@PurpleClouds I never assumed anything about all states; that is why I asked what state you live in. Now I am curious to look at a contract and see what it does state regarding this very topic. Possibly it is not law in FL that the seller is responsible, but rather standard in our contracts? Now I am questioning it. It has been years since my real estate license has been active. This is the very reason people should get lawyers for real estate transactions. I, as a licensed real estate agent, took a one week course, took a class test, and then a state test, and then officially could join the realtors association and sell real estate. The legal stuff freaked me out. I never wanted to be a lawyer, and now there I was supposed to be up on real estate law. 90% of the time it was a standard contract submitted, which I did study line by line, literally you go over every clause in the required follow up class to maintain your license after initially become licensed. I just think I might have mixed up what is protecting the buyer in FL, the law, or the contract.
It seems to me that if a house sustained loss before closing while a contract is at play, and if the burden is on the buyer, then the buyer can choose to not close and just lose escrow money. I guess the seller could come after the buyer for the amount of the whole contract, but how often does that happen?
In FL there are delays in closing if hurricanes are within a certain amount of miles because the buyer cannot secure insurance. This is another reason I am thinking the buyer does not bear the responsibility until closing, but I am going to see if I can find the law in my books tomorrow, I didn’t find it in a quick google search. I realize just because an insurer won’t insure, doesn’t mean the law protects the buyer.
My broker was a real estate attorney, he would have added that clause to contracts for our buyers if they weren’t protected. Especially the ones who paid him to represent them as their attorney.