GAH! House sale is completely stressing me out!

[DawnM]

We are 10 days from closing and there are several things she hasn't followed up on and now tells us she is too busy to meet other than a 2 hour window on Saturday afternoon, when we have other plans.

The repair list from the buyers came in.  Due Diligence is in 4 days and closing in 10 and there is a long list of repairs and she wants us to get estimates......NO!  We have been asking for this for almost 2 weeks and don't have time ourselves, and does she understand that it often takes us 2 to 3 weeks to get estimates when we aren't under a time crunch?

She is always too busy.......drinking with with friends, going to the beach with her girlfriends, going up to the mountains with whoever, and then says, "Oh, I never get to get away!"  I have only known her for 2 months and she has been to the beach twice, the mountains once, and a weekend get away for something once.

I am SO DONE with her and with this entire process.

JUST A VENT AND JAWM.  

 

PS:  Changed the title since this is a public board, I just want to make sure the wrong people don't read it.

Edited June 22, 2019 by DawnM

[TechWife]

Ugh! I feel for you! I hope you are able to reach an agreement on repairs quickly.

[DawnM]

1 minute ago, TechWife said:

Ugh! I feel for you! I hope you are able to reach an agreement on repairs quickly.

 

I told her to just give me a number!  She said, "I don't know, we should sit and talk about it."

No!  I am on the West Coast, flying a red eye in tonight and will get in around noon tomorrow and will be DEAD.  I will be in no mood to talk about it.  Just give me a stinking number!

And there seem to be a few things she just doesn't understand.  I don't get how she can be a realtor and not understand some basic things!

[May]

I’m sorry🙁 I hope you can resolved this quickly. Buying and selling are already stressful enough without a crappie realtor😢

Edited June 19, 2019 by May
Spelling

[hjffkj]

That sounds so frustrating.  I'm sorry you have to deal with this.  You'll be done with her soon enough

[Garga]

50 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

, and does she understand that it often takes us 2 to 3 weeks to get estimates when we aren't under a time crunch?

"Oh, I never get to get away!"  I have only known her for 2 months and she has been to the beach twice, the mountains once, and a weekend get away for something once.

 

What is she, twelve?  This sounds like stuff kids do because they don’t understand the world.  Yikes.  She sounds dreadful—like working with a child to get your house sold.

[Scarlett]

52 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I told her to just give me a number!  She said, "I don't know, we should sit and talk about it."

No!  I am on the West Coast, flying a red eye in tonight and will get in around noon tomorrow and will be DEAD.  I will be in no mood to talk about it.  Just give me a stinking number!

And there seem to be a few things she just doesn't understand.  I don't get how she can be a realtor and not understand some basic things!

How frustrating!  I haven’t heard many good realtor stories lately! 

Do you think you could have sold it on your own as easily?

[DawnM]

 

1 minute ago, Scarlett said:

How frustrating!  I haven’t heard many good realtor stories lately! 

Do you think you could have sold it on your own as easily?

 

People here don't like FSBO houses so much.  They don't seem to trust them.  They seem to do better in lower priced homes, but not in mid to high priced homes.

I think I would have sold better with a different realtor!

[dirty ethel rackham]

Can you go over her head to get some assistance?  Does she work for a broker?  Her behavior is inexcusable. Once this deal closes, I would make sure to rate her on whatever rating sites are available.  

[vonfirmath]

Yes. I would go to her broker at this point to find someone who can help you when you are available.

[DawnM]

8 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

Yes. I would go to her broker at this point to find someone who can help you when you are available.

 

I am not sure anyone can take it at this point.  It would need to be someone who could come in and do several hours of research, talk to us at length, and get info at length from our current realtor, it isn't just a "take an hour and step in" kind of deal.

[Liz CA]

1 hour ago, DawnM said:

 

 

People here don't like FSBO houses so much.  They don't seem to trust them.  They seem to do better in lower priced homes, but not in mid to high priced homes.

I think I would have sold better with a different realtor!

 

Definitely sounds like you could have done better with a more professional approach. This is why I hate any dealings in real estate even though personally it has always worked out well for me. But it ends us being a roller coaster ride and yours certainly sounds as if it's rather stressful. I am sorry about the long list of repairs you probably didn't expect. I might be tempted too to see if a different person can rescue whatever is left to rescue but have no idea if there is a point of no return.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Liz CA

[Catwoman]

I’m so sorry this whole process has been such a nightmare for you, Dawn.  😞

[mumto2]

First hugs!  It is unlikely you can get through the list of repairs at this stage.

