Suing my real estate agent. (homes, purchasing, property tax)

[rparz]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Assuming there was an appraisal which are very conservative today, he did get what they paid for.

I recently sold a home that was worth about $380k. The owner dumped it to an Indian buyer at $325k and his lenders conservative Appraisal came in at $360k. The Appraiser measured the home and came up with a discrepancy (lower) in footage.

After closing the Buyer wanted to sue everyone because the house measured smaller than was on the tax records. Forget the fact he bought the house $35k below his own appraised price.

Like I said earlier, if they are upset enough to want to nullify the deal, then go ahead and sue.

If you want to sue, keep the house and make some cash, GTFO.

[Ultrarunner]

I helped out a friend that owned a floor covering business...

One of the first things he told me is to NEVER put down on the estimate the square footage or yards of material being furnished... he said doing so only invites problems.

His estimates are very thorough... Furnish and Install XYZ 32 ounce carpet in Living Room, Bedrooms and Hall...

All the seasoned Real Estate Agents operate the same way... I have yet to see any agent measure a property... ever.

A Real Estate Agent is not an appraiser, surveyor, contractor, assessor, lawyer, accountant, etc.

I have never seen any two appraisals on the same property with the same square footage if measured.

Hire a survey if square footage is important and better yet... pay for an Alta Land Survey... the last one I had for a commercial property included a survey with pins, chain of ownership dating back to the Spanish Land Grant, Ariel Photos back to 1930, Business Activity, Full County/City permit file and Soil Sampling for Toxics...

[ElizaTeal]

Originally Posted by rajeshkari

Hi All,

We just bought our first home( escrow closed and got the keys).
The house that we got had a sun room extension, which my agent said had all the permits and was included as part of the sq footage of the house.( close to 340 sq foot).

She promised that she had verified the permit and everything was in order and we removed all contingencies.
once it was done she sends out an email that the sun room is not added as part of sq foot of the house.

so now basically i got scammed, I was wondering if I can sue my real estate agent for providing false data before removing all contingencies.

Please help I am really tired of such cheating people and losing my money.

Thanks
Raj

A porch isn't part of square footage. Listings I've have seen usually have +/- following square footage, meaning the size is approximate. Enjoy your new house. If you sue you'll only be wasting your time, and making lawyers rich.

[rparz]

Originally Posted by zonababe

A porch isn't part of square footage. Listings I've have seen usually have +/- following square footage, meaning the size is approximate. Enjoy your new house. If you sue you'll only be wasting your time, and making lawyers rich.

I've seen more and more listings say 'No guarantees - property sold as-is' probably due to hassles related to trivial things.

If you see a house in person and decide to buy it, that should be enough. Have some responsibility, do your own due diligence. That's why you get title insurance, hire a lawyer and hire inspectors, property surveys and what not at your own cost.

As long as the property hasn't been materially changed since your walk through and inspection, or some other blatant form of fraud or misrepresentation, I think this is ridiculous.

[rparz]

I want to know where the agent found the corrected square footage and if that was the square footage on the documents the buyer signed at closing.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by DocGoldstein

If agents are indeed trying to drop square footage measurements from home listings, that's ridiculous and disingenuous. Another reason why agents are sometimes not seen as trustworthy (trying to hide data instead of expose it).

It's not the agents. The one place I know -- Pittsburgh PA -- the local real estate agencies and the MLS listing do not list total square feet for just the reasons cited -- people sue over it and square footage can vary from each person doing the measurements -- do you include the unfinished part of the basement or even the finished part? So what they do is list measurements for each room -- figure it out for yourself.

Sometimes you can get the square footage on the nationwide listings like Trulia and Realtor. But it's not guarenteed.

The whole thing can be screwy -- I once saw a house in Oakland that was listed as 795 square feet and had SIX bedrooms. With pictures. We decided this house was a TARDIS.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

It's not the agents. The one place I know -- Pittsburgh PA -- the local real estate agencies and the MLS listing do not list total square feet for just the reasons cited --

This sentence refutes itself and doesn't make much sense.

[DMenscha]

We sell houses by the pound, not by the square foot. It is far more accurate.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

We sell houses by the pound, not by the square foot. It is far more accurate.

Houses here are cheaper since we use Balsa Wood and inflate the roofs with helium. Very energy efficient as long as they don't float away.

[eureka1]

I was really surprised to find out that the TWO sun porches in this house AND the uninsulated pantry/laundry room here were not included in the square footage. I'm not complaining.