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During an inspection of a house we were looking to purchase, my husband came accross empty moving boxes arranged in an odd way against a garage wall. He moved them to take a look at the wall behind them and saw they were concealing an access door that went under the crawl space behind the front of the house.
We pointed it out to the inspector and low and behold he found major termite damage. All along the selling agent insisted it was an innocent coincidence about the boxes. She then ran and got the owners report of the termites being remedied a few years before.
At that point we stopped the inspection and said we were walking. She actually followed us down the driveway saying that the seller will repair/replace the damaged sill. We told her no because of the level they went to with their dishonesty. I know people fluff over things to sell a house, but that one made me very angry.
I guess if anything I learned to be very careful who you pick to sell your house. We later found out the agent had quite a reputation for antics such as this. As a result, we would not even look at a house that she was selling.
If laminate floor is installed to tight it will cause a "bubble" in the floor. An inspector and/or flooring installer can probably answer the question about the hump. As far as the title issues or what have you, I defer to your agent and/or attorney.
Now, that house is still off market...the agent who was to represent me, was actually representing the seller. I could tell ...when I stated that I wanted to know what was going on with the floor, she made this statement twice.. "She (the seller) has put so much money into that house!" the seller had had a lot of work done on this house but...hiding stuff? Could be putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak, I am afraid. Yes, I was wondering..were there some things hidden by the work that the seller had done besides the floor? Thanks for all the comments.. really appreciate it.
Because, Falconhead, if you'll pardon my language, the seller's agent has been a d-bag from moment one. I don't trust him at all, and finding out that the house had active termites and had been treated for termites in the past (which was not listed on the disclosure) essentially pushed me to the point of just wanting to walk away.
1) Seller's agent called my agent when we first looked at the house and asked what we thought. My agent said we liked it but we wanted to look at some other options. Seller's agent said if we wanted it we had better move on it now, because they were going to raise the price on the coming Sunday. We waited, and they LOWERED the price by $5,000
2) We gave the sellers 48 hours to consider our initial offer. Seller's agent gave us 19 hours - not even a full day to consider their counter.
3) Seller's agent threw a hissy fit when he found out we were going to test for radon as part of the inspection, and then when the test was completed, we found out that the radon detector had been moved.
4) Seller's agent requested $2,000 in earnest money instead of the normal (for this part of the country) $1,000. I am from out of state and have no bank branches here, so instead of being able to use a personal check for $1,000, I had to take $2,000 out of an ATM and then get my agent to purchase a cashier's check at his bank, since banks won't allow non customers to buy cashier's checks, and the seller's firm won't take a personal check for more than $1,000.
There are more instances of this, but I don't want to write a novel, and I'm sure this gives you the general idea.
Thanks for your response!
1. Lots of agents try to instill a sense of urgency. It's just a normal thing. I completely ignore it. It's just their way to try and get a buyer to think they will "lose" the house because 50 people are beating down the door to buy at 10% over list.
2. That's just him trying to put pressure on you. Again the sense of urgency
3. Yeah well let him throw a fit. You're within your inspection period. Tell him to back off.
4. You don't have to put anymore down as earnest money than you feel comfortable with.
Just because a agent wants xyz doesn't mean you have to do it. This guy is what I see as the typical agent. Pushy rude and thinks all buyers are idiots.
Don't let the guy cloud your judgement about your future
The termite damage is really minimal. Mist wood frame houses will have some form of termite or rot etc.
My agent had set up the inspection with a company he uses quite often. I'll have to research as to whether or not the company specializes in structural pests. The treatment specifications he wrote on the report are as follows:
Trench and treat soil adjacent to outside foundation wall
Drill concrete slab at doorjambs
Drill and treat the soil beneath concrete slab, porches or patios
Plug drill holes in slab and brick
Remove all visible termite tubes
Treat soil in crawl
Treat infested wood members
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
The inspector said to treat it, even though there's no evidence of infestation? Just prior damage?
Really, run? It creates a vision of a house chasing someone down the street. Really, if you don't like the property just don't put in a bid. Sheesh. No need to panic and run away.
Just because there was once termite damage doesn't mean there are existing termites. It's possible to treat the termites and, if the damage isn't threatening the structure, repair/removal of the signs of termites is not necessary.
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