We canceled the contract and fired our realtor.
As of right now, we get our earnest money back. We lose our $100 option fee to the seller and the $500 inspection fee.
I'm pissed off. $600 because that bitch lied to us???!!! $600!!??!!
Part of me wants to have the seller's realtor's license pulled. I want to call the city on every code violation. I want a complaint in the Texas real estate board! I want to send that 65-page inspection report (certified) so they have to disclose it. I even want small claims! I just want to make her suffer!
But part of me just wants to forget about this whole freaking awful mess and move on with my life.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
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22 comments:
I'm so sorry that this whole thing happened to you guys. It seems like firing the realtor was the right step to take. $600 is a lot of money, but consider it a drop in the bucket to what you would've had to pay to get this house into live-able condition.
Ridiculous! But it happens everyday. They were probably hoping someone would buy without an inspection. Sounds like they need to just dump the property with Ugly Homes or some other fix and flip company....which will give them 10c for every dollar of possible selling price.
Sorry for you situation, but chalk it up as a learning experience.
If the sellers did not disclose the condition and problems with the house, why is the realtor guilty?
call the realtor and tell her you are going to sue, post the disgrace on your blog and send the 65 page report by certified mail to whomever UNLESS she reimburses you the $600. WTF. least she could do is at least split the loss with you and send you a check for $300. why should you be out any money whatsoever?
go for it. what in the world do you have to lose???????
FYI-consider all of this a learning experience. one that will come in mighty handily later.
..... Dear god.
But of COURSE you couldn't have just eyeballed these problems when you saw the house right?
I am so sorry, Dog.
Personally, I would do it. Mainly because I'm really vengeful, but also because its something she is going to do again to another family.
Can you sue??
Yuck, option fee? Never had one in the contract before, when I was buying or selling. Might want to try to get that struck from the contract next time. (You can alter the standard contract, you know - part of the process!)There was earnest money, yes, but normally all is refundable. $500 is slightly high for an inspection, but not insanely so. I paid $375 in fall of 2007, and $350 in spring of 2006 for my last two inspections in southern urban areas.
Again, a good realtor is going to steer you away from bad houses before you even get to inspection - both of my realtors were fairly savvy about general home stuff like looking for leaks under sinks, around toilets, loose banisters, etc. Not that they replaced an inspector, but when a realtor points out crooked trim on a remodeled bathroom, we began looking around the home for other neglected items. Sure enough we found clogged a/c air filters, mildew spots, and loose kitchen floor tiles. Needless to say we didn't spend anymore time in that house!
I have a questionaire I used while interviewing realtors. Let me know where to send if you would like a copy.
At least you're not bitter.
Stay on your former realtor and everyone else about getting the EMD back... I'm trying to get mine back... it's been 4 months. It took my friend 8 mos to get her back. Good luck!
Wow. that sounds like y'all dodged a bullet! I know it's awful to go through but at least you didn't buy it. My friend went through an ordeal for 2 years, her condo was a mess and she didn't catch it ahead of time (litigation & etc ensued)...
I'm so sorry things aren't going well, and I definitely understand the desire for revenge, especially with $600 down the drain. You'd think in this housing market, buying a house would be easy... but your journey shows otherwise.
Just contact your realtor's boss with all of the above. It's important in this downturn for real estate firms to keep their customers happy. The firm may be willing to do something for you and they also need to know they have someone so inept working under their name. Then contact the state real estate board. Consider it your civic duty to keep this person from wasting another person's time and money in the future.
Um I'm sorry, but how is this the Realtors fault? What, did she know about the problems with the house and TELL the sellers to not disclose it? No. Did the sellers even know that their house was in horrible condition? They MIGHT not have. Lots of people think if their house looks fine then it is fine and when it's not the case, the sellers can be just as stunned as you. If you noticed the fine print on the sellers disclosure, they have to write down WHAT THEY KNOW, they don't have to have the house inspected and disclose what's wrong with it. It's only what they are aware of.