 You need to sit down with Dh and assign dollar values to each repair that cannot realistically be done.  If you can get a quote even better.  Give the buyers money at the close ....... which is probably what they want any way.  This was a cash sale not a mortgage right?

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

How frustrating!  I haven’t heard many good realtor stories lately! 

Do you think you could have sold it on your own as easily?

 

1 hour ago, DawnM said:

People here don't like FSBO houses so much.  They don't seem to trust them.  They seem to do better in lower priced homes, but not in mid to high priced homes.

I think I would have sold better with a different realtor!

 

People don’t seem to like FSBO listings where we live, either, so I don’t know much about how it works. 

Scarlett, how do you get people to know your house is for sale? Most people seem to go to Realtor.com or a similar site, and it seems like all of the for sale listings are all listed by Realtors. Can a homeowner list a house on any of the popular sites? I remember you said you had your house on the Make Me Move part of Zillow, but could you also list it as being For Sale?

Sorry to be so clueless!  🙂

[Random]

7 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

People don’t seem to like FSBO listings where we live, either, so I don’t know much about how it works. 

Scarlett, how do you get people to know your house is for sale? Most people seem to go to Realtor.com or a similar site, and it seems like all of the for sale listings are all listed by Realtors. Can a homeowner list a house on any of the popular sites? I remember you said you had your house on the Make Me Move part of Zillow, but could you also list it as being For Sale?

Sorry to be so clueless!  🙂

In my area, FSBO is hot partly because of the stupid realtor stories like Dawn has (What a lousy agent! I'm so sorry!). We have listed on Trulia/Zillow and FSBO.com has a good following in some areas.  These websites have templates you can fill out to list your home.  Once in a hot market, we put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and we got our asking price soon after.  You cannot list on Realtor.com or on the MLS without a licensed realtor.

 

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, Random said:

In my area, FSBO is hot partly because of the stupid realtor stories like Dawn has (What a lousy agent! I'm so sorry!). We have listed on Trulia/Zillow and FSBO.com has a good following in some areas.  These websites have templates you can fill out to list your home.  Once in a hot market, we put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and we got our asking price soon after.  You cannot list on Realtor.com or on the MLS without a licensed realtor.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

 

 

People don’t seem to like FSBO listings where we live, either, so I don’t know much about how it works. 

Scarlett, how do you get people to know your house is for sale? Most people seem to go to Realtor.com or a similar site, and it seems like all of the for sale listings are all listed by Realtors. Can a homeowner list a house on any of the popular sites? I remember you said you had your house on the Make Me Move part of Zillow, but could you also list it as being For Sale?

Sorry to be so clueless!  🙂

 

2 minutes ago, Random said:

In my area, FSBO is hot partly because of the stupid realtor stories like Dawn has (What a lousy agent! I'm so sorry!). We have listed on Trulia/Zillow and FSBO.com has a good following in some areas.  These websites have templates you can fill out to list your home.  Once in a hot market, we put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and we got our asking price soon after.  You cannot list on Realtor.com or on the MLS without a licensed realtor.

 

Yes it is similar here.  We live in a lake community so people are often out here driving around looking for houses.  We have shown the house several times just from the ‘make me move’ note. We have so much going on this summer that we haven’t put a For Sale sign out just because we don’t want the hassle of showing it right now.  Of course we are being dumb because this is the best time to sell. 

My boss who does huge development projects rarely uses a realtor. He did when he sold his $700k house.....I was there when the realtor and photographer were doing some mild staging and photos....they scratched up 7 marble tiles in the entry way moving a chair around.  It was horrifying. 

So yeah, not a fan of the industry as a whole.  My apologies to those present who make their living that way.  I know there are some good ones. 

[PrincessMommy]

gosh, that sounds incredibly frustrating.

I hope you get it sorted out.

[DawnM]

26 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

First hugs!  It is unlikely you can get through the list of repairs at this stage.

 You need to sit down with Dh and assign dollar values to each repair that cannot realistically be done.  If you can get a quote even better.  Give the buyers money at the close ....... which is probably what they want any way.  This was a cash sale not a mortgage right?

