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I have been looking for a house for several months. I found a property that I thought was exactly what I needed for my family circumstances. I put an offer on the property, offering full price. this property has been on the market without any interest for over 45 days.
The seller rejected the offer because they said they did not want to pay capital gains. (I have no connection to them paying capital gains or not). Then they also said that they did not want to accept the offer because they did not like my mortgage program that I was going through because they had a bad experience with this program with someone else who backed out of the deal without them getting the earnest money.
So I moved on. I started looking at other properties and found another property that was also meeting my families' needs. I was just about ready to put an offer on that house when the previous sellers agent got in contact with my agent and asked me to resubmit my offer. I thought... hmmm ok sure. I let the other property go without placing an offer and resubmitted the offer- again offering full asking price. The seller then rejects the offer and counters that I pay a specific amount per day if the deal is extended past the closing date. Strange.. but okay I don't see any reason for any extensions happening so fine.
The inspection takes places and there are several issues but most things are stuff that I can deal with. I do ask that the leak in the bathroom (shower leaking into the flooring) and the seals on the toilets are fixed. I asked for about a handful of things to be taken care of. The house was not being sold "as is" and all I was asking was to fix these issues. The seller rejected it - they countered with doing some very minor repairs. I am unable to get an estimate on how much the repairs will cost. The real estate agent said they were going to talk with their client- but then we did not hear anything further from them or the seller. The deadline was fast approaching. The agent had not replied to texts, voice mails or emails. It feels like the sellers are being manipulative. I don't want a money pit- all I want is for them to take care of the plumbing issues. There were 89 issues on the inspection report- I only asked for a few taken care of.
I don't get this. I have bought and sold 3 other houses in my life and never had these kinds of problems. So now I am faced with walking away from the deal- this means starting again - there are lots of issues around that since a lot of things were relying on the closing date happening as planned. How do I deal with these people? It just doesn't make sense to me.
How to deal with these people?
"Walk away" comes to mind immediately, if you think you cannot handle the repairs.
Can you get your earnest money deposit back at this point?
Or you can buy the house as it is, and take care of repairs yourself.
Would you trust them to do any repairs properly at all on a poorly maintained house when they have done nothing but play games with you from your first interaction?
At this point, you need to wonder what sort of drama they will cook up when it is time to close.
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 04-20-2018 at 04:13 AM..
How to deal with these people?
"Walk away" comes to mind immediately, if you think you cannot handle the repairs.
Can you get your earnest money deposit back at this point?
Or you can buy the house as it is, and take care of repairs yourself.
Would you trust them to do any repairs properly at all on a poorly maintained house when they have done nothing but play games with you from your first interaction?
At this point, you need to wonder what sort of drama they will cook up when it is time to close.
Some people are just strange. I had a neighbor like that.
Consider a counter-offer with no repairs at a price a few thousand less, and with a 24 hour expiration. Maybe with a penalty for seller-induced delays.
The seller's agent has lost control of the transaction and the seller if they are allowing the seller to pull b.s. like this. What wackos.
Can you get your earnest money back at this point? If so, I'd be tempted to call the agent's broker, discuss the non-responsiveness, and ask where you should send a termination/release request.
Id let the deal fall thru and then resubmit your offer way less. Its obvious they have absolutely no interest from anyone else. Act like youre in the drivers seat, you can take it or leave it. Offer way less. If they say no, find another house.
89 "issues" on the inspection report? Mehaps the inspector was picking nits and not looking for real "issues" that affect safety and habitability..
I would predict that if the shower has been allowed to leak through the floor that this unmaintained house could easily present 89 issues that should be noted in any inspection protocol.
The seller rejected it - they countered with doing some very minor repairs.
Sometimes the best course of action is to simply walk away. In this case, it sounds like it would be a relief not to need to deal with these people through closing.
If your description is correct, the Seller rejected your offer so there is no contract. If any earnest money had been put down, you should get it back.
89 "issues" on the inspection report? Mehaps the inspector was picking nits and not looking for real "issues" that affect safety and habitability..
I would prefer 89 nits with only a handful being actionable than a clean sheet because they couldn’t bother.
During a house sale years ago I chit chatted with the inspector and he clearly missed things. Naturally as the seller I didn’t point them out.
I also was buying a house in 2005 when the market was hot and when anyone who could fog a mirror got a mortgage. We went with a 30 year jumbo with quite a bit down. Stellar credit score and history. Seller was previously a real estate agent and started asking for ridiculous things - like a bank guarantee before even going to contract (note this is not pre-approval).
My agent finally told her to stop as we were so pissed off we were about to walk. Some sellers are just really difficult.
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