Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Closing Early House Not Complete w/No Delivery Date

The right answer here will be heavily dependent upon what's written in your contracts. The developer's oral statements about completion date are probably legally ineffective.

Your contract will also contain the answers as to the rights, if any, of either the developer or you to terminate the contract for one reason or another, including construction delays or failure to obtain financing on acceptable terms.

You can, of course, attempt to negotiate contract modifications such as a discount for your assuming a greater financing burden such as paying all cash, but unless you have some leverage due to the developer being in breach of some duty under the written contract, the developer is unlikely to make concessions.

What do the other buyers have to say? Maybe the eleven of you should get together to discuss a common strategy.

The developer probably can't walk away from the deal based only on your suggesting changes to your contract, so long as you remain apparently ready, willing and able to perform your obligations under the contract. On the other hand, if the developer is in "material" breach of its agreement with you, perhaps you can back out. You should retain a lawyer if you decide to do this.

Basically, what it boils down to is that the enforceable parts of your agreements and understandings will be in your contract, including what constitutes a breach and what remedies are available for breach. Once these are found and studied, you can apply general principles of contract and real property law and figure out a practical solution.