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Massachusetts Home Buyer loses job is he protected with the mortgage contingency clause?

By
Real Estate Agent with The Buyer's Choice

Last week I attended a real estate class for my renewal of my Ma licensee. One of the topics the attorney covered was on MA offers and Purchase & Sales Agreement.  One of the sections he discussed was on the mortgage contingency clause in the MA offer agreement.

 
The attorney proposed a question for the group of us, What would happen if the mortgage clause date went by without an extension and the buyer lost his job prior to closing on the property and the lender could not give the buyer a mortgage, would the buyer lose the deposit?  The majority of the group thought that the buyer would get the deposit back, since it was out of the buyer’s control.


The attorney stated that the buyer would lose his deposit.  He suggested that it is very important to keep track of the dates in the offer since the offer dates are of Time is of the Essence meaning that the dates are drop dead dates. If there was any concern with the buyer getting a mortgage than you would need to get an extension of the mortgage clause otherwise the mortgage clause is waived from the offer if it goes by the mortgage contingency clause date.

The "mortgage contingency clause"  is a provision in the offer that protects the buyer being able to obtain a mortgage on the property, if the buyer is not able to get the financing  terms that the buyer specified  in the clause or is unable to get financing by the mortgage contingency clause date, the buyer can cancel the agreement and get his deposit back. If the seller and buyer agree, they can extend the mortgage contingency clause date to a future date, this is called an extension.

What's your thoughts on this?

If you have excellent credit, and will be purchasing a $200,000-$1,500,000 or more home or condo in the Providence, Rhode Island area, or surrounding RI neighborhoods or Southern Massachusetts in the next 90 days and would like to be represented by the Corbett TEAM of Certified Exclusive Buyer Agents (Trained in "Negotiation" for representing ONLY BUYERS 100% of the time!)"Call me at 401-265-5947for a phone consultation!

Comments (3)

Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

As long as there is a mortgage contingency clause and you are within the approval date, no job, no mortgage.

Oct 17, 2011 06:14 AM
David Spencer
Keller Williams Northland - Kansas City, MO
Show Me real estate in Kansas City

It is the buyer's responsibility to be in compliance (or attorney). Ignoring dates is not an option.

Oct 17, 2011 06:25 AM
Mark Corbett
The Buyer's Choice - Providence, RI

Thank you for the comment Joe & Dave

The scary thing is that if the buyer gets a full commintment from the lender and then for some reason the lender has to pull the loan, if the mortgage contingency was not extended the buyer would lose his deposit.

Oct 17, 2011 07:44 AM