Grounds for breaking contract..?

What is the name of your state? GEORGIA

Hi,
We had a purchase & sale agreement on a property. We had discussed our plans in detail with the owner, that we would be remodeling, since we had 2 kids...the 1000 sq ft house was a 3/1 lakefront. We signed p&s only with contgencies for the dock permit & acceptance of sellers disclosure. (FSBO no brokers) However, the seller made some minor changes (like move out date 5 days after closing) which were not agreed upon. Even still,we went ahead pursuing the purchase, until our builder went to get septic records, so he could apply for bldg permits to discover there was no septic record or permit. Then, when he went over to measure, the neighbor was there helping to move (which the owner decided to do on his own), and spilled his guts as to how the septic drain lines were on US Army Corp property, and that the people who built next door had a heck of a time with theirs. The builder went back to the county to question what had to happen in order to remodel....they said since their was no permit, we would have to get one and we would have to most likely dig up the old & put in a new one. Even THAT would have been ok. But the house was only on 2/10 of an acre, and the county said that there would be no way you would have room to have a bigger house & move the drain fields on the property. As the stood now, they are grandfathered. So, we explained all this to the seller, and backed out. Plus the bank could not finance, if we couldnt get the permits. (construction loan)
I stopped payment on the $1000 earnest money check (which he kept for several weeks), because he was a very sneaky guy (there is more I didnt tell you), and I figured I would have to fight to get it back. Now, he is taking US to court, for breach. I say he didnt fully disclose. What recourse do we have? I know, I know, we should have had more contigencies. Worse yet,we checked "as is". Any words of wisdom? Thanks.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by lowries3

What is the name of your state? GEORGIA

Hi,
We had a purchase & sale agreement on a property. We had discussed our plans in detail with the owner, that we would be remodeling, since we had 2 kids...the 1000 sq ft house was a 3/1 lakefront. We signed p&s only with contgencies for the dock permit & acceptance of sellers disclosure. (FSBO no brokers) However, the seller made some minor changes (like move out date 5 days after closing) which were not agreed upon. Even still,we went ahead pursuing the purchase, until our builder went to get septic records, so he could apply for bldg permits to discover there was no septic record or permit. Then, when he went over to measure, the neighbor was there helping to move (which the owner decided to do on his own), and spilled his guts as to how the septic drain lines were on US Army Corp property, and that the people who built next door had a heck of a time with theirs. The builder went back to the county to question what had to happen in order to remodel....they said since their was no permit, we would have to get one and we would have to most likely dig up the old & put in a new one. Even THAT would have been ok. But the house was only on 2/10 of an acre, and the county said that there would be no way you would have room to have a bigger house & move the drain fields on the property. As the stood now, they are grandfathered. So, we explained all this to the seller, and backed out. Plus the bank could not finance, if we couldnt get the permits. (construction loan)
I stopped payment on the $1000 earnest money check (which he kept for several weeks), because he was a very sneaky guy (there is more I didnt tell you), and I figured I would have to fight to get it back. Now, he is taking US to court, for breach. I say he didnt fully disclose. What recourse do we have? I know, I know, we should have had more contigencies. Worse yet,we checked "as is". Any words of wisdom? Thanks.

**A: sorry, you got me at a bad time. I'm all sold out of words of wisdom.
But my freinds here would say, hire the attorney that you should have hired BEFORE entering into the contract.