 

This is what we are offering.  Dh and I discussed briefly this am when we got the email.  I am on the opposite coast right now, leaving on a red eye tonight.  We think it will be $5k.  Thankfully the buyer is handy like my DH and doesn't want to hire things out as he wants them done right (DH is the same way), so the repairs are less than they would be with a contractor.

BUT, they knew about most of these repairs 2 weeks ago and DH could have done some of them or we could have been dickering over a credit back at that time.

I am sure they will want $8k based on some of the list, but some of it is optional and cosmetic and we are not offering that amount.

[DawnM]

13 minutes ago, Random said:

In my area, FSBO is hot partly because of the stupid realtor stories like Dawn has (What a lousy agent! I'm so sorry!). We have listed on Trulia/Zillow and FSBO.com has a good following in some areas.  These websites have templates you can fill out to list your home.  Once in a hot market, we put a "For Sale" sign in the yard and we got our asking price soon after.  You cannot list on Realtor.com or on the MLS without a licensed realtor.

 

 

I think you can buy an MLS number for a flat fee?  I think it is like $5k as I recall.

[DawnM]

Thank you all for respecting my JAWM.  I just need July 1st to be DONE WITH and we can move on (I HOPE!)

We have told her for the past 2 weeks we cannot fix things at this point and she knows it.  She also told us she would be calling the mortar guy to fix our brick steps but she didn't follow through and when I asked if I should she wouldn't even give me the # and kept insisting it was better if she call because she had a working relationship with him.  Her husband is a contractor and said he would replace the windows and assured us he had ordered them.  He hadn't and had forgotten.  We called several times about it.

We honestly do not care if we credit them, we just need to know if that is ok and how much they are expecting.

[vonfirmath]

When we got that list of things on the house we were buying. We offered a 50/50 split with the out of town owner of the house (IE he coouldn't really get the repairs done himself at all). And he took it.  And we didn't have real estimates. Our realtor did what you want yours to do "This should cost $X etc" and even helped us interpret which are the important ones, etc. So we gave the list of problems and offered to take care of itself for a credit of $XX towards the contract (I forget how much) Which we figured was half of the stuff that really needed doing and we didn't already knowing.  I take it they gave you a list and no alterations to the contract for how they expect it to be taken care of? 

I'd be tempted to do "We'll take care of X and Y (if there was something you were already working on). Give you $1K credit (for stuff you knew needed to be taken care of). And you can fix (or not) Whatever you want after you move in. It's too late to do anything.

[DawnM]

Ok, so the latest?

Their inspector told them the beam that runs across our attic is too small.  It needs to be replaced.  It has held up our roof just fine for 30 years but they want it replaced.  That will require the entire roof to be lifted and scaffolded while a new beam is put in.

They have known this for 2 solid weeks and have said nothing.  They wouldn't even give us the report.  They want it done within the next 9 days.   They also would like a non-weight bearing beam in the basement replaced, requiring the flooring to be taken up completely in the office and laundry room. 

First of all, it will likely run between 10k-20k, and second of all it hasn't been an issue for 30 years, and third of all, it can't be done in 9 days, and fourth of all, just NO!  

That is just one of the repairs.  The other is windows, which we were willing to negotiate.

This house may not be selling at all.  We may have to just have them walk.

I am so sick to my stomach.  And I am getting on a plane in 3 hours to take a red eye back.

And our realtor doesn't have time to talk to us.

She best make us a TOP PRIORITY or she is going to hear it from me.  I am so fed up I could scream!  

[school17777]

I am so sorry.

[Scarlett]

5 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Ok, so the latest?

Their inspector told them the beam that runs across our attic is too small.  It needs to be replaced.  It has held up our roof just fine for 30 years but they want it replaced.  That will require the entire roof to be lifted and scaffolded while a new beam is put in.

They have known this for 2 solid weeks and have said nothing.  They wouldn't even give us the report.  They want it done within the next 9 days.   They also would like a non-weight bearing beam in the basement replaced, requiring the flooring to be taken up completely in the office and laundry room. 

First of all, it will likely run between 10k-20k, and second of all it hasn't been an issue for 30 years, and third of all, it can't be done in 9 days, and fourth of all, just NO!  

That is just one of the repairs.  The other is windows, which we were willing to negotiate.

