Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
We are in the process of purchasing a house and the real estate agent for the sellers has not been very forthright and pushy. We were told the house was owned by the seller only to find out during the contract process that its an estate sale. Our lawyer told us it wasn't a big deal so we went ahead and signed the contract, got our rate locked, commitment letter form the bank and are ready to close but the seller still has to go through surrogate court to sell the house. And there has not been given any straight answer on how long this process will take. Is there anything we can do so that we are protected in the case that this process takes longer then the two months we have to close based on our agreement with the bank?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Ask your lawyer to send a "Time is of the essence letter" to the seller's attorney. This will lock the seller into the "on or about" date in the contract of sale. Your lawyer should advise you of this.
Unless a fiduciary was appointed, no one has authority to sign a contract of sale. You would need to speak with the attorney for the estate to find out how long the appointment will take. The seller's broker has no responsibility to you. You should have your own representative.
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