Seller is a no show at Closing

[Rob Strickland]

There is a vacant home on my street that I've had my eye on for about the past 8 months, but up until recently I was unable to get a hold of the owner.  Then about a month ago, a friend of mine who used to work with the owner of the property informed me that the owner had contacted him and was ready to sell.  My friend also informed me that this particular individual had fallen on hard times a few years back and sense then has been very reclusive and hard to contact.  Long story short, I was able to get a hold of the individual and enter into a cash purchase agreement with him for his full asking price. 

The deal was then handed off to title and escrow which uncovered several outstanding liens on the property as well as two mortgages, none of which was disclosed by the seller when signing the purchase agreement even though my agent specifically asked him.  The title company was able to get all of the liens cleared however, it turns out the two mortgages were in the name of the sellers mother and he requested that the title company not contact her directly.  The mortgage issue caused the closing to be delayed once, but the seller informed the title company he would contact them to reschedule and have his mother present to sign a release on the mortgages at the closing.  

The closing was scheduled last Friday and I signed all the documents and handed over the cash to escrow, but later in the day I was informed that the seller had not returned any calls all week and did not schedule a time to close.  So now I'm concerned that the seller is having issues with getting these mortgages cleared and is trying to avoid closing as a result and I have no idea where to go from here.  So I'm reaching out to the bigger pockets community to see if anyone has some advice on what my next course of action should be.  It would be a major disappointment if I don't close on this deal because it is a great opportunity given the price and location.