This house may not be selling at all.  We may have to just have them walk.

I am so sick to my stomach.  And I am getting on a plane in 3 hours to take a red eye back.

And our realtor doesn't have time to talk to us.

She best make us a TOP PRIORITY or she is going to hear it from me.  I am so fed up I could scream!  

Oh no.  What a nightmare.  

[Innisfree]

Oh, Dawn. I am so sorry. Springing *that* demand at *this* stage is absurd. 

[TechWife]

39 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Ok, so the latest?

Their inspector told them the beam that runs across our attic is too small.  It needs to be replaced.  It has held up our roof just fine for 30 years but they want it replaced.  That will require the entire roof to be lifted and scaffolded while a new beam is put in.

They have known this for 2 solid weeks and have said nothing.  They wouldn't even give us the report.  They want it done within the next 9 days.   They also would like a non-weight bearing beam in the basement replaced, requiring the flooring to be taken up completely in the office and laundry room. 

First of all, it will likely run between 10k-20k, and second of all it hasn't been an issue for 30 years, and third of all, it can't be done in 9 days, and fourth of all, just NO!  

That is just one of the repairs.  The other is windows, which we were willing to negotiate.

This house may not be selling at all.  We may have to just have them walk.

I am so sick to my stomach.  And I am getting on a plane in 3 hours to take a red eye back.

And our realtor doesn't have time to talk to us.

She best make us a TOP PRIORITY or she is going to hear it from me.  I am so fed up I could scream!  

 

Well, obviously the beam in the attic met building code when the house was built or there would not have been an occupancy permit issued. I'd just tell them that. For the other post, there is no way that I would replace something that isn't weight bearing, either, unless it is a termite issue.

Your realtor is just unbelievable! She had better be available when you get there tomorrow.

 

 

[hjffkj]

they seem to be trying to get more money taken off the price.  I would call their bluff and say no to repairs and not offer them any money.  You know this house is perfect for their situation, it won't be easy for them to walk away.  they choose to back out of the deal I would then go to the realtor's broker and asked to be released of the contract because the realtor has not been working with you on the sale of your house.

 

[PinkTulip]

I am so sorry to hear this! We have moved several times and these things are SO incredibly stressful - you have my total sympathy! 

Sounds like you and DH may need to evaluate the risks/benefits of walking from these people and starting over with a new realtor! When interviewing a new one, ask for referrals for former clients and call them to see how responsive / helpful they are. Fingers crossed for you! 

[DawnM]

She is supposed to call at 9pm.  And, as usual, she is late.  I can only wait 15 min and then I have got to get a shower to get ready to get to the airport.

She will be getting some choice words from me.  We are obviously not her priority and she laughs everything off with a, "HAHA, I have just been SO BUSY."

Her last email said, "I can meet on Saturday between 5-7pm and then not again until Monday, I am just so busy.  How crazy is that?"

Well MISSY, I am available NOW and only NOW or we will be calling your supervisor, how crazy is THAT?

Stupid woman.  I am at the end of my rope.

And yes, we are willing to let them walk.  We know the windows need replacing.  We have already allotted for those windows at 3k.  We will throw in another 2k towards other crap, but H-E-double hockey sticks NO to the beams.  Walk if you must.  We will lose, and they will lose, but I am not lowering the price $20k to fix beams that don't need fixing.

 

[Catwoman]

Could the buyers be looking for a reason to cancel the contract, or do you think they are just trying to pull a fast one to get a huge discount on the price of the house?

I would stick with your $5k credit offer.

[Catwoman]

I would be calling the broker/owner of the office immediately. Your realtor is an IDIOT.

 

[Scarlett]

11 minutes ago, DawnM said:

She is supposed to call at 9pm.  And, as usual, she is late.  I can only wait 15 min and then I have got to get a shower to get ready to get to the airport.

She will be getting some choice words from me.  We are obviously not her priority and she laughs everything off with a, "HAHA, I have just been SO BUSY."

Her last email said, "I can meet on Saturday between 5-7pm and then not again until Monday, I am just so busy.  How crazy is that?"

Well MISSY, I am available NOW and only NOW or we will be calling your supervisor, how crazy is THAT?

Stupid woman.  I am at the end of my rope.

