Dp2

I'm also sorry to hear about your dilemma; however, Joshua IS correct that this issue (if it were outstanding in September 2008) should have been caught during your inspection period, before you waived your inspection and appraisal contingencies. John is also correct that a normal buyer's inspection (and appraisal for that matter) would not have caught this issue; however, you should have contacted (or asked the seller to contact) the seller's (or another) oil service provider to inspect the tank, and to validate the meter reading.

You'd need to speak with an attorney to seek any legal remedies, but you'll most likely end up spending more in legal costs than you'd get back from the seller. Unless you could definitively prove your position on this issue, then you might want to first weight your options to see if it's worth pursuing this matter further. - Fri Jan 2 2009, 11:12

It sounds like you might be in a little over your head, and it's too late to seek representation/advice from a realtor for this deal. I agree with Tony and Jed: get an attorney to review your contract.

Although I'm not a realtor, like Jed--as an investor instead--I'll never waive all of my contingencies together; I will always wait until the last possible moment to waive as many of them as I can. It's nothing personal; rather, it's strictly business. I'm always going to enter every deal with whatever I deem to be the appropriate amount of representation, and I expect that each seller--whether s/he is represented--knows what s/he is doing. If the buyer, the buyer's agent, and/or buyer's attorney (you never know . . . one might also be involved behind the scenes) knew what s/he was doing, then s/he would have written the contract slanted in favor of the buyer.

Stated another way, don't expect to collect that deposit automatically, and having representation beforehand would have prevented you from executing this contract without understanding and agreeing to all of the terms and conditions of the contract. - Fri Jan 2 2009, 10:41

Do you intend to rent or buy the property? If you know you'd like to rent the property, and if you might be interested in purchasing it sometime later, then why not make an offer to purchase the property as a lease-option. Think of this as purchasing a home on rent-to-buy terms, and after your lease period is up you don't have to exercise your option to purchase the home if you're neither ready nor still interested to purchase that home. - Fri Jan 2 2009, 10:06

No 2 short sales are alike.

You should be able to locate the contact information of the broker who represents the seller (if the seller has one) in the packet of information you should have received with your purchase and sale agreement.

Your agent isn't privy to any information pertaining to the seller's mortgage balance; only the seller and seller's lender are privy to that information; and the seller doesn't legally have to disclose this information to you. Nevertheless, the seller's outstanding balance doesn't matter anyway for you, because you're going to pay LESS THAN that balance (hence why you're purchasing this home as a short sale).

I can't state for certain what's going on with that negotiation company in this deal without more details; however, I suspect that negotiation company might be an investor/rehabber (who's assigning his/her contract to you). If that's the case, then there's nothing abnormal going on with this transaction. It's fairly common and straight-forward transaction. - Fri Jan 2 2009, 09:54

The answer to your questions depend on several factors; following is a list of some of those factors (provided you and your wife opt for conventional financing): the type of loan, the seasoning terms of the lender, the price and condition of the home you intend to purchase, the amount of your down-payment, etc. Yet, you and your wife don't have to go with conventional financing; instead, you both could purchase a home (from a willing seller) with seller financing. Of course, seller financing also comes with its own set of terms and conditions, but they usually tend to be less draconian than the ones you'll receive from most conventional lenders--especially in the market of today. - Fri Jan 2 2009, 09:29