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The problem with the owner's lawsuit against him and some of his many properties has created a huge concern for us. I spoke with our mortgage guy who thinks that the problem can be solved with a 30 extension and our realtor who doesn't think the owner can even get a court date to resolve it within 30 days. Of course, our realtor wants to sell a house and get his commission - sooner than later. Our banker may or may not have the experience with these situations and could be right or way off. So, we are deciding between granting the 30 day extension to the owner - at a price - or locating a nice replacement home that has all the amenities and meets our requirements that we could buy and move into with short notice. We need to decide fast as we are leaving for Chicago on Monday.

I expect to be working closely with our realtor over the next couple days as I have until 5 PM on Thursday before I return to work. We may schedule a couple of viewings today, if we can get appointments. One home that we have looked at - on paper, at least - is in the same neighborhood as the one we are trying to buy but has zero landscaping in the rear. If we could get the home for $30K less than the one we are buying and put a pool/landscaping package in the back yard for that amount, it may be a viable option. It otherwise looks like it has all the features we are looking for. We actually have up until our scheduled closing date to decide whether to extend the existing contract, or take our deposit and move on. The scheduled close date is May 7.

This is not our favorite activity these days. We are hoping that we can get everything resolved and will be able to finally move into a house without any obstacles...