A real mess. Need some help.

Hi. I've got a problem. First of all, this is about a NJ piece of property.

I'll try to summarize this - Basically, way back in November of 1999, my wife and I sold our house and moved into an apartment to prepare to build a new home on some property. We put down a $5,000 deposit back then on this property. The seller had problem after problem (one of which irritated me so much that I posted about it here and got a response from Homeguru - thanks HG), including a nasty divorce where his ex-wife wouldn't sign over the mortgage. Delay after delay - it was amazing to us that it would take this long to buy a piece of property.

We waited and waited, and heard that finally things were settled with the wife, and the mortgage release could be obtained soon. That was sometime near the end of 2000.

Christmas rolls around and as a gift, I find out from the boss at my job that there isn't anymore payroll money left. My wife and I both work there. He assures us that the money will be there though by the end of the month. We hung out a little thinking that he's telling the truth, but he wasn't. He wanted us to continue working. My wife and I then left the job.so we start looking for some way to bring in income. I worked feverishly to find something, and as of yet, haven't found a job. I'm unemployed and there is just no way we can afford to get the property and build a new house on it. Because we are unemployed, we have no way of even buying the property let alone building a house on it!

So, here's the dilemma - after going nuts to get the seller to move his butt, we can't afford the house anymore because we lost our jobs! They want to close though!

We put a $5,000 deposit down. In the contract there is an Amendment that reads, "Paragraph 4 is amended to provide that the balance of purchase money of $___, is contingent upon the purchasers obtaining construction loan in the amount of $____ with an interest rate not to exceed 10%. Purchasers will be afforded sixty days from the effective date of Contract of Sale in order to obtain a written mortgage commitment. Should the purchasers not obtain a written mortgage commitment for the acquisition of the land and construction of a single family residence on said lot, the purchasers will have the right to return of any and all deposit monies paid."

Now, since we obviously can't get another mortgage commitment, and our last one expired ages ago, I should be able to get the money back, right? No problem, right? That last sentence says it all I think.

Well, the seller is saying that they will not return the deposit, and they are threatening us with time is of the essence.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Chris

[HomeGuru]

Your post was too long.

Alright. Maybe you're right - too long. I'll summarize the summary then =).

OK - NJ real estate question -

If I'm a purchaser in a contract, put down $5000, lose my job, need to back out, and have verbiage in the contract like this:

"Should the purchasers not obtain a written mortgage commitment for the acquisition of the land and construction of a single family residence on said lot, the purchasers will have the right to return of any and all deposit monies paid."

Do you think I'll get the deposit back? It might sound like a stupid question, but I am curious.

Chris

(how was that for shorter?)

[HomeGuru]

Thanks for summarizing the summary.

Based on what you have stated, yes, the Seller is obligated to return your money.