Finding the Right House - Part XI: Lawyer Induced Issues
Let's go back in time for a second...
On November 12th the seller's lawyers sent our attorney a letter requesting changes and modifications to the contract. Our lawyer didn't notify us of this letter until AFTER we contacted them with the results of the inspection. Those changes were...
* Change December 20th Mortgage Contingency date to December 9th.
* Delete the last sentence of Paragraph 7, Line 65, which was "Seller shall deliver possession to Buyer at time of Closing."
* Deem paragraph 32 (post closing possession) operative and adding February 2, 2005 as the date and $0.00 per day for the 2 days of post closing possession.
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail exchange with Mary...
MARY:
I can't believe they have the nerve to think they would not have to reimburse you for your expenses. Don't get too mad at the sellers, we don't know if it was their idea or the attorney's.
ME:
Yes, my lawyer agreed that it was nervy.
My lawyer spoke with their lawyer this morning. It seems the 2 day post closing possession is a MUST for the sellers. It would have been nice if they would have mentioned it before the contract was signed!
He drafted a reply and is asking for $200 for the 48 extra hours. (Our lawyer fee will increase by only $50 due to this because the seller's
lawyer has agreed to create that extra contract.) He's also asking for $5000 withheld from the sellers to insure they do leave after 48 hours and that they don't trash the place.
On November 16th our lawyer drafted a letter to the sellers to reply and inform them of our inspection issues.
* Mortgage Contingency date to remain December 20th.
* We agree to the post closing possession provided that the sellers pay us $100 per day and that $5,000 is withheld from closing to insure the house is delivered in a timely manner and in acceptable condition. That sounds COMPLETELY reasonable to me.
As far as the inspection...
* Sump pump is to be repaired/replaced by a licensed plumber and a receipt must be provided at closing.
* Furnace leak is to be repaired by a licensed heating/cooling repairman and a receipt must be provided at closing.
* Kitchen faucet leak needs to be repaired & confirms reverse osmosis filter is attached.
* Garage service door frame is rotted and needs repair.
On November 17th they replied...
* They insist the Mortgage Contingency date be December 9th as verbally agreed to by us. The reason was that they moved the closing date to accommodate us and due to that they lost their mortgage lock-in rate. Complete horse-shit since we never verbally agreed to ANYTHING and the January 31st date was on the ORIGINAL contract... they didn't change shit for us!
* They will deliver property at closing... no post closing possession necessary.
* They will repair/replace sump pump
* They will repair furnace leak
* They will repair kitchen faucet leak
* No repair will be made to the reverse osmosis filter since it's not hooked up due to the house having a whole house filter.
* They will repair the garage service door frame.
According to info I gathered from Mary though the seller's realtor, they were very pissed off because they wanted to have friends help move and they need time to move into their new house. I understand their side but we WOULD be paying mortgage for BOTH of those dates they would be staying and I believe it's very rude to offer us NOTHING per day when WE are doing THEM a favor and essentially letting them live in OUR house for 2 days! Not to mention the fact that, as our lawyer pointed out... if they trash the house with no sort of contingency ($5000 held back) we would be screwed.
As far as the mortgage contingency date, I didn't care if it was moved to the 9th (even though we did NOT verbally agree to shit) so long as Mark, our mortgage broker, didn't care.
We contacted Mark. I asked him who picked December 20th in the first place and asked why that date was on the contract. He told us that December 20th was picked because it was 45 days before closing and that the lender wouldn't process anything before 45 days because everything has to be fresh within 45 days or everything has to be redone. Okay... so it's clear... we NEEDED that date.
That concerned me greatly... if they needed their date and we needed our date, we were going to lose this house and since we've already paid for the inspection and the appraisal, so we'd be out money on this. The whole thing just pissed me off because December 20th WAS on the contact that they SIGNED!! Knowing shit like this could happen is why we hid the fact that we found a house from friends/family because I didn't want to have to deal with explaining that we had to look for another house now.
I immediately fired off an e-mail to my lawyer...
Here's what my lender told me earlier today...
"...the lender would prefer we not submit the file until 45 days prior to closing which is 12/16. We can have the full approval 3 days after that if all docs are in and good to go. You will be providing a commitment letter 40 days prior to closing which is way sooner than most transactions."
Just so we're clear... we want THIS house. When you draft that letter to the seller's attorney, please mention that we're willing to compromise.
If it requires bargaining with the post-closing possession.... $0 money... No money in escrow, etc. so be it.
Apparently, my lawyer either didn't get the e-mail or ignored my plea because our lawyer replied with...
* Mortgage Contingency date remain as originally stated in contract.
* Paid receipts will be provided at closing for replacement/repair or sump pump & furnace leak.
Now I had SERIOUS issues with this reply since I made it PERFECTLY clear that we were willing to bargain. His reply was cold and blunt. He didn't explain our reasons for being so adamant on Dec. 20th.
At this point I thought we were screwed. Keep in mind also that most of this happened while i was at work. I was pissed... I needed to make a phone call and I needed privacy... I went into my bosses office (he was on a business trip) and shut the door. I called Mary. I asked her to call the seller's realtor and explain everything. We weren't trying to be dicks... we HAD to have Dec. 20th. I told her that I gave my lawyer specific instructions that went ignored. I was trying to get her to get their realtor to 'backdoor' that information to the sellers.
She called back later informing us that the realtor said that the sellers were indeed pissed. She was able to calm Mr. "Seller" down... as I understand it, he is very high strung. She also made a few comments to Mary about how unreasonable Mr. "Seller" is.
The wait began... we didn't hear anything the rest of the day Thursday or Friday. In fact they made us wait the ENTIRE weekend.
At this point Mary was e-mailing us listings again. I figured that was a definite sign. We pissed away $600 and now we've got to start the entire process over again.
It wasn't until Tuesday the 23rd that we got a reply...
Attached is your letter of November 18, 2004 which I have signed and accepted on behalf of the seller.
FINALLY the saga was complete.
Back to Part X --- On to Part XII
