Short Sale Closing/Financing Ideas?

[Kristen Peterson]

Hi,

Wondering if any of you with experience have any ideas for me on this deal:

We are at the tail end of a 7 month short sale process, and were supposed to close last week. Unfortunately, my lender came back at the last minute with the requirement to reroof the house prior to closing (appraisal showed less than 2 years life remaining). We were already planning to do this post-closing, had the roofer lined up, etc, but now not sure where to go with negotiations with the seller. For now, we put together a cash offer a little lower than our accepted offer price to cover about half of the new roof...intent is to move foward as planned and get the sale completed so the roof can go on before winter. 

IF the seller bank refuses our cash offer, what are some other options we could try to get this done? It has been our understanding from the beginning that the property is offered as-is, with no concessions...so asking them to completely cover a new roof is out, and I don't want to pay for the roof on something I don't own yet, obviously! Ideas??? Thanks in advance!