There are a bunch of ways to get out of your contract if you get cold feet. But failing to show up at the scheduled closing is not one of them.

It's just wrong not to notify the seller, the closing attorney, the seller's agent and yours that you don't intend to go through with the sale. Ask yourself: How would you like to be on the other end of the transaction?

More importantly, you could open yourself up to lawsuits if you go into hiding on settlement day. The seller might ask the court to compel you to live up to the agreement, a concept known as "specific performance." And your agent could demand that you pay their rightfully earned commission.

At a minimum, you will probably be asked to pay the seller's and the agent's expenses, which could be significant. Even so, you may decide that's better than buying a house you've changed your mind about.

Fortunately, as Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said on CNBC recently, "There are all sorts of ways to get out of a deal if you don't want to do it."

Maybe you lost your job, failed to secure financing or couldn't sell your current house. Or perhaps the home inspection turns up stuff that turns you off, or the seller doesn't uphold their end of the bargain.

Any of these can be used to terminate a purchase agreement, but they all come with restrictions. It all comes down to the fine print.

(Note: I am not an attorney, nor am I a real estate professional. None of what follows should be taken as legal advice; it is based solely on my experience reporting on real estate for more than half a century. Before taking any steps to end a contract, talk to your agent and seek legal advice.)

Use the contract as your road map, advises Luke Babich, CEO of Clever Real Estate, an agent-matching service. The purchase agreement will spell out all the contingencies, conditions and deadlines that have to be met. For example, you might have to apply for financing within a certain period or have the home inspection completed within so many days.

If you want out and the purchase is dependent on selling your current residence, simply stop trying to sell it. Or delay applying for a mortgage, thereby missing the deadline and voiding the contract. You might have to give up your deposit, though.

If you've already been approved for a loan, you can still sink the deal by doing something that will adversely affect your credit score, which your lender will check again just before closing. If something new appears on the report -- a recent big-ticket purchase, say, like a car -- the lender could deny funding.

But rather than spending money to scuttle the deal, consider applying for several new, high-limit credit cards. You don't have to use them. But if, all of a sudden, you have access to tens of thousands in available credit, it may make your lender think twice about lending you money.

Losing your job will affect your ability to repay a loan, too, though obviously you don't want to quit just to sabotage a sales contract. But your lender may back out if you change jobs -- especially if you go into a completely different field.

A better way to scrap a sale is to use the home inspection -- maybe even before it takes place. Most contracts set a deadline for completing the inspection. If the date hasn't passed, you can notify the seller in writing that you've changed your mind, and likely walk away with your deposit intact. You also can walk if the deadline has passed, but you may have to forfeit your money. Of course, you can take your time ordering the inspection, thus missing the deadline and voiding the deal, but again, you are putting your deposit in jeopardy.

Once the inspector has filed a report, you still have a few avenues. Hopefully, nothing major turns up. But if it does -- say the roof must be replaced, or lead paint was found -- you can use that as the reason for changing your mind.

Even if the inspector doesn't find much to complain about, you can use the report to back out. The contract likely calls for a "satisfactory" inspection, but it doesn't have to be acceptable to the seller -- just you. You are not required to turn over the report to the seller, either.

Another way to use the report is to demand that the seller repair everything that's noted, even the little stuff like a broken switch plate or a sticky doorknob. If the seller balks, you are out of the deal. If they agree, set a short time frame in which the work must be done. If the seller doesn't move fast enough, you're gone.

A low appraisal is another way out: If the appraisal doesn't measure up, you will need a larger down payment, which, of course, you don't have. Or use your review of the homeowner's association documents as your exit strategy. You don't need a reason -- only that you've read the rules, and you don't like them.

The mortgage market is in for another big shift in a few months. That's when a sizable increase -- roughly 12% or 13% -- in the conforming loan limit appears likely to be announced. If so, it will bring the ceiling to well over $1 million in places where houses are super expensive.

The loan limit is a key benchmark for both borrowers and lenders. It is the maximum dollar amount on mortgages that can be acquired by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Anything under the limit that is sold by primary lenders to the GSEs must comply to their rules (thus the term "conforming"), while anything above the ceiling is considered a jumbo loan.

It's important for borrowers to understand that distinction because loans touched by Fannie and Freddie are usually priced cheaper than other loans. That's because the investors who buy loans through the GSEs believe, rightly or wrongly, that Fannie and Freddie will make good on them should they go into default.

The conforming loan limit is adjusted annually by the government. (It used to be handled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but now it's the responsibility of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.) The limit for this year is $647,200 in most places -- a whopping 18.5% higher than the 2021 limit of $548,250 -- and it's $970,000 in a handful of high-cost markets.

Any changes will be announced on Nov. 29, when third quarter prices are revealed, and will go into effect at the beginning of the new year.

House price increases have slowed lately because of higher mortgage rates and inflation fears, which have combined to send many wannabe buyers and sellers to the sidelines. But at least until the middle of the year, houses were still selling fast and furious and for top dollar.

The Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for June was up less than 1% from May. But year-over-year, it was up 18%. And the FHFA's quarterly index was up 17.7% for the same period. Consequently, it's highly probable that the loan limit will rise higher still.

If we use the latest figures from the FHFA, another double-digit jump in the loan limit appears to be in the offing. Based on second-quarter numbers, the ceiling would rise 12%, to nearly $725,000. In high-cost markets, it would fly past the million-dollar benchmark to roughly $1,087,500. If there was just a 3% year-over-year increase in the index in the third quarter, the baseline limit would still increase by 15%, to $745,000. If the bump in the index was 6%, the ceiling would rise by 18%, to $764,000.

