Can The Seller Cancel The Contract In North Carolina?

A question was posed to me the other day from one of my sellers whose home is under contract. She wanted to know if we could cancel the contract? She had some reasons for asking the question and thought it did not hurt to ask. Initially i took the listing on as a short sale. but after digging through some legal books and searching the internet I found a loophole that removed one of the liens off the house. Of course after I found this out I consulted an attorney who looked it up and said "WOW you are right" i did not know that law existed. So, now we were no longer doing a short sale. (Though this process took about three months to officially get it cleared up). we revised the contract to put in a due diligence period and a close date that I felt comfortable meeting. We asked the buyer to proceed forward with the loan so we could close on time. It became apparent that the buyer's agent and the buyer felt no urgency with this; since it took days to get updated from them on the process and where they were at. I kept everyone informed of the progress i was making and assured them that we would be meeting the timeline for closing with no issues. Do to the lack of response from the buyer my seller wants to cancel the contract. She asked can she cancel the contract since the buyer seems to be dragging her feet and may not make the close date? Unfortunately, i told her that we have a set close date and we have to honor that date or we would be in breach of contract. Then the buyer has 14 days from that date to close on the house if they show diligence in getting their loan approved. After those 14 days the seller has the right to cancel the contract and keep all the earnest money as liquidated damages. or they can extend the buyer if they so desire. But, she cannot prior to that without good cause cancel a contract on her house.... If you are selling a house be wary of the close date and prepare for the unexpected today. Too many deals I have seen lately are not making the close date because of one issue or another. And the buyer has that 14 day window to proceed forward with if they are showing diligence in getting the loan approved. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker www.davedicecco.com