Seller trying to change closing

What is the name of your state - Florida


We have a standard real estate florida contract to close on a house on 09/30/04. The contract was signed on 08/26/04. We gave a 2k$ check to be put in trust in title company.

The house is owned by the father but has his daughter/hubby living in it.
The father signed the contract and the daughter signd as a witness. She is not listed on this house.

The contract states that closing is to be on or before 09/30/04. The daughter called and said that she is unable to meet that closing until 12/15/04. She said that they dont have anywhere to go/are not packed.
When we pitched a fit -she then said the roof sustained damage due to hurricane. When asked what - she said water spot on 15ft ceiling.
To date - we have not had apprasial or inspect b/c of hurricane. Mortgage officer said to wait until after latest storm otherwise would have to have another anyway. The inspect/apprasial are supposd to be done this week.
The daughter states will not allow to go in house and will not move out on 09/30/04. She appears to be looking for a loophole. She still wishes to sell us the house- but under her terms. Unknown reason why she is saying closing to be 12/15/04. Everyone agreed - in writing on the contract to the 09/30/04 closing date.
She wants proof of our loan - which the signed offer buyer has 15 days to obtain financing. We recved a ltr from GMAC regarding being approvd -however until inspect/apprisal will not actually underwrite loan. Daughter claims then we did not obtain financing and wants to give our chk back. She claims we did not obtain financing from the date of the signed offer- which was 08/24/04. The actual contract does not indicate a clause of the 15 days - just the offer. The mortgage guy has given us the best he can.
She is not even the owner and should not be privy to our loan info.
We found out today that daughter has held our escrow check made out to title company for 13 days and has not had it put in trust as contract indicated. This will surely delay the closing - the seller appears to have breached in our opinion.

We strapped ourselves thin on this house. This is our first house as newlyweds and we have no more money for legal fees. Who would ultimately pay them if we win? It will cost us $350 for appraisal and $250 for inspect. If they are not agreeing to the close date - should we back out? That is money that we dont have to waste when they wont follow thru anyway.
Technically daughter is a tenant - what legal rights do we as a buyer have?
If we dont close on the 30th - do they have to pay us rent?

What are our steps @this point? We have nowhere to live after the 30th - since we gave notice @our current residence and must be out.
We have done everything as we are supposd to. I do not feel the seller is entitled to anything other than the ltr already provided by GMAC. They can not write the actual loan until the inspect/appraisal-yet she refuses to let them in.
We are pretty confident there is no roof damage. We feel that she is not ready to move and her request to move the closing to 12/15/04 is completely unreasonable.
Our contract indicates time is of the essence.

Any suggestions? This was a for sale by owner -and to save costs- we did not obtain an attorney/real estate agent?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by hackwid

What is the name of your state - Florida


We have a standard real estate florida contract to close on a house on 09/30/04. The contract was signed on 08/26/04. We gave a 2k$ check to be put in trust in title company.

The house is owned by the father but has his daughter/hubby living in it.
The father signed the contract and the daughter signd as a witness. She is not listed on this house.

The contract states that closing is to be on or before 09/30/04. The daughter called and said that she is unable to meet that closing until 12/15/04. She said that they dont have anywhere to go/are not packed.
When we pitched a fit -she then said the roof sustained damage due to hurricane. When asked what - she said water spot on 15ft ceiling.
To date - we have not had apprasial or inspect b/c of hurricane. Mortgage officer said to wait until after latest storm otherwise would have to have another anyway. The inspect/apprasial are supposd to be done this week.
The daughter states will not allow to go in house and will not move out on 09/30/04. She appears to be looking for a loophole. She still wishes to sell us the house- but under her terms. Unknown reason why she is saying closing to be 12/15/04. Everyone agreed - in writing on the contract to the 09/30/04 closing date.
She wants proof of our loan - which the signed offer buyer has 15 days to obtain financing. We recved a ltr from GMAC regarding being approvd -however until inspect/apprisal will not actually underwrite loan. Daughter claims then we did not obtain financing and wants to give our chk back. She claims we did not obtain financing from the date of the signed offer- which was 08/24/04. The actual contract does not indicate a clause of the 15 days - just the offer. The mortgage guy has given us the best he can.
She is not even the owner and should not be privy to our loan info.
We found out today that daughter has held our escrow check made out to title company for 13 days and has not had it put in trust as contract indicated. This will surely delay the closing - the seller appears to have breached in our opinion.

We strapped ourselves thin on this house. This is our first house as newlyweds and we have no more money for legal fees. Who would ultimately pay them if we win? It will cost us $350 for appraisal and $250 for inspect. If they are not agreeing to the close date - should we back out? That is money that we dont have to waste when they wont follow thru anyway.
Technically daughter is a tenant - what legal rights do we as a buyer have?
If we dont close on the 30th - do they have to pay us rent?

What are our steps @this point? We have nowhere to live after the 30th - since we gave notice @our current residence and must be out.
We have done everything as we are supposd to. I do not feel the seller is entitled to anything other than the ltr already provided by GMAC. They can not write the actual loan until the inspect/appraisal-yet she refuses to let them in.
We are pretty confident there is no roof damage. We feel that she is not ready to move and her request to move the closing to 12/15/04 is completely unreasonable.
Our contract indicates time is of the essence.

Any suggestions? This was a for sale by owner -and to save costs- we did not obtain an attorney/real estate agent?

**A: hire the attorney that you should have hired in the first place.