They said it was the home they were going to live in for the rest of their lives!
However, after spending $3,000 for comprehensive inspections on a country property in Sonoma, CA, the buyers I represent announced the price they'd agreed to pay was almost 10-percent higher than they felt it was worth. The condition of the property had not changed since ratification of the purchase agreement. The inspections had verified obvious deferred maintenance which the buyers had dismissed as "not surprising." They had obtained final loan for the at the original purchase price and continued to tell me they "loved the property." So what happened?
The Buyers said they had recalculated the value based upon a comp that sold across the street two months earlier. However, since they were aware of that sale prior to their offer, that rationale had some holes in it. The buyers and I talked about the very different aspects of that "comparable property" and I basically told them it wasn't a good comp at all. Despite my logic and statistics, they told me to present the sellers with the lower offer.
The sellers refused it, the buyers canceled escrow, and the property is back on the market. The sellers had recently dropped their asking price and my buyers had negotiated their contract with them at a deal that was an additional 8-percent below the reduced price. Agents who knew I brought the buyers asked why they backed out. I told them they weren't the right buyers for this particular property. The universal response from the other agents was, "It's 
another case of Buyers' Remorse."
In today's market, especially when it comes to non-distressed properties, we are hearing a lot about Buyer's Remorse. So here's a question: what are the most common causes of Buyer's Remorse?
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707.337.1182 | Kirsten@KirstenLindquist.com | SonomaIsHome.com
Pacific Union International & Christie's Great Estates
The Best Sonoma Real Estate
109 East Napa Street | Sonoma, CA 95476
CA DRE #01313592
Kirsten, sorry this happened to you! We had it happen in our office recently. Remember, all the stable people who make logical decisions are sitting on the sidelines until the uncertainty ends. All the CRAZIES are out there buying now.
Kirsten, I've had this happen to me as well. Everyone is different. My buyers ended up getting a divorce 2 months later after being married for only 1 year. I had another client who almost pulled out of the transaction because he was worried about his job. A week after his offer was accepted, his company had a meeting and gave out pink slips to 20% of the staff and told everyone else there may be more layoffs. Hopefully, your clients will ultimately come back into the market with you when they are ready. In the meantime, keep up the professionalism!
Kristen,
Buyer's remorse in my experience is usually caused by decisions based on emotion and they were usually quick decisions.
Kristen -
My guess would be that something was going on here before they even put in a contract and then just came to a head the closer you got to closing. Kind of like a couple who have a child to "help" a faltering marriage and then get divorced anyway.
Too bad.
Michael in Alexandria - Northern Virginia's Best Small City
Actually, I'd say it's not all "crazies" out there now--it's folks like us who have waited patiently for the bubble to deflate and now would just die if they became one of the masses who made the decision to overpay for a house. This type of person is probably overly-logical and had a moment of clarity in all of the noise of advice about why comps across the street aren't relevant and how there's no better time to buy.