Recourse for a failed transaction

[Michael Jones]

I know closings fall through and while I've never had one, I'm pretty sure one of my sales is going to fall through. We've done everything we can to both be flexible and extend the closing but also demanding updates as they go.  The buyers realtor and mortgage lender have been the most unprofessional people I've ever encountered in this arena.  They've really done a disservice to the buyers but have completely screwed this transaction up on follow up, meeting deadlines, and communicating.  Other than the earnest money, is there any recourse with Lenders and realtors?    I'm just so frustrated that these people take no responsibility nor do they seem to even care... For *****ake these people will make money and they just don't care.  Never mind that this has cost me money and forced me to rework my money situation.  

[Karen Margrave]

@Michael Jones First off, if you were represented by an agent, your agent should have been dealing with this. If the selling agent wouldn't return calls to the title company, or your agent, your agent should have contacted the selling agents broker and discussed the issue with them. If there was no help there, your agent could contact the local board and file a grievance. In California all contracts have a clause for mediation, I'm not sure if they do in Oregon. 

I'd like to say after MANY years in real estate, there are going to be deals that fall through. There will be agents that are completely incompetent and irresponsible. The best thing to do is familiarize yourself with what remedies are available to work out the problems, and work your way through. There's usually a solution.