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Sellers are always seeing what they can get away with - only your due diligence decides what they can get away with - from you. Kudos to you for looking at it globally
pkowen
@
2009 Oct 28, 3:06pm
The owners primarily deserve your derision. I think you dodged a bullet. I am sure your inspector is good and all, but this really indicates that anything - I mean ANYTHING could be lurking under the stucco. It failed ALL inspections?? Not a good sign.
I have heard in CA that some people (during the bubble) wouldn't accept offers with inspection contigencies. Sounds like you had one. I would always, ALWAYS have this. Honestly, realtors are nothing but salespeople so while they pretend to be RE lawyers and pretend to be there to 'protect your interests' that's BS. Knowing nothing about the actual condition of, value of, and quality of the house is exactly what I expect of them. THey simply want to make a sale, kind a like a used car salesman although the used car salesman usually knows when he is lying.
If you really want to go through with it, I would without delay contact the County inspections dept. and ask them for specifics on why it failed and if it could be made to pass - with what corrections. I guarantee you there will be permit/inspection charges from the County to come back and re-inspect. If you really want this house and the owners are willing to pay for all issues, including new inspections by County, etc. ok. If not, I'd walk and thank myself for the inspection contingency!
Hope this is useful to you.
For 700K, couldn't you just build something and make goddamn sure the thing was done right?
elliemae
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2009 Oct 28, 11:40pm
Re: Mortgage Brokers... they can't all be bad. Someone's gotta do it. So I'll hold my tongue on that one.
Re: Realtors... They're like prostitutes. They will do any act they're paid for (my apologies to your father-in-law). I'm sure there are some good realtors, it's just that every one I've ever met works for the seller and will do anything for the sale. Your f-i-l sounds like a good guy, but his profession has taken a beating over the past few years because of so many people jumping on the band wagon to sell houses during the bubble.
In my experience, no mortgage company or bank will lend to buy a home without a COO. When I was selling, I had to prove that a burned out light bulb wasn't an electrical problem. They don't want to lose their investment by lending to purchase a home that can't be occupied. That's why there are construction loans and home loans...
I do believe you're correct - that they must make it right or refund your $. Don't know about the inspection cost, depends upon what's in your contract. But you do have them over a barrel on those. I would just wonder what else is wrong with the home, and wonder why the inspection company didn't know it didn't have a COO. I thought that was part of the inspection process.
For 700K, couldn’t you just build something and make goddamn sure the thing was done right?
Yea, he could do that. If he wanted to wait up to a year and go through the headache. With so many homes to choose from, why would he build another if he can find something move-in-ready?
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I'm in escrow on a house that has never been lived in. (save the "still overpriced" proclamations and "idiot buyer" comments...)
My inspector finds the house to be in good condition with the following notable exception: the pillars/columns in the front and the back of the house do not have cement footings. You read that right. He says that it can be fixed and has actually seen such things overlooked before, especially since these columns do not take a structural load. He is surprised that the county inspector didn't pick it up, which prompts me to hit the county website to fetch the permit information. On the county website I see the permit is still OPEN and notice that all of the inspection categories FAILED.
First surprise, then confusion, then anger...
WTH?? So no wonder these pillars don't have cement footings - the house has not had its final inspections nor has it been issued a certificate of occupancy!
My father in law is our Realtor and our Mortgage Broker (save the hateful comments on that - he too thinks it is an industry full of scumbags). He calls the sellers agents (two of them are co-listing the place) and they are pissed at the sellers and floored to learn this.
The house is a custom and decked out with all of the goodies - that is, with the exception of the missing cement footings under the stucco columns/pillars.
Obviously, I'm not buying a house that doesn't have a certificate of occupancy. Correct me if I am wrong, but unless it is an all-cash purchase, you can't even buy a single family dwelling unless it has passed final inspection and has been issued a certificate of occupancy.
These listing agents are set to collect a combined $21K (3% of the purchase price) and didn't bother to check on this with the seller until my due diligence brought it to their attention.
Is my frustration directed properly? From all indications, the listing agents are pissed at the sellers and if I were them, I would be telling the sellers to go find another listing agent.
My opinion is that we are already in escrow and these are items the seller has to fix per sections 1 and 2 of our offer, so unless they fix the items, get the inspections passed, and obtain a certificate of occupancy from the county, we back out of the deal and demand they refund any money spent to date on inspections. In a way they are screwed – no one will buy the property unless they fix these items. Seems to me at this stage that the sellers are seeing what they can get away with…
Any constructive, non-politically-oriented thoughts here?
#housing