Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

DH and I put in an offer on a house 3 months ago which was accepted. Signed contract three days later. That was in early May. Now, 11 weeks have gone by and we still haven't closed on the home due to an outstanding CO on a deck and back room.

Any advice and/or thoughts on what to do at this point to help move things along. Not sure if there is anything we CAN do, but I'd be curious to know what others in this situation have done. We called the TOH and were told the average wait time for something like this is 4-6 weeks, which we're now at twice that length. Supposedly the seller is working with an expeditor.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

No advice here but I dont think there is much you can do except wait. One of DHs friends is in the same boat- he and his fiancee signed contracts for a house in South Bellmore and there were oustanding COs for the deck and enclosed porch (Florida) room. This was in April. They were supposed to close by July 31st and now he is angry that his interest rate lock expired and seller refuses to pay for the interest rate lock extension...he is considering forfeiting his downpayment because of the CO nightmare.

Message edited 8/18/2014 9:21:31 PM.

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

Just be sure the expediter is going through an even more expedited route that t of h has for "hardship" scenarios - house for sale qualifies under this. The expediter needed a copy of the contract. Your atty can reach out to the expediter.

You can also see if your bank will allow you to close and put money in escrow for the cost of the permits. Most banks don't do this anymore but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

It's possible they didn't put in the correct paperwork right away, so you may not really be at an 11 week wait.

If you really want to close, the lawyers may be able to work it out. Basically, you will close on the house, but they will hold money in escrow and the seller doesn't get the money until the get the CO. This is, of course, assuming your bank is ok with this.

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

C/O issues are the worst, but they do come up on almost every house I sell. Very common on LI for people to make improvements and not get C/Os (because they don't want to bother OR they don't even know they need them). So I wouldn't be quick to walk just because of that - but it's important to stay on top of it.

I agree with having your attorney get involved in speaking with the other attorney and following up with the expediter to get a specific update.

Do you know whether there are open permits that just need to be closed out, or whether you are starting from scratch?

Also, do you know whether any variances are required? (Sometimes if the deck is built too close to a property line or dimensions are too large or too much of the property is covered by structure, you need a variance). A variance really slows things down.

The expediter should be able to shed on these issues and exactly what is left to be done before the C/Os are issued. If there were no open permits, first plans need to be drawn up and submitted and approved, then various inspections need to take place (for the room extension, there would probably be at least electric, if not plumbing, and then a final inspection). Sometimes the inspectors come on to look at 1 or 2 issues and find several other "violations" to be addressed. So you really need to know what stage the proceedings are at.

I am thinking there are variance issues involved because I closed on 2 houses in Levittown (TOH) recently, both of which had major C/O issues (dormers with no C/Os, garages with no C/Os, major extensions to the house), and we were able to close within 3 months. One of those closed with money in escrow, but the C/Os came in within weeks of closing.

If the C/O process is pretty far along, I would consider closing with money in escrow if your bank and the seller are agreeable. More and more banks (even strict lenders, like credit unions) are allowing this. But with something like an extension to the house, the amount of money left in escrow would be substantial. Sometimes the attorneys are strongly against this, but I would raise it.

Also if the deck is the hold up (not the extension, which is obviously integral to the house), sometimes it's just worth it to tear the deck down. Of course, if you didn't know there was no C/O until after you were in contract, you should be entitled to get a credit back for the loss of the deck. But often, it's cheaper, easier, faster, etc. to just tear down something like a deck/shed/above ground pool/hot tub than to go down the C/O route.

Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

you should have the lawyers hold money in escrow and allow the closing. the C/O will come later and then the sellers will get their money back.

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

Re: Town of Hempstead - CO and closing

Thanks to everyone for your input and responses!

Christine -- I don't know if there were open permits that need to be closed out but I appreciate your advice to have our lawyer contact the expeditor to figure out where we are in the process - great advice. Also not sure about the variance, will ask our lawyer to look into that.

We definitely aren't willing to walk away from the house at this point, so it seems like it is worth considering just going to closing with keeping money in escrow. Our bank is OK with it, even though our lawyer is not a fan of this route.

Thanks again to all.