you no longer want the property.
At that point, if you really want out of the contract, the seller can come after the deposit you sent over to escrow as damages.
So if you don't want to lose your deposit (typically 3% of the purchase price), know the rules of your contingencies inside and out!
