The duplex I've been trying to buy for the past 2-3 months has taken a turn for the worse and I'm hoping to get some advice. I was buying a duplex in Everett with the plan to do an owner occupied FHA loan (i.e., house hacking). Both of the two units were occupied. both were on month to month rental agreements. The seller offered to have one of the units move out. After inspecting both, I picked one to ask to vacate. They were supposed to have vacated on 12/5. The renter got sick and went into the hospital, according to the conversation the Seller's Agent had with the tentant's Mother. They asked to stay longer, until 1/5. They paid a check to the seller, which the seller CASHED. We were supposed to close 12/15 and I should have made the walk through after 12/5.

Which of the following is the best option?

1. Walk away (it's in my agreement to walk away if the seller is not able to have the one tenant move out) and find a new property. Disadvantage here is the rate I had was a good one from 2-3 months back, and now it's gone up by 1%+ . (This is my preferred path)

2. File an extension/rate lock with the loan officer and hope she moves out by 1/5. The seller has agreed to credit $700 to my fees. Daily fees for this rate lock extension will be about $60/day. I still need to talk to the loan agent on Monday to learn more, but that's the quick overview per my real estate agent. Disadvantage is I think it won't last more than 30 days from 12/19, so I'd have to close by 1/19. (This may also work as an option, and apparently doing a rate lock extension won't cost any money if she doesn't actually move out and I don't get the house.)

3. Go for it and buy the property with the tenant in there as is, and I file the Eviction. This leads to a lot of questions like, how much will it cost to evict someone? How long will it take? (This looks like the riskiest path).

For context: i've never owned a home, and this is my first offer and first purchase. I want to either house hack / owner occupy a multi unit or I want to buy a fixer upper to keep and rent out (is that BRRRR?).

Thanks all! I hope to be able to give back and help someone out some day, but I'm honestly stressed about this one. I've tried to include all relevant info, but let me know if I've missed something.

Seattle, Washington

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