Buying a New House

So the wife and I are undertaking our biggest purchase yet, a new house. Well, not new, but 44 years old.

We found a place in Cherry Hill, NJ, a few miles away, for the right price, and with the right features. It's a four bedroom, 1.5 bath Colonial, with a yard a little under 1/4 acre. Did I mention that the price was right?

Well, we've been in negotiations for about three weeks, now, going back to the middle of December, trying to nail down a price. Anyone who has purchased a home will understand the process (or not), and the problems that pop up.

We had agreed on a price, and signed the contracts last week. All she needed to do was sign the contracts, get them back to us for our initials, and we could go into attorney review. Simple, right? She decided that she wanted to have her attorney look at the contracts (we're not using an attorney) and now we're knee deep in shit...

The seller wants clauses in the contract that would limit the amount of money she has to pay for any repairs found during the home inspection; totally understandable. What we're trying to work out is that if she voids the contract because the cost of repairs exceeds the limit we've agreed to, she is responsible for paying the home inspection costs, which are $455.
Additionally, she is requiring that her lawyer be present at closing, and he's unable to make it on the days that we want to close, and because we're moving out of an apartment, we had to give notice, so we don't have much room to maneuver, as far as closing/moving dates are concerned.

The original closing date was set for February 23rd, so we told our landlord we'd be out by the 28th. Now, her attorney is unavailable from the 17th to the 27th, so we're either stuck moving in one shot, and turning over the apartment to the landlord, as well as closing, all on the same day (the 28th), or we have to pay a half months rent, as well as a half months mortgage, taxes, and insurance.

Awesome, right?

Our realtor has been great, and I'd recommend her to anyone. Her name is Marge Felton, and she works in the Moorestown, NJ Weichert office. She's been working hard to get all this figured out, but I'm not sure the seller really wants to sell. Here's hoping, though...