Getting Off-Market to Closing

[Pat Brennan]

Hi – looking for some advice on getting an off-market house officially under contract. The back story is there is a property we want that has essentially been abandoned by the owners for many years. We wrote them a letter and the husband called almost immediately saying YES they want to sell. We made them an offer which they said was too low, so we upped our offer considerably to basically full retail price. (This is something we want for personal use.) He said he had to speak to his wife and would get back to us but also asked how quickly could we close. That was almost 2 weeks ago and crickets. Unfortunately, he and his wife don't appear to be on good terms and they are currently living in different states. We know they could probably use the money and believe the hang up, is the fact they are not on good speaking terms. Anyone have any advice on how to proceed further? We don't live in the same state as them, so a face to face conversation is probably off the table. We have already had a P&S drawn up and it would be a cash sale, so all we need is for them to sign and show up at closing. We're just at an impasse of what the next step could be to secure this property. Thanks!