Stop blaming the Realtor - you are probably very picky with wanting to find a "good deal" and putting in low ball offers. This is what you get. You want a great house? PAY FOR IT. $600 is not a lot to lose when you think about what you were about to buy. You're making the biggest purchase of your life right now, and you want to be cheap and find someone to blame over $600??
As a Realtor, the suckiest part of my job is having to babysit clients like you; what with finding a house for nothing, dealing with your general distaste of real estate agents for no solid reason, and then getting blamed for something we had no part in?? Hmmmmm.
And I will not be reading this blog anymore. You have never been through the home buying process and don't know much about it. And you won't ever find a house that you're happy with as long as you have the attitude that's displayed in your blog.
The best thing you can do is lodge a complaint and maybe post something online about how the seller's realtor lied.
Other than that, though, I'm just really glad you guys found out before it came YOUR problem. $600 isn't chump change, but it's much better than the alternative!
So sorry to hear this. About 4 years ago I got a hold of a bad realtor also. I asked what was behind the house I wanted to buy and she said "a park". Come to find out it was a trailer park. She lied to me and turned me off from realtors for a while. I have been renting since but know soon I will buy.
Keep you chin up. I am glad you got a good inspector. Keep him but get a new realtor. I believe you will find the right place soon.
@ Lacey. How do you accidentally shave the doors down so that they close in buckling floors?
Um… that happens when you have humidity. It's either shave the doors down, or being forced to leave them open for half the year. There's nothing you can do about that.
Happens all the time where I live, shaven door, in the Northeast. Why? Because in the summer and winter the temperature and humidity causes the doors to expand or contract. Only way to get them to close.
It isn't funny how many people don't understand how homes are constructed and maintained these days.
Sorry - absolutely no sympathy for you whatsoever and agree with every single point Lacey makes. Your whole mission is to buy everything on the cheap, and now you're upset because you got what you were willing to pay for.
As a first time homebuyer you've also never been through the process and are making mountains out of molehills. Drama Queen comes to mind.
You say how there is so much inventory of houses in the 300k to 350k range...so go look some more - duh! You made an offer on 1 house, it didn't work out, it was an experience. You paid for an inspection, you got an inspection. A real estate agent works for the seller not the buyer and has no obligation to you for anything - go pay for a buyer's agent if you feel you're in over your head or can't deal with everything. But, considering how cheap you are, you wouldn't want to pay for that, and again, you got what you paid for.
If you were not a first time homebuyer you'd also know how inspectors, similar to yourself, overdramatize every little thing. And, in the current real estate market, because they were previously caught with their pants down colluding with lenders and real estate agents, they now play to the opposite extreme. Hey, when we sold our townhouse and the buyer brought in an inspector, he was screaming bloody murder and scared the buyer out of her panties because the filter on the heater was the worst he's seen in his career...it was disgusting and would kill her! The inspector was also quite disturbed/unfriendly when I accompanied them on the inspection and was laughing at the things being pointed out. We were sure to leave the receipt for the 15 cent filter for the buyer when we moved out.
Get over it - either do your homework, pay for someone else to do it, or quit your bitching. Somehow, I get the feeling you'll do none of those.
Crybaby!
Dog honey, there are a lot of stories surrounding the purchase of my house and how I was screwed every way to Sunday that I don't talk about. I ended up in a 2 year lawsuit, settled in arbitration and am still owed $11,000 that the defendents never paid. I've written it off because it's not worth the emotional energy, the lawsuit drained everything I had in me and I have no fight left. Letting go of $11k has let me go on with my life. $600 isn't much in the scheme of houses, let it go and move on. There are worse battles to come and at some point you'll realize they aren't worth fighting. My house still isnt fixed and every day I get to look at the mess I was left with, but at least I'm not paying a lawyer $350 an hour anymore!
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