And yes, we are willing to let them walk.  We know the windows need replacing.  We have already allotted for those windows at 3k.  We will throw in another 2k towards other crap, but H-E-double hockey sticks NO to the beams.  Walk if you must.  We will lose, and they will lose, but I am not lowering the price $20k to fix beams that don't need fixing.

 

It is a bluff. Just hold the course.

 

The last house we sold the buyer was asking for crazy stuff.  Remove the ‘electric’ fence from the yard.  Um, it is dog fence and unless you put the collar on your children there won’t be a problem.  I can’t recall the rest of it.....several smallish things that we just said no to.  Dh about had a heart attack over it and I was just like meh, we can just say no.  

I realize you are in a different situation having already bought another house.  But still...you can just say no.  

[itsheresomewhere]

Call their bluff. 

Between the check bouncing, delaying getting in contact with you and asking for absurd things; I am thinking they didn’t win that lotto to buy the house. Or they discovered they didn’t have a rich uncle Ted in Africa who died and left them a check ( amazing how many still fall for this).  

[Tree Frog]

Is it possible the buyers have been communicating all along and your agent or her office haven't been sharing the info/results with you? Maybe the problem isn't with the buyers, but with your agent. If that's the case, I would expect her to give the buyers a significant portion, if not all of, her commission to go towards the repairs.

[PinkTulip]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

She is supposed to call at 9pm.  And, as usual, she is late.  I can only wait 15 min and then I have got to get a shower to get ready to get to the airport.

She will be getting some choice words from me.  We are obviously not her priority and she laughs everything off with a, "HAHA, I have just been SO BUSY."

Her last email said, "I can meet on Saturday between 5-7pm and then not again until Monday, I am just so busy.  How crazy is that?"

Well MISSY, I am available NOW and only NOW or we will be calling your supervisor, how crazy is THAT?

Stupid woman.  I am at the end of my rope.

And yes, we are willing to let them walk.  We know the windows need replacing.  We have already allotted for those windows at 3k.  We will throw in another 2k towards other crap, but H-E-double hockey sticks NO to the beams.  Walk if you must.  We will lose, and they will lose, but I am not lowering the price $20k to fix beams that don't need fixing.

 

Yeah, it’s time to dump your realtor and walk away from these buyers. Hopefully you can rest and breathe on your flight home tonight and then in the morning, write a calm and matter-of-fact email to your realtor and cc it to her broker. List the issues you have as statements, then a list of how the realtor hasn’t responded to your needs, and close with a statement telling them that because of the forgoing reasons, you are terminating your contract with their agency to find a realtor who is professional, able to respond to your needs, and will communicate with you in a timely manner. 

Hold firm - a $20k fix days before closing is ridiculous. Unless you are truly desperate (which it doesn’t sound like you are), that’s a hard no. 

[Melissa in Australia]

hugs

[Liz CA]

4 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

I’d say no, plain and simple.  They want the house badly enough I doubt they’d walk, but even if they do it’s not worth essentially reducing your listening price by 30+k.  It’s just not.  Carrying two mortgages for another three or six months would still cost you less than that, right?

 

Plus if they walk you’ve got their earnest money, which could cover some months of mortgage right?

 

 

If I remember correctly, the earnest money was a very small amount.

Maybe I am too suspicious here but I just speculate anyway:

1. The buyer informed your (less than stellar) realtor in a timely fashion but realtor sat on it because she had to visit the beach / mountains?

2. Buyer held off on purpose knowing that you cannot repair a thing in 9 days and wanted a significant price reduction from the beginning, possibly knowing you had lots of people coming through the house but no offers. I am thinking they are fully aware that the beam held up the house for 30+ years (the evidence is in front of them) but the more they can list in need of repairs, the more they can ask for reduction in price. Were you to return to the house in 5 years, it would most likely still have the same beam.  🙂

Edited June 20, 2019 by Liz CA

[Chris in VA]

13 hours ago, Seasider too said:

 

No, but her broker can give her the lecture about earning her commission and carving out the proper amount of time for you. Or you could just leave a sweet voice mail to tell her you’ll be amending the contract to reduce her commission. Let her sweat that out on the beach. 

THIS and list your reasons. 

[mumto2]

Just read about the beam business and trying to post quickly.  We had a buyer like yours who wanted an expensive rather unneeded major repair done before closing that hubby and I had no interest in doing to our house.  It was a falling market and we were letting them have a nicely updated house for what we had invested in it.  We had already cut the price by 15k for them.

