0
Hopefully you used a REALTOR to represent you in this transaction. They will be your best source of advice for these questions as your state and locality may present different rules than in my state (Oregon). If you used the builders realtor, all bets are off, and you need to find someone else that can counsel you, perhaps an attorney would be best.
First things first… TALK to the builder…they have a vested interest to still sell you the house. In my state, you are only liable for the earnest money deposit if the sale fails.
If you have a small earnest money deposit of $1000-2500, you may just walk away, and pick a different house, if your deposit was much larger, say $10k-20k, and it is non-refundable…well then, you are negotiating from a position of weakness…..that being said, you can still negotiate! The builder would rather sell the house to you than re-list it for sale and take a chance they get even less.
The builder is entitled for you to perform on the contract, so they don’t want to give an inch…but they also don’t want you and your children with placards in front of their sales office saying you overpaid for your house and the builder wouldn’t negotiate.
Take the high road and ask them to reconsider, but play nice if they hold all the cards!
I entered into a presale contract (Aug 08…close Mar 09) and the builder has the same home available. The builder has just reduced the listing price by 10K for the exsisting home, which is 10.8K less than my contrct price. What if any options do I have?