Supposed to close on our new house today...now we might be losing it!

[rach220]

SO I just have to vent.

FI and I looked at this house back in March...it's in the same town we live in now (we're currently renting) and it's perfect for us. So on March 15th, we put an offer on it at $145,000, which was the asking price. We thought we would get it (nobody offers the asking price!) but it was really underpriced and apparently they had other full price offers too. The only issue was the oil tank was buried, so we asked that it be dug up and replaced as part of the contract. So we find out that the house was in probate and it's some sort of crazy mess. What they ended up doing was taking it OFF the market, removing the tank, and relisting it at $165k at the beginning of June. So I had been watching this house like a hawk, waiting for it to come back on the market. It was relisted on Tuesday June 2nd at 3:30 in the afternoon. Right before the seller's agent relisted it, she had called our realtor who called to let me know. He knew I had been anxiously WAITING. So literally by 4:15 I had left work early, picked up Scott and was at our realtor's office signing the papers again. We submitted a new offer of $160,000.

We heard the next day that our offer had been VERBALLY accepted and we just needed to wait for a written acceptance. We still hadn't signed all the disclosures a second time since the seller's realtor didn't even have a chance to fax them over because we were so quick with our offer...so we were also waiting on that. The NEXT day, Thursday morning our realtor called us and said he had just emailed the disclosures to us and we needed to get them back signed immediately because they had a FULL price offer on the house, but since they had already verbally accepted ours they would honor it as long as we got all the paperwork in order. So we did, and we thought that was it. On Monday, we got a call that we had written confirmation and it was all set, we were set to close on July 3rd and needed to start moving with getting our loan and scheduling an inspection and all that stuff. YAY!

So we've been packing up our apartment, we gave our notice to our landlord, and we've dropped all sorts of money into the house...for the deposit, inspection, title search, lawyer fees, etc.

So we just found out last week that the guy that offered full price apparently isn't giving up. He hired a lawyer and requested a hearing before the probate judge. The hearing was on Tuesday (the 30th), just a couple days before we were supposed to close. The judge has STILL not made her decision. We had to push back our closing because of it...now we're supposed to close on the 8th, which is only 3 days before we leave for our wedding, and we still don't know if we're going to get the house? The worst part is our apartment was just listed for rent yesterday...when the landlord's realtor called to ask for a key to show it, I didn't want to be like, "oh by the way, we're not leaving now." We were supposed to find out by Wednesday (after Tuesday's hearing) what the status was, but we still don't know. So I really thought it would be ANY moment that we would get a call and didn't want to tell the landlord to NOT list it. So now if we don't get it and our apartment is rented, we could be homeless!

I don't know what to do...I definitely don't need this stress so close to my wedding.

Has anyone dealt with anything like this before? Everyone is telling us we should be okay, but the waiting is KILLING me! And now it's a holiday weekend so we won't know anything until at least Monday.

I just want to curl up in a ball and CRY

[LIW]

I'm really sorry to here that! I don't know anything about real estate law in Connecticut, but I don't understand how you have have a fully signed agreement and the Vendor can simply back out because someone came along later and offered more money?

 

I'm glad you hired a lawyer and hopefully you can resolve this with minimal costs and you can move into the house of your dreams.

[march132010]

OMG that is terrible I will keep you guys in prayer that everything will work out!!!

[~Stephanie~]

I'm so sorry! I wish there was something I could do or some advise I could give to make you feel better. I guess the best thing to do is be prepared for all possibilities. Would you be able to stay in your apartment? If not, is there someone (family or close friends) that you can stay with until you find another house to put an offer in on? Can you just talk to your landlord and explain that there is a delay and see if you can extend your notice a few weeks? Even if the house goes through and you get it, paying one extra months worth of rent might be worth it to save your sanity.

 

Good Luck. Let us know what happens. Big hugs.

[clairisse]

You poor thing! Talk about stressful.

I hope everything works out ok for you - and quickly so you can get back to focusing on the fun stuff

[tylersgirl]

Oh no! I hope everything works out okay for you in the end. I am sending positive vibes to you!

[*JillD*]

Why is the guy that offered full price arguing with it? It's the seller's choice to go with whichever offer they choose, I don't understand why he thinks he has grounds to take it to court.

 

Unless there's more to this story. I worked in real estate for several years, I never heard of any situations like this, but there has to be more to it.

[Sapphire723]

First of all.... great job on that price! We live in Waterbury (nicer area) and paid a good chunk more than that.

 

Secondly, unless the seller is being unfairly discriminatory (ie racist, sexist, etc), it is the seller's choice on who they want to sell it to. My friends bought a house in Torrington for way less than the asking price. The sellers gave it to them even though others offered full price, because they're teachers and because they wrote them a nice letter explaining what the house would mean to them. The only problem might arise if the seller tries to back out of your agreement because the other people are asking more money. Since it was verbal, it's a little harder to prove.

 

I'm really sorry that this his happening to you. Good luck with everything.

[Erika J]

I am so sorry, buying a house is such an emotional roller coaster (at least it was for us).

 

I hope everything works out for you and I am sending positive thoughts your way!

[Preciousmi811]

Thinking positive thoughts for you. What a crappy mess, I'm crossing my fingers that the other guy was trying to see if he could intimidate you guys by taking it to court. Stay strong keep us posted!