Yeah we’re pissed off. My mom, myself & my hubby. Who at & why you ask? Well not at each other, but at the current situation with my mom’s condo sale.
Here’s a good lesson for folks who are trying to sell or buy real estate right now.
Mom put her condo up for sale in February. After two weeks, a young couple with two small kids came and made an offer that mom accepted. Now, mom being mom, wanted to sell quickly and move to Arizona so she can start a new adventure and retire, so she accepted a lower price offer (not lower than she wanted really though) and agreed to move out early.
The couple wanted to move in March 1st, which left us with 10 days to pack up mom, transfer her business to me and get her into her RV and live in the neighbor’s drive way until she was scheduled to leave on March 16th, because they were originally supposed to close on that date.
During this process, we discovered that 8 years ago, the condo association approved but didn’t complete, the VA paperwork so that folks who wanted to use a VA loan could. So this couple was going to do that for us (since the wife is a lawyer), but it would have extended the closing out 6-8 weeks – they then decided to expedite the sale, go ahead and get a traditional 10% loan.
This meant that the closing date would be pushed to April 2nd, so my mother gave me specific power of attorney for this deal so that she did not have to be in town to complete this deal, since she had already purchased airline tickets for her brothers to fly back home from Arizona after driving with her and all her possessions this week. Fine.
They invite us to dinner last Friday evening so we all can get to know one another…we all have a great time, kind of bond and think that we can all get along and have some fun times ahead.
Yesterday, the wife has to go to Pasco to help out some family members (which she was going to do on Sunday, but the mountain passes were close due to snowfall) and the hubby asks that we call them immediately.
I go down to speak with the hubby and he sheepishly tells me that they made an offer on another unit in the complex that has a killer view , (but has been closed up for 2.5 years because the owner died and the relatives lived out of state), and didn’t think they would get it but they did. So now, they want to back out on my mother’s sale, pay her rent for 2 months until they can get into the other unit and help her sell her unit because they can’t afford both….but they really love the view in the other unit. They also know they will have to out $60-$70k into the other unit to refurbish it because it’s all original, probably has mold in it and will have to rip it down to the studs.
He said that he’s had the same situation happen to him and knows how we must be feeling right now, but it’s the view that they’ve always wanted….
I responded by asking him if he knew the following:
1. That unit was closed up for 2.5 years.
2. Did he know about the flooding in the parking lot that might make it hard to get out of their unit without hip waders at least 1-2 times a year?
Dec 2008
Dec 2007
3. That building is on pilings and fill?
4. The stairs going up to the unit are not to code?
5. The city wants to demo that building?
6. The BoD will not allow them to put laundry in their unit because of the shitty plumbing?
7. They will have to go up 3 flights of stairs with 2 little kids, groceries, laundry?
8. They will have no private deck & have to share it with a neighbor who has an albeit friendly 80lb dog, it jumps and is mouthy and will knock over his kids in a heartbeat because he has no control over it?
9. The roof has problems?
My mom told them last night, while sitting in Barstow, that if they sale did not close on April 2nd, then she will have no choice but to take possession of it again on April 3rd. They said they would subsidize her living in an apartment, and she told them that she already had an apartment…they were living in it! They also told her they would be more than happy to help her sell it – but they have turned the second room into a kids room and that ‘s NOT how she had it or would it be her target market’s choice.
They offered to do a little flyer for her….she’s a designer, that’s what she does…..she said no.
Today, they did an inspection on the other unit… Mom’s unit appraised at the full value…. we’ll see if this other unit appraises well….I hope it fails and that these two figure out what a fucked up way to start a relationship this is.
Mom is at fault for moving out before the deal was done (even though they have been paying her rent to live there currently (which is standard when a previous owner can’t move out, but he new owner will wait until they can…not vice versa).
These two are at fault for being so selfish and putting down and offer on an emotional buy after they already committed to a purchase with her…..
IT all sucks and I woke up at 5:30 am stressing about this after only falling asleep around 2 am….. and they want to still maintain a friendship with us…I told them it would be hard if this goes sideways…really hard!
Right now the words, defraud and exploitation come to mind…. and she’s a lawyer for pity’s sake! I could report her actions to the State Bar Association and they would take a look at her because they regulate the actions of lawyers and this is not very ethical. We’ll have to wait and see.
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