Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

hi there - maybe you can help?

we are buying a house and our lawyers are currently negotiating some things on the contracts.
First off, the sellers lawyer is being extremely rude and she is yelling at our lawyer and is not easy to work with. Quite frankly, the lawyer is crazy.
We will agree to buy a house that has no CO's for a deck and staircases. We're willing to iron that out on our own. The contract state "as is" everywhere and that the sellers want nothing to do with that.
Here's the tricky part:
We are putting down 10% at contract. We will be going with a lender that specifically says they are not concerned with CO's like a deck or a nonpermanent structure - so we will not have a problem there. The only thing is that my lawyer want the contract to read that if some freak thing happens where the whole deal doesn't go through b/c of the CO's - which shouldn't happen - we want our 10% back. The contract states that if we are unable to get the mortgage we will get our $ back. However, we already checked out fine and have an approval/commitment. The house needs to check out next. They could say okay, you got your mortgage..but then if we back out because of the CO issue then it may not fit exactly with what is defined in our contract. We want to make this crystal clear in writing on our contract. It doesn't seem like their lawyer is willing to negotiate at ALL.
We LOVE this house and are qualified, accepting, and are choosing a lender that should be deemed very attractive to them b/c they are not a nitpicky bank. It's just this LAWYER!!
Can anyone recommend to me any background info or ways to fix this? We aren't using this clause as a way out of it...we want this house all the way. Will this work itself out? I think it's pretty nice of us to accept a house with structures that don't have CO's...I think they should be nice enough to accept the fact that we're making every honest effort to buy it and if the property doesn't "check out" then we get half our lives savings back.

Thanks.

Message edited 5/14/2005 3:47:15 PM.

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

I would be very careful about buying a home with NO CO"S. and it should def say in the contract that if there is a problem with the co's you should def get your 10% back!!! why should they keep your money? If I remember, we just purchased another home if the town finds out about the no co's or when you go to sell your home there could be trouble. I think I remember hearing too at closing that if the town finds out your taxes can go up and you may be hit with a hefty fine. Im not 100% sure but ask your lawyer. Just plain and simple ask your lawyer whats the down side of them not agreeing to refunding your 10%? that you lose the money? if thats the case Im sure thats a lot of money to just say ok whatever with. Have you tried to contact the homeowners yourself? talk to them? maybe that will work? go around the lawyer. good luck and keep us posted.

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

hey - thanks...

it's really an estate - three children of a deceased man (all woman) grrrrr....

I wouldn't know how to contact them or even if I should. This lawyer is being unreasonable nonnegotiable (even w/ stupid little things).

Once we buy the house we're most likely taking down the deck & stairs and when we have money - building a new one. Or we'll get the CO's ourselves...no use asking the sellers to go halfsies with us...in escrow...they just want nothing to do w/ anything and are sending their beast of a lawyer to make nasty w/ my lawyer.

Some BANKS overlook these things. Some don't. Our lender most definitely will. They'll never sell this house - (insert curse word here) :)

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

We had a problem with CO's on our house and ended up that the seller had to take down a shed or we wouldn't get our mortgage. I would insist that it is in the contract. You never know your lender may NOT give you the mortgage. Good luck, I found that the lawyers are the worst in the entire home buying scenario

Message edited 5/14/2005 8:22:17 PM.

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

they probably just want to sell the house without any contingencies and be done with it... that's why they are selling "as-is"

are you sure your mortgage company will make the loan without a c/o? that sounds strange...but even if they won't, you get your money back anyway under the contract, right?

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

I think you should reconsider... I believe if you go with a bank that doesnt require COs that they charge you higher interest rates. (House is more of a risk)

Is having higher interest rate over the next 30ish years worth it? Maybe, maybe not.

Blazesyth
*who is waiting for the seller's COs to come in..... *

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation

we ran into some CO/contract issues and our lawyer was pretty reassuring that even if you have to go into litigation that your contract money will be returned...(and the seller than has to pay for legal fees for litigation - so it RARELY gets to that point)


he explained it as escrow money was "sacred" to lawyers...and that MOST look at it that way...


have you spoken to the sellers about this...that you are trying to help make the deal go through and are taking the burden of getting a mortgage that will allow them to sell (to a non-cash buyer) ? sometimes communication breaks down and you never eally know what people are thinking...

Re: Need advice on stressful lawyer situation