I had one tell me the day before settlement that his psychic told him not to do it.  And amazingly, he got most of his earnest money back. 

I had a guy freak out over the final HUD 2 days prior to COE, over something that was none of his business. The seller was an estate, and made what buyer thought was 'too much profit'. He said if he knew that they were making that much on the sale, he would have offered less. (WE ARE TALKING 5K!) Wrote me an incoherent nastygram, threatening to sue. We sent all the paperwork to his attorney, including the nastygram. LOL. Nothing came of it litigation-wise, buyer got a cure notice, failed to perform and lost his deposit. A few months later, he was involved in a hit and run, caught and tossed into jail for DUI. Explained the weirdness. Some people are too dumb for real estate and he was one. Karma.

Paul S. Henderson, Realtor, Tacoma Washington - so far, the latest buyer's have backed out is just couple of days prior to closing.

Fortunately, the contract had all the provisions for buyer to get the deposit - and the buyer thanked me for being cautious about certain condition.

Had one not show up for closing, yes they lost the EM.

At the closing table of a commercial deal. The customer walked from a $1,000,000 earnest money deposit! The next buyer lost the building to foreclosure within 18 months!

Have had a buyer (I had the listing) back out on Loan Objection, which is totally subjective, 7 days prior to closing.  This is a legal out for the buyer, and they did get their EM returned.

One buyer backed out on our seller two days before closing was scheduled. Yes they lost their deposit.

At the closing table and yes they lost the deposit.

Morning of...WE gave the e-money back to get the cancelation because of foreclosure we didn't have time get the court to order the cancelation and accept a new= offer.  Ohterwise no way they would have gotten it back

The day of closing, the buyer backed out. I represented the seller. The deposit was held in escrow for at least 3 years because they couldn't come to an agreement and nobody wanted to sue over $1,000, so I never heard how it was settled. Usually, if the seller wants to sell, they let the buyer go, unless it's a lot of money and the damages are worth pursuit.

7 days before closing, I think the buyer was planning to for awhile. My loan guy needed 1 more document that would have been pretty easy to get, but never provided it without it no loan so he got his earnest money back based on the loan contingency. I did not work with him again after that and dropped him as a client.

I had a buyer die the morning of the closing.  I was representing the sellers.  The deposit was not returned at the agreement of the buyers estate and the sellers.

The day of the closing I had a buyer say he wasn't going to close and all conditions had been met. No he didn't get his earnest money and actually sued for it. Judge said he breached the contract.

Day of closing - and - you bet!  BTW - we had the listing....