Losing my downpayment

[Simbaeyez]

Hello, I am from New York.

I made a deal to buy a house in Staten Island about 6 months ago with the agreement that even though we were going to sign a contract, the closing and taking possession of the house wouldn't happen until the end of June this year. We all agreed and the deal was signed and sealed. At the time of the contract negotiations, I tried to get a blurb added to the contingency clause about us receiving back out downpayment if my husband (the sole breadwinner) lost his job through no fault of his own and could not get a mortgage. This was rejected by the sellers lawyer and my lawyer said that this really wasn't a big deal to have in the contract as what were the chances my husband would lose his job within the next 6 months.

Well, it turned out that even though we had a mortgage at the 45 day cutoff for the mortgage contingency, we will not be getting the mortgage because he way layed off on the 2nd of June. We are now stuck in a contract that we will have to break and there is nothing we can do about it. We can get a non income dependant mortgage, but at such a high rate that we wouldn't be able to afford the payments even if my husband did still have his job.

My question is, even though we aren't "protected" by the mortgage contingency anymore, do they still have to give us our downpayment back as we can't get a mortgage now? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I feel like I am losing my one nestegg and my one chance to own a house if I no longer have a downpayment for when I am ready to buy a house again.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by Simbaeyez

My question is, even though we aren't "protected" by the mortgage contingency anymore, do they still have to give us our downpayment back as we can't get a mortgage now?

Based solely on the contents of your post, no.
You apparently had a 'financing contingency' with a deadline and you met that obligation.... thereby removing that as a possible 'contract escape'.
You will need to have an attorney review the contract as to what other 'outs', if any, might exist.