payment => closingvesting => deed recordingsorry for the confusion, english is obviously not my native tonge.So, in short, the consensus among the answers seems to be that the date of the actual transfer of funds is the reference date and not the date of the deed recording, nor the purchase agreement date

You might try the : "Not very Good  on English" Pleading, doubtful, they will care very much.

Hi all,I have been a real estate investor ( buy and hold for past 12 years) learn a lot from BP.I Speack perfect chinese and fluent in English, wondering if any opportunity to work with good reputation term key company that want to target on over sea chinese as well as first generation chinese who lives in City like New York and CA to buy turn key or high ROI property in OOS.In New York I see them buy one million dollars condos that’s rents out for 3-4k per month .

Also, if he happens to have anyone else in the house whose primary language is not English, you may find yourself explaining the situation in a deposition. 

Update: as I was leaving the English Ranch neighborhood the other day I saw a car driving around that was the City of Fort Collins and had "CODE COMPLIANCE" written in big letters on the side.

The fact that they would respond with anything other than "YES" or "BAFO because of multiple offers" is beyond me.You gave the seller an inch of rope and now they're trying to strangle you with the whole darn thing -- I would say you are comfortable with the offer you gave at the terms enclosed.The why is sort of irrelevant, they obviously have something in mind but if you put a property on the market and someone offers you more than asking, as my old English teacher would say, "shut up and take your apples."

The condition however has deteriorated and it's a very old house, I believe it to be worth closer to $700K at the moment.A large and well known mortgage servicer was assigned to us, and they currently have the outstanding principal at $651K, but when I recently requested a pay off quote it came out to just about the same figure as what the house is worth, so, no equity.My mother is 80 years old and English is not her first language. 

Your English is amazing.

Not to mention some of these countries have unemployment levels as high as 30%, so you could rent to someone who has never had a job, may not speak English and can't drive a car. 

For that short of a time period, I would look into purchasing a small multi in DC or a row home with an english basement.