I am a fairly new agent. My first transaciton was with family and I represented the seller. The buyer did not close escrow because the loan they initially qualified more had a condition on a pending job (they were rellocating). I talked to their loan officer and she was able to get them a sub-prime loan, but the buyers refused because their payment was to high. Long story short, we did not close escrow. Now they want their deposit back ($2000) and a contingency removal had already been signed. According to the Title Co. they can't release the funds without signatures from both buyer and seller. Any advice would be appreciated, I am in California. Thanks.

I guess one of the answers is get the seller's to sign off on it, even though that might be hard. Personally I always recommend to buyers and sellers to use an attorney. At the end of the day it might cost them a couple of dollars more, but I have more peace of mind, knowing the attorney is another layer of protection for me. Why would the buyer's allow the contingencies to be removed in the first place?