1031 Under Contract- Seller keeps extending

[Jeremy F.]

Hello BiggerPockets! I am currently under contract for an off market apartment building. The seller informed me he was doing a 1031 exchange and wanted 30 days to find a building. If no building was found on his end in 30 days he could void the contract. I know this kind of deal will normally close whether they find one or not since they still have several months to find one but it was a non-negotiable for him to close on another property first and I did find a few examples online of others doing this so I went with it. So far the contract has expired twice and we have kept extending it. They still haven't found a building and now want to extend it to 12/31 without a guarantee they will close.

My logic up to this point has been that with the market being the way it is here with no good deals present or coming in, why not keep extending it. But with how long this has been going on my partner is getting impatient and now I can't really blame him. I think I may need to change course and possibly give him the extension but demand he close no matter what and just risk losing the deal. Is there something I am missing here? Does anyone with apartment or 1031 deal experience have any advice or opinions to give? What would you guys do in this situation? 

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Bill B.]

I would either charge up front for the extension or a fee at year’s end for not closing. (If they don’t) 

This is all assuming you have something else to do with the money and thus is an ok deal. If it’s a great deal or you have no other deals to pursue it’s not really harming you. But I would make sure that you too can cancel at anytime without losing your earnest money or being forced to buy after you found something else.