I've been working with a buyer(out of state buyer but I've met with them several times) for 2 months, we made an offer, it was accepted, they put down a $4000.00 deposit, held in seller atty. escrow, they had some problems getting financing together but finally were able to make that happen. Now we are about a week and 1/2 away from closing and I can't get a hold of them, the new lender can't get a hold of them and I don't really know what to do. Our last correspondence was 1 week ago and they responded saying everything was well but they have ignored my calls/emails and their lenders calls/emails since then. Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, etc? Thanks!

Anything is possible: It may be that your out of State buyer is in the process of moving from his former address to your area, rather than to leave everything to the last minute, and if that's the case his computers could be packed away.

I assume that the new lender must have done a credit check and has a lot of personal information on the buyer.

Check to see if the phone is still in your buyers name and ask the telephone company if it is still a working number

What about making enquiries to a former neighbour, employer, personal reference, relative,etc.

There is a lot that can be done.

I once had some Buyers for a Vermont Home disappear . . . . but it wasn't their fault that they failed to show at our Closing.

The New Jersey Buyers for their home in Connecticut had failed to show up at the Closing in Connecticut.

It appears that the IRS had appeared at the Closing on the New Jersey Home that the Connecticut Buyers were selling, and the IRS seized the proceeds from that Sale . . . . so the New Jersey people had no money with which to purchase the Connecticut Home that my Buyers were selling.

It's just like a game of Dominoes . . . . only not as much fun.

Hi RHL, Have your buyers come back?

There could be many reasons such as moving, on vacation, etc. Typically, they would let you know if they could not be reached, but they might not realize that they had to this.

Have you tried to contact their realtor?

I don't think anyone would walk away from $4,000 in the escrow.

I've had many a buyer just disappear leaving their deposit in escrow.

$4k is a fairly large amount of cash to just walk away from and leave in escrow, but the potential causes of this are nearly limitless, and stranger things have happened. Use all of your resources to try and contact this person/party, but even if you are unsuccessful in making contact, I would definitely not dismiss them as "no longer interested" just quite yet.

Just put them stay on your list of Buyers and contact them for the updates. Maybe they are just busy or something to work first before they continue dealing with you.

"Just put them stay on your list of Buyers and contact them for the updates. Maybe they are just busy or something to work first before they continue dealing with you."

That seems all well and good during the home search phase, however they're talking about folks that are under contract, a week from closing, who have fallen off the map.

Cross your fingers and continue trying to contact them. What else can you do?

Buyers can be flaky that is for sure, but just disappearing after having 4k down is a whole other story. I would love if you could shoot us an update and let us know if this property ended up closing or not. Good luck!