Can you guys tell me what the 72 hour real estate clause means to us in this situation?

First, I already looked it up on Wiki. It was awfully vague so please don’t send me there!

Same house we’ve been trying to get for a year, contingent on the sale of this house. The wife (whose name the house is actually in) really, really wants US to have the house.

Well, they moved to Az and they’ve been patiently waiting for something to happen at this end. I sympathize with them because they took a second mortgage on the house at some point, and are paying on that every month.

We have a 72 hour clause in the contract.

We’ve also been taking steps to refinance and rent the house, if nothing else.

On Monday we had showed the house again, not expecting anything to come of it because of our experience over the last year.

However, after they saw it our realtor said they were very interested, and had an appointment for the next Saturday (today) at 5:30 to discuss financing.

On Thursday he called, said somebody had put a contract on the other house. Said he had cash. The 72 hour clause kicked in which would take us to today, unless it’s valid only during business days, which we don’t know.

Needless to say that lit a fire under our butts. As of yesterday we got pre-approval for the financing to buy the other house.

Our last contract, signed last July, gave us until Oct 31st.

Well, the husband doesn’t want to wait the 60 days until Oct 31st. Well, hell. We could move in well before then. It was just a bit of wiggle room. Apparently he’s decided to be a hard-ass and Rick’s blood is starting to boil. Remember, the house isn’t even in the husband’s name, but after 30 some years of marriage….well…

So….can anyone tell me where we stand legally in this deal?