All this is pure speculation, of course. There's still a long way to go until the third-quarter figures on which the limit is based are announced. But whatever the outcome, higher-end borrowers will be the beneficiaries, not the low- and moderate-income families Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created to serve.

So expect to hear from lots of affordable housing advocates about how the secondary market, where the GSEs operate, is now totally out of whack.

In that regard, FHFA Director Sandra Thompson indicated a willingness to consider changes in the loan limit formula during a recent congressional hearing. In response to a question from Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, Thompson said, "We're happy to work with you all if you'd like to change it or tweak it."

At the same time, Thompson testified that her office is merely following a calculation that is a "statutory" requirement. But Paul Manchester, a former principal economist at the FHFA, told me that's not necessarily the case.

Manchester, who also spent 17 years at HUD, believes the director has the discretion to set limits lower, though he concedes that has never happened. He points out that any declines should be factored into the equation before any increases are made.

On the flip side, you won't hear any griping from struggling Main Street lenders who are trying to stay afloat as the mortgage sector has weakened. They would be eager to take another bite out of the jumbo loan market, where lenders who serve well-heeled borrowers are "making a ton of money," says Paul Muolo, executive editor of trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

For what it's worth, there's about a 30-day window between the new limits being announced and going into effect. During that time, many lenders jump the gun by raising their ceilings, but they hold on to their loans until they can sell them to the GSEs early next year. Some will even offer conforming loans at the higher ceiling prior to the November announcement based on their own assessments. In fact, Rocket Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage have already hiked the ceiling on their loans to $715,000 in anticipation of the coming adjustment.

Consequently, savvy buyers and refinancers who move quickly prior to Dec. 31 will be able to take advantage of a small, but still significant, price break before the increase actually takes effect.

Yes, the combination of rising mortgage rates and house prices are probably insurmountable for many young homebuyers. But new research has found that what's really holding many of them back is the truckload of debt they're carrying.

Nearly 3 out of 4 millennials have some form of non-mortgage debt, with the average approaching $117,000, according to Real Estate Witch, the research arm of agent-matching service Clever Real Estate.

With that heavy a debt burden, how are they ever going to buy a house? According to the survey, 3 out of 10 don't think they ever will.

Two-thirds of debt-laden millennials carry credit card balances, often from one month to the next and rarely, if ever, paying them off. And almost half have student loans averaging nearly $127,000.

The rapid run-up in house prices is slowing. Even so, most homeowners aren't losing any money when they sell. Even when they cut their asking prices, sellers are likely to walk away with fat wallets.

According to analytics company Attom, sellers knocked it out of the park in 2022's second quarter. Profit margins on the median-priced house and apartment hit a new record of 55.5%, the firm reported.

That comes on the heels of what some called a lackluster first quarter, when sellers earned a measly 48.3% profit at the median -- the largest gain ever, until the April-June period. In monetary terms, Attom says the typical seller nailed $123,869 in gross profits in the second quarter vs. $103,750 in the first quarter.

If only owners who sold in the earlier months of the year had waited just a few more weeks! Boo-hoo.

Santa knows if you've been bad or good -- and soon, lenders might, too. With new software coming to the market, they'll also know when you lost your job, welcomed a new baby or had a heart attack.

With its new automated alert program, Sales Boomerang will notify lenders and loan servicers when a borrower or a prospect in their customer database experiences a major life change that could alter their financial situation. The software mines public records for common life events affecting individuals and households, such as marriage, divorce, childbirth, high school graduation or a death in the family.

Lenders that use the Life Events Notification System will be able to quickly reach out to congratulate -- or console -- a borrower about a recent event and offer personalized advice for achieving their next homeownership goal.

For example, if a divorce triggers a notice, the lender can reach out to provide customers with options for dealing with their mortgage. Or when a borrower's child graduates from college, the lender can suggest ways they can downsize their loans or their living arrangements. And if you suffer a major financial or health-related setback, you can bet the lender will be reaching out.

Here's how wild the housing market was before the midsummer slowdown took hold: In May 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors, houses were on the market for a median of 101 days before going under contract. In June of this year, "sold" signs were going up in a median of just 14 days.

Another way to look at the phenomenon: 11 years ago, a median of 24% of all houses sold in under a month. As of June, that number was 88%.

In other words, back then, buyers could pretty much take their sweet time making a decision. For the last 18 months or so, though, if buyers blinked, they likely had to move on.

How much buyers can save by choosing a run-down house over a pristine palace depends on a lot of variables. But a new study found that fixer-uppers are 32% cheaper, on average, in the 50 most populous cities.

After analyzing 61,200 active listings for single-family houses on the Point2 search site, StorageCafe found that fixers were offered at $307,000 vs. $448,000 for other houses -- a savings of $141,000. One difference: Run-down places were typically smaller by an average of 500 square feet.

(Full disclosure: Both StorageCafe and Point2 are part of Yardi, as is Multi-Housing News, a publication for which I write a monthly column.)

The cost of building materials is still rising, but the slowdown in new-home sales should bring builders some relief -- maybe even to the point that new-home prices could start falling.

Since January 2020, prices on the myriad products that go into a new house have surged 35.7%. And roughly 80% of that has occurred since January 2021. But Matt Saunders, who handles building products research for the John Burns consulting firm, believes a respite is in sight.

Saunders expects prices to drop in framing lumber, kitchen products, decking and windows, among other categories. But on the flip side, building product dealers will see their revenues dwindle, especially if they get too far out over their skis.