Video Summary
Can a home purchase closing be delayed due to our hurricane approaching? That depends upon whether or not the contract has a provision in it concerning hurricanes, the contract that is most widely used by the realtors and it’s approved by the Florida bar has a provision concerning hurricanes and how it’s delayed. And also to be able to look at the property to see if there’s any damage as a practical matter. It usually is delayed because you have to have insurance for the lender, if there’s a lender involved. And if there’s a, so you can’t close unless the lenders ready to lend the money and you have to have insurance. Once it enters in to a certain longitude and latitude called the box, well, then they quit writing insurance. So then the lender can’t close the loan because there’s no insurance lenders. Also, if there’s a storm that has gone through will require the property to be reinspected before they will agree to close the loan. Whenever you have a willing buyer and a willing seller they usually agreed to delay this, rather than starting all over again, to see about selling the property, depending on what happened during the hurricane. And there was no damage involved. The insurance is a big factor. And as a practical matter, you go ahead and, and see about delaying those. If there’s no provision in the contract, for a delay and the parties, you know, are looking for a reason to get out, and the mortgage is not a contingency any longer in the contract. I believe that the seller could determine the buyer was in default for failure to close on the contract. But, in my experience, particularly in the area that I practice in and which is the West coast of Florida, we rarely lose a transaction or the seller takes that approach and that they usually want to sell the property and deal with the practical problems that are, we experienced as a result of a hurricane. And we’ve been blessed that we haven’t had any direct hits for over a hundred years. So, if you have any questions about your contract in closing, and hopefully we don’t have any approaching, hurricanes, well give me a call at (727) 847-2288.