What choice do we have?

Good morning - I'll try to keep this simple . . . SO, DH and I are finally in contract on a house and have been since late October. We were to close on/about 12/31. We got our mortgage commitment quickly and are ready to close on our end. Somewhere along the way, it comes to light that the seller needs to get two COs and a variance. They've hired an expeditor to help with the paperwork, hopefully move things along more quickly, but we are now into the second week of January and have heard nothing. Meanwhile, we have $20K tied up in our down payment and no house. These people were so eager to sell, the house had been on the market for nearly a year - how did they not know they would need these COs? Our bank is not requiring the COs, but we know the town will. As for the variance, our attny has suggested we put money in escrow for that, because it could take longer, but that we really should get these CO issues settled before closing.

Does anyone have experience with this and can offer some advice, insight, support? DH and I are getting frustrated with the lack of communication and information. Awful. TIA.

Re: What choice do we have?

patience. so sorry for what you are going through. preparing for closings are horrible. I went through this when I was supposed to buy my parents house.

Re: What choice do we have?

I had a small issue where my lawyer wasn't sure if we needed a CO for the central AC unit, so he mentioned if we did we could make them put money in escrow.

Well wound up they didn't need it, but maybe that is the way to go just to get this settled and move in?

I know it is probably all so stressful.

Good luck!!!

Re: What choice do we have?

Don't know if its something you would even want to consider at this point, but it sounds like you could make a good argument that the sellers are in breach of the contract (I'm sure there was an on or before closing date that has long since passed), so that you could get your downpayment back and look for another house.

Re: What choice do we have?

What are the CO's for? Maybe you can contact the town directly and see if there are any issues, check on the status.
When we bought our house there was an issue with the CO for the deck and it required a variance. We closed and kept money in escrow and the sellers were responsible for getting the CO's. It took a very long time, like over 9 months before it was all cleared up.
Since your bank isn't requiring maybe you can talk to your attorney about going that route?

Re: What choice do we have?

What are the CO's for? We closed without CO's for a deck and shed. One bank would not close without them but we found a bank that had no problem with it. The town never looked or asked. Unless things have changed I dont think the town will come looking for CO's at closing.

Re: What choice do we have?

This is very common. Often sellers don't realize they are missing C/Os because they got permits, but they never closed out the permit and got a certificate of completion for whatever renovations they made. In my office, we send a letter to the town to make sure everything's in place and there are no surprises.

If the bank doesn't care, it shouldn't be problem for you to close. If the bank will close without them, then you could close tomorrow theoretically. But sometimes a buyer's attorney will advise their clients to get everything before closing anyway.

It can take a long time to sort out C/O issues, even with an expediter. I don't know what the C/Os are for, but if you want to close sooner rather than later, I would just have the sellers put money in escrow and close with the agreement that the sellers need to take care of this after closing.

Lke many people posted - I also closed on my house with money in escrow because the sellers didn't have C/Os for the deck or the fireplace. I don't think we obtained them until like 9 months after closing!

That being said, I've worked on many sales of houses where there are minor things (like a half bath) that have no C/Os and the seller said they were not getting them. Because the bank giving the mortgage didn't care, we closed and that was that! The town won't make an issue of that type of interior thing -- a half bath -- and if it's an exterior structure, like a deck or pool, the town probably already knows about it and is taxing the seller for it (C/O or not).

I would talk to your attorney about the option of holding money in escrow for everything (or find out more about his rationale for having the C/Os in place prior to closing).

Re: What choice do we have?

Hello
I am not sure if this will help you or not - but I had the same issue with the CO - my seller was as slow as anything and we were trying to close the loan asap due to work conflicts and not being able to get off to sign papers
It finally came down to the day before the close and she still didn't get the CO's - I called up the town myself and explained the situation. Someone there was very helpful and I went that day and picked up the CO's myself!!
I was so annoyed that I had to do it - but this was 3 years ago and I have a feeling if I didn't - we would still be waiting to close
GL

Re: What choice do we have?