My understanding is as follows: he put in a large down payment but because of problems caused by the builder the bank refused to issue the loan. He also neglect

My understanding is as follows: he put in a large down payment but because of problems caused by the builder the bank refused to issue the loan. He also neglected his customers because of stress with wife etc., so he ended up with a cash-flow problem, no loan, no way to get one and a builder asking for the rest of the money. He didn't have them so he's out of the house and loses his down payment. It's totally believable, although for the life of me I would not sign a contract that makes me loose the down-payment if I'm unable to contract the loan - who knows what can happen and what the morons employed by the bank will do ? All in all, a cautionary tale about the effects marriage can have one one's life, rather than being about freelancer.com "Our dreamhouse" part sounds exactly like a wifey's wet dream.