I am a seller and I now want to back out, I can pay buyers fees if they agree

Do you have a contract? What does it say?

I want to back out of selling, didn't understand and was not informed what I signed when I signed counter offer/contract. Asked agent to cancel and asked to talk to buyers but agent put me off and now I am afraid it is too late. I was just told I had signed contract! I received nothing else stating this. I do not want to sell in any way. Agent, I feel could have relayed my request when I asked but didn't. I would have contacted buyer but I did not have an paperwork and agent just now gave me paperwork. Sale has gone into escrow. I do not ever want to sell and I am eldery. At the time I hired agent I thought I had no choice. Now I am thinking clearly and do not want to sell at all. Can I back out of this mess? And how?

You need to get an attorney to review what you signed and see if it can be canceled.

No, I was told my counter offer was the contract. I live in California. I had to go to an attorney who called agent and I was able to acquire the papers. Papers I signed were not filled out pursuant to my sending them back in the beginning. Except for the counter offer which I signed and this I was told was the contract. And I had to sell now. Atty was only to obtain the papers. Do I need to keep him? Money is tight at this point.

Okay, if your answer is keep the atty then I will. Thanks for your answer.
Dolores.

Its hard to tell without seeing what you signed. If your atty is telling you that you can't get out of it, I would go to another atty to get a second opinion.

If you back out you will probably have to pay some penalty to the buyer. Whether that penalty is too onerous to back out will be up to you.