Can I back out after my offer is accepted?

Yes, you can back out after your offer is accepted. But whether you get your earnest money back depends almost entirely on how your contract was written before you signed it. Once both parties sign, you're in a binding agreement. That doesn't mean you're trapped, but it does mean the exit doors are only as wide as the contingencies your contract includes. In Colorado, the most common ones are the inspection objection period, the appraisal condition, and the financing condition. Each one gives you a defined window to raise a concern and, if it isn't resolved, a path to terminate and recover your earnest money. Miss a deadline, waive a contingency to make your offer more competitive, or try to walk away after those windows close without a contractual reason, and you're looking at losing your earnest money. In some cases, a seller can pursue further legal remedy, though that's less common. This is exactly why the contract writing matters so much before you're ever in this position. A contract that protects you doesn't happen by accident. The contingencies, the deadlines, the objection language, all of it is negotiated upfront. That's the part buyers sometimes treat as a formality, and it isn't. If you're sitting with a signed contract right now and you're having second thoughts, the first question to ask is what your contract actually says, not what you hoped it said. Tammy Morran, The HomeBridge Group @ eXp Realty