As it turns out, when it comes to the mortgage and house purchase, we have a little less to worry about than we were initially thought. The looming deadline that worried us so fervently was actually one for our protection and gives no power to the seller to cancel the deal (as we thought it did). Oops.

What's really going on is that we have until July 11 (renegotiated to July 16) to see if we're actually going to be approved for our loan. If it turns out that we're not going to get approved, we can back out of the deal with no penalty to us. After the deadline, if it turns out that we can't get financing for some odd reason (e.g., Sarah's ISD ceases to exist), then we will forfeit our deposit ($2,000). The seller, on the other hand, is stuck with us until closing.

Now all we need is for the ISD to verify that Sarah is actually employed. You wouldn't think it would be all that difficult.