posted
It's been such a long three months that it honestly feels like it's been six.
We started looking for a house in the middle of April, with a realtor that we liked and with our hopes up. We had a stack of houses to go through, and we did - we hunted for about six or seven weeks before we found one that we liked.
It is a 1.5 story, with a new 2 car garage, an older 1 car garage, new hardwood floors, new bathroom, fireplace, central air, mid-aged mechanicals, no water damage, humidity control, good foundation, good neighborhood. It's priced right about where I thought we could afford with little to no trouble, and had everything that we needed, including: nothing really serious needed to be done with it.
But the house had been on the market for six months, so we figured we could shave a few thousand off of the selling price. We offered at five thousand below asking price.
They counter-offered at a thousand below asking price.
We counter offered at twenty-five hundred below asking price - an offer that was regarded by both our realtor and their realtor as a good offer. They came down five hundred bucks. Since I'd thought the original asking price was a good price, we accepted.
A few weeks later, we called to find that the inspector had gone in and found some things wrong that needed to be fixed: a railing needed to be put up on the front walk (it's steep), the loose boards on the deck need to be refastened, and the windows need to be scraped and repainted. Nothing horrible; certainly nothing that couldn't be repaired in a weekend.
Our esteemed sellers took three weeks to finish these. One detail, however, that failed to make itself known as a big deal: the inspector had to come back because the gas and the water wasn't turned on.
By this time, we had already asked if we could move up the closing date - they had agreed. But two days before the proposed closing rolled around and the inspector hadn't seen the house yet. He was scheduled to go out on Wednesday (we were to close on Friday morning), and he didn't because the sellers refused to turn on the water and the gas for him.
Their agent explained to them that this is something they had to do, and then asked when on Friday we could close. Their response: "Oh, Friday's suck for us. We can't do Friday."
So we reschedule for Tuesday morning. By this point, I've already taken that week off for the move.
We go up to the house on Sunday for our final walkthrough and to take measurements for furniture and blinds. We turn on the AC and the water to make sure everything is in working order. The AC breaks after about twenty minutes, and there are mutliple water leaks in the basement.
So we call their agent, the plan being to get someone in their on Monday morning to take care of both problems. But then word comes back that the seller said he'd fix the plubming himself, and that he had refused to repair the AC. His agent explained that they have to - since they advertised the house with central air, it has to have working central air. The two of them argue about it for an entire day.
Flash forward to today. My agent sent an AC guy she trusts who also does other repair work. He reports that the AC unit is an antique: 25 years old or more, it needs to be replaced. In addition, the lines from the external AC unit to the furnace need to be replaced, as well as the actual unit on the furnace that handles the AC output. The chimney lining needs to be replaced in the next 3 years.
And there is no running water to either upstairs sink.
So, as soon as the seller refuses to fix the problems (like he has done every other time an item has been found faulty, before caving and doing a half-assed job on his own) we're going to cite him for breach of contract and walk away from the deal.
It's been a very long, very frustrating and stressful month. Right now we have a few more houses to look at this weekend. Hopefully the next seller won't be nearly so dishonest.
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
That's why inspections are so crucial. Be thankful that you caught everything at a junction where you could still get out of it.
I almost waived the inspection when I bought my house (I did a pretty thorough walk through myself, and I'm fairly qualified in that regard), but I found some things I wanted a second opinion on so I hired an inspector. He ended up finding a half dozen little things I'd missed. They were all things I didn't mind fixing, but I was able to get credit for them towards closing costs. The 250 dollar inspector saved me 1300 in closing costs.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
If it was on the market for 6 months, I would wonder if the same thing hadn't happened before and he didn't tell you. That would explain why he didn't want the gas and water turned on.
Is the AC powered by gas?
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm sorry that you had to go through such a frustrating experience, but I'm really glad you went about things the right way and are able to walk away from a bad deal. Good luck with your house hunting!
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
That's a bum deal for two highly cool and undeserving people to go through! Sorry to hear it's been a mess. It is good to know what's going on with you guys, though! Keep us posted!
Posts: 186 | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
We didn't lose the earnest money, no. We'll be getting that back - he did breach the contract, so it's a no-go.
zgator: actually, their realtor has been absolutely livid with his clients throughout the whole process. I believe he said that we're the first ones to bid on it.
Oh, yes - I left a bit out a the beginning. The house was a HUD foreclosure. The seller bought the house in April and renovated it (not enough, obviously) and put it on the market in December.
In the end, the whole ordeal only cost us a week of vacation and a lot of fried nerves. Not too bad, considering that it could have been much worse.
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
He forgot to mention the part that I think is most important - the plumbing doesn't seem to work. Both realtors were there with the AC guy, and while they were there, even though water to the house was on, they couldn't get any to come out of any of the faucets. Just brown gunk, then nothing. Sounds like the entire plumbing system needs to be redone. There's no way they'll do it, and frankly, we don't want the house anymore.
This has been such a stressful experience. The next one will be better, right?
Posts: 3214 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
We didn't lose the earnest money, no. We'll be getting that back - he did breach the contract, so it's a no-go.
zgator: actually, their realtor has been absolutely livid with his clients throughout the whole process. I believe he said that we're the first ones to bid on it.
Oh, yes - I left a bit out a the beginning. The house was a HUD foreclosure. The seller bought the house in April and renovated it (not enough, obviously) and put it on the market in December.
In the end, the whole ordeal only cost us a week of vacation and a lot of fried nerves. Not too bad, considering that it could have been much worse.
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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I'm sorry that you had to go through such a frustrating experience, but I'm really glad you went about things the right way and are able to walk away from a bad deal. Good luck with your house hunting!
