Once a buyer and seller have agreed to a price and signed a contract, they both have a five-day legal review period where they can back out of the contract without any penalties. After that, the seller can only back out if the sale doesn’t meet the contingencies listed out in the contract or the buyer breaches the contract. Outside of that, the buyer would have to surrender their earnest money deposit if they back out while a seller could face lawsuits for canceling a sale without cause.
