Homes fall out of contract more often than most buyers and sellers expect. I've seen it happen right before closing on a home someone had been under contract on for 45 days. The seller relisted. The buyer lost their rate lock. Both sides lost time they couldn't get back.
It almost always comes down to five things: financing, inspections, appraisal, contingencies and deadlines, or cold feet. The deals that make it to closing are the ones where those five were managed on purpose from the first day, not left to chance.
Here's each one, what goes wrong, and how to stay on the right side of it.
1. Financing Problems
The most common deal killer is the buyer's loan. And it's the one that catches people most off guard, because they already have a pre-approval letter in hand.
What goes wrong
Pre-approval is not a locked loan. It's an underwriter's conditional read on your file at one point in time. Between the day you get that letter and the day you close, a lot can change.
Nationally, about 1 in 7 real estate transactions fails due to financing issues, and roughly 37% of delayed closings trace back to loan problems. The usual suspects: rate movements that push the monthly payment past what a buyer qualifies for, new debts that hit a credit report mid-contract, or income and asset issues that underwriting finds when they go deeper into the file.
A buyer who switched jobs two weeks before close, thinking it was fine because they're earning more, can lose the loan entirely. A buyer who put $8,000 on a new credit card for furniture finds their debt-to-income ratio has moved. These aren't edge cases.
How to prevent it
As a buyer: lock your rate early. Do not open new credit, finance anything, switch employers, or change how you're paid until the loan is funded. Get every document your lender requests back to them within 24 hours. Dragging on paperwork extends your rate lock exposure and gives underwriting more time to find problems.
As a seller: vet the pre-approval letter before you accept an offer. A letter from a credit union your buyer found online is not the same as a DU approval from a lender who's already ordered the appraisal. Ask your agent to call the loan officer. Find out when the buyer applied, what the loan-to-value is, and whether there are any known file issues. Favor buyers whose financing is the cleanest, even if the offer price is slightly lower. A $5K spread can evaporate fast if the deal falls apart and you relist.
2. Inspection Surprises and Repair Fights
In a survey of agents, 70.4% named inspection and repair disputes as the top cause of canceled contracts. The inspection is not just a formality. It's where the deal is won or lost for a lot of transactions.
What goes wrong
The big findings are what you'd expect: roof at end of life, HVAC that hasn't been serviced in a decade, foundation movement, knob-and-tube wiring, water intrusion in the basement. A first-time buyer sees a report with 14 red-flagged items and panics. A seller who priced the home as if it were move-in ready refuses to budge. Neither side communicates well, and the contract dies.
What people don't talk about enough: inspections in Columbus for older homes in areas like Clintonville, Bexley, or Upper Arlington turn up deferred maintenance that wasn't priced in. A 1950s home that presents beautifully can have plumbing, electrical, and roof issues that add up to real money.
How to prevent it
As a seller: fix the obvious safety and functional items before you list. A pre-listing inspection costs $350-$500 and tells you what's coming. If you know the roof has five years left, price accordingly or replace it. A buyer asking for a $15K credit on a roof is much easier to handle than a buyer threatening to cancel because they feel blindsided.
As a buyer: separate "must fix" from "nice to have" before you write a repair request. A broken HVAC is a must-fix. A cracked outlet cover is not. Targeted repair requests for safety and material defects are reasonable. A three-page punch list on an older home is a good way to end a negotiation that didn't need to end.
Also: stay inside your inspection deadline. If you miss the window to submit your repair request, the seller can say no and the contract may not protect you the way you think it does.
3. Appraisal Issues
The appraisal can quietly blow up a deal that both sides thought was done. It's the piece of the transaction that buyers and sellers think about least, usually until it becomes a problem.
What goes wrong
If the appraisal comes in below the contract price, the lender will only issue a loan based on the appraised value, not what you agreed to pay. That gap has to come from somewhere. Either the buyer brings extra cash to cover it, the seller drops the price, or both sides split it. If no one can agree, the contract dies.
In a competitive Columbus market, buyers who waived appraisal contingencies in 2021 and 2022 paid whatever the appraiser missed. In a more normal market, appraisal gaps are negotiated, but they still end deals when the spread is too wide.
How to prevent it
As a seller: price your home with real, recent comps, not what you need to net or what your neighbor got two years ago. Give your agent an upgrades list with dates and costs so they can hand it directly to the appraiser. Appraisers are required to consider improvements, but they don't know what you put in the kitchen in 2022 unless someone tells them.
As a buyer: if you're in a competitive situation and considering waiving appraisal protection, decide before you're emotional about a specific home. What's your cap? How much above appraisal are you willing to cover in cash? Write it down before you're competing, not during. If you're not prepared to cover a gap, build appraisal protection into the offer from the start.
4. Contingencies, Deadlines, and the Paper-Cut Problems
Deals also fall apart on missed dates and vague contract language. These are the quiet killers that don't get talked about at listing appointments but happen constantly.
What goes wrong
Missed inspection deadlines that open an exit door for the buyer. Financing contingencies that are written loosely enough that a buyer can walk for almost any reason. HOA or condo document reviews that run long. A buyer who has a sale contingency on their current home, and that deal falls apart first.
None of these are dramatic. They're just administrative. And a lot of agents manage them casually instead of tracking them hard.
How to prevent it
Run a deadline audit at least once a week for the length of your contract. Who owes what, by when? Inspection deadline, financing deadline, appraisal deadline, title commitment, HOA docs, closing date. Every party and every obligation on a calendar, tracked in writing.
Prefer offers with fewer and tighter contingencies. A buyer who's already under contract on the sale of their own home and needs that to close before they can close yours is carrying extra risk. That's not disqualifying, but it needs to be priced and understood.
Also: read the contract language carefully on contingency exits. "Satisfactory inspection" is different from "pass inspection." The wording matters when a buyer wants out.
5. Cold Feet and Shifting Priorities
Sometimes the problem isn't legal or financial. The buyer simply backs out because they've changed their mind. This happens more in high-rate, high-cost environments where the monthly payment feels overwhelming the day before closing.
What goes wrong
A buyer gets to the final walkthrough, the house feels smaller than they remembered, and the payment they budgeted for six weeks ago now feels like too much. They find a newer listing that came out after they went under contract. Their spouse's job situation changed. They panic and call their agent looking for a way out.
These deals don't always kill. But they often do, especially when the buyer has a way out written into the contract.
How to prevent it
As a buyer: be honest with yourself about the payment before you go under contract, not after. Run the real number: principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA. Does that number feel comfortable at your current income? If you'd need everything to go right financially for the next five years to afford it, that's worth sitting with before you sign.
As a seller: watch for signals during escrow. A buyer who keeps extending timelines, goes quiet for days at a time, and then comes back with new concerns is showing you something. Get your agent involved early. Communication during escrow is not a nicety. It's how you catch a wavering buyer before they have an attorney draft a cancellation.
Keeping Deals Together in Columbus
Managing a real estate transaction from contract to closing is an active process. In the Columbus market right now, the homes that make it to close are the ones where both agents are doing the work on deadlines, communication, and file management, not assuming it'll sort itself out.
If you're buying or selling in Columbus, Westerville, or anywhere in central Ohio and you want to talk through how to structure an offer or a listing to stay out of these situations, reach out.
You can call or text me at 937-239-2919, or schedule time directly at calendly.com/adam-geuy. I'll give you a straight read on where deals typically go sideways on your specific type of transaction and what we'd do about it.
Adam Geuy, Realtor - NextHome Experience | ABR, SRS, PSA | License #202000794