Problem is if they have a mortgage the repair may just have to be done......or planned on because of the inspection report.  Not giving you the report is sneaky, mean, and totally screwed up btw.  I thought both parties were given the report within like 48 hours, pretty much everywhere.  Call the broker,  this is a massive screw up.  The broker deserves to know!  Plus hopefully they will help you solve it.

Basically what we did......They borrow the amount you agree to and take responsibility for the repair being done......certain mortgages if a major repair is stipulated by the inspector they are stuffed no mortgage.  You  may now be stuffed in future for mortgages  because of their inspector............but they may be able borrow the full amount and the mortgage company essentially pays for the repair when they eventually do it.  No a dime for other repairs.  Think it was FHA that made it work for us. This was 13 years ago.

[DawnM]

I called the realtor and left a message saying that we are not available the minuscule amount of time she is available and she needs to call ASAP as they are asking for $25k in repairs that are unnecessary and cannot be done and we are willing to pay $5k only and we need her to communicate with us.

She called me back almost in tears telling me that she is working her a** off for me, and the other realtors are so bad she is doing their jobs too, and that she has a LIFE!  She has car repairs and doctor's appointments, blah blah blah.  I was shocked.   SO UNPROFESSIONAL!  And she said it a few times.  I did make a comment to the extent of, "Right now we are in crisis time-framing and your life should be about this sale."

I politely told her that I expect her to take care of this TODAY and send over a "this is what the sellers with pay" and ask for a response by tomorrow morning from the buyer's agent.  I asked her to please CC me on the email.

She said the buyers are asking for an extension to due diligence to which I said, ABSOLUTELY NOT!  That means I lose mine on the other end.  NOPE!  Their fault.  

I also told her in no uncertain terms that we will NOT be paying for unnecessary repairs and that if they chose to walk away, I am prepared to let it happen.  I am DONE!  

She back-peddled pretty fast and said she would be working on it as she didn't want the sale to not go through.  So we will see what happens this weekend.

[DawnM]

7 hours ago, mumto2 said:

Just read about the beam business and trying to post quickly.  We had a buyer like yours who wanted an expensive rather unneeded major repair done before closing that hubby and I had no interest in doing to our house.  It was a falling market and we were letting them have a nicely updated house for what we had invested in it.  We had already cut the price by 15k for them.

Problem is if they have a mortgage the repair may just have to be done......or planned on because of the inspection report.  Not giving you the report is sneaky, mean, and totally screwed up btw.  I thought both parties were given the report within like 48 hours, pretty much everywhere.  Call the broker,  this is a massive screw up.  The broker deserves to know!  Plus hopefully they will help you solve it.

Basically what we did......They borrow the amount you agree to and take responsibility for the repair being done......certain mortgages if a major repair is stipulated by the inspector they are stuffed no mortgage.  You  may now be stuffed in future for mortgages  because of their inspector............but they may be able borrow the full amount and the mortgage company essentially pays for the repair when they eventually do it.  No a dime for other repairs.  Think it was FHA that made it work for us. This was 13 years ago.

 

No, the report basically said that today's code is different and says there should be a bigger beam.  The truth is, when the house was built, that beam WAS in code.  And it is just fine.

No loan needed, this is a cash purchase.

[DawnM]

11 hours ago, Liz CA said:

 

If I remember correctly, the earnest money was a very small amount.

Maybe I am too suspicious here but I just speculate anyway:

1. The buyer informed your (less than stellar) realtor in a timely fashion but realtor sat on it because she had to visit the beach / mountains?

2. Buyer held off on purpose knowing that you cannot repair a thing in 9 days and wanted a significant price reduction from the beginning, possibly knowing you had lots of people coming through the house but no offers. I am thinking they are fully aware that the beam held up the house for 30+ years (the evidence is in front of them) but the more they can list in need of repairs, the more they can ask for reduction in price. Were you to return to the house in 5 years, it would most likely still have the same beam.  🙂

I think it is #2.  

When she was at the beach she called me.  She made a comment, "Here I am at the beach trying to relax and this is stressing me out to the max and I am having to work."

Um, then go into another line of work where you can relax at the beach.  UGH!

And yes, due diligence is $1000 and earnest money (which won't be lost until next week) is $4,000.

Meanwhile, our DD to the new house is $1500 and EM is $5,000.  

So, even if they lose their money, we lose more.

[purpleowl]

Why does she not have someone scheduled to cover for her while on vacation? I mean, it's not unreasonable that realtors would want to go on vacation sometimes and not think about work; they are people too. But if a person's work responsibilities will still exist while she's gone, then she needs to have someone lined up to cover them.

I really hope you're planning to talk to her superior.

I also hope the buyers are willing to take what you offer and that in a few days you will have this mess entirely behind you!

[alisoncooks]

Ugh. I hope the buyers are bluffing, and your willingness to let them walk sets them straight. 

That realtor is something special. Fine, plan a vacation...but you can't vanish in the 11th hour or when trouble arises. That's her job. 

[teachermom2834]

This is awful.

I often hear real estate floated as something moms can do part-time or something that can be dabbled in. That might be true in a very general sense but when it is crunch time you need your realtor all in or to be handed off to someone extremely competent and fully available.

 

[KungFuPanda]

42 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

No, the report basically said that today's code is different and says there should be a bigger beam.  The truth is, when the house was built, that beam WAS in code.  And it is just fine.

No loan needed, this is a cash purchase.

I thought that, unless you were doing extensive renovations, you didn't have to bring every part of a sound building up to current code before selling it.  This sounds suspicious to me.  I'd love to see that inspection report. It wasn't an issue when you bought the house.  Is it possible they were thinking of renovating the space and were told the beam had to be beefed up before they could do that? I think it's time for your agent to kick in part of her commission to make this sale happen.  It sounds like she's already spent it, but that's not your problem.  

[Valley Girl]

56 minutes ago, DawnM said:

I called the realtor and left a message saying that we are not available the minuscule amount of time she is available and she needs to call ASAP as they are asking for $25k in repairs that are unnecessary and cannot be done and we are willing to pay $5k only and we need her to communicate with us.

She called me back almost in tears telling me that she is working her a** off for me, and the other realtors are so bad she is doing their jobs too, and that she has a LIFE!  She has car repairs and doctor's appointments, blah blah blah.  I was shocked.   SO UNPROFESSIONAL!  And she said it a few times.  I did make a comment to the extent of, "Right now we are in crisis time-framing and your life should be about this sale."

I politely told her that I expect her to take care of this TODAY and send over a "this is what the sellers with pay" and ask for a response by tomorrow morning from the buyer's agent.  I asked her to please CC me on the email.

She said the buyers are asking for an extension to due diligence to which I said, ABSOLUTELY NOT!  That means I lose mine on the other end.  NOPE!  Their fault.  

I also told her in no uncertain terms that we will NOT be paying for unnecessary repairs and that if they chose to walk away, I am prepared to let it happen.  I am DONE!  

She back-peddled pretty fast and said she would be working on it as she didn't want the sale to not go through.  So we will see what happens this weekend.

Oh,  my word, I would be ready to have a stroke at this point. What the heck is wrong with her? You're paying a hefty commission, I assume. You're entitled to get a decent level of service for that amount. I really hope you're able to let her supervisor know what's been happening. It reflects poorly (unfortunately) on every person associated with that firm. I really hope this all gets sorted in your favor asap.

[Valley Girl]

12 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I thought that, unless you were doing extensive renovations, you didn't have to bring every part of a sound building up to current code before selling it.  This sounds suspicious to me.  I'd love to see that inspection report. It wasn't an issue when you bought the house.  Is it possible they were thinking of renovating the space and were told the beam had to be beefed up before they could do that? I think it's time for your agent to kick in part of her commission to make this sale happen.  It sounds like she's already spent it, but that's not your problem.  

I remember we had to do some electrical stuff, handrails, etc. Fortunately we'd had the service updated a few years prior and only needed a couple of hundred dollars' worth of stuff to bring the system up to code. If you have to bring every part of the building up to code, nobody would ever be able to sell an older building unless they were independently wealtlhy.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Valley Girl
typo

[Katy]

I'm still floored that she had the nerve to go to the freaking beach in the busiest part of the year, work wise, when she was waiting for important stuff for a sale to come back.

What an idiot.  Please email her broker and fill her in on the extent of this woman's unprofessionalism.  She either needs serious retraining or she needs to stop doing this job.