Newbie Selling Home with Termite Damage - Advice Requested

[Jen B.]

Hi BP. I am not really a RE investor, I'm just a first time home owner and now first time home seller. I'm hoping that with the wealth of knowledge of RE on this forum, someone with more experience could give me some advice. My apologies in advance for the long post and my sincerest thanks to anyone who reads the whole thing and responds!! :)

Last year, I purchased my first home (that I personally lived in and had no intention of using for income) in Alexandria, VA for $329,000. I quickly found myself struggling with the payments and repair costs, so I consulted a few RE agents to see how much my house would sell for. Three different agents all agreed that in the current market, $340,000 would be the probable sale price.

So, I decided to go forward with selling it and chose an agent. My house went on the market on June 26 and I received an offer for $345,000 (with seller paying for a $500 home warranty) the next day on June 27. I accepted the offer and the buyer went ahead with the home and termite inspections. The termite inspection revealed some termite damage (but no live insects) and the home inspection revealed about 14-15 other issues with the house, mostly minor. The termite inspection report was a bit misleading, in my opinion, as it said there were no live termites. It just said there was evidence of past termite damage and no recommended repairs were listed or suggested. I had a termite inspection performed last year (2015) before buying the house and that inspection report said the same thing - no live insects, but evidence of past damage - and no action was necessary at that time. So, I thought this report was indicating the same thing and that no action was necessary on my part. I discussed this with my agent and he agreed with me.

So, from that point on, I assumed that no repairs were needed for the termite damage and the only items now in question were those found in the home inspection.  After some negotiating, I agreed to $4000 of closing costs to cover all of the items from the home inspection, and the buyer would be responsible for all of the repairs. I signed the document agreeing to those closing costs last week on July 8. The closing date is scheduled for July 21.

Yesterday (July 13), my agent called me up and told me that I have to hurry up and get the termite problem fixed and it's my responsibility by law to do that. This hit me out of the blue because the last time he and I talked, there was nothing for me to do as far as termites. So now I have an additional expense that I wasn't prepared for and the inconvenience of having to rush to deal with it. Although the termite repairs are not hugely expensive, I think I should have been made aware that I was responsible for them BEFORE I signed all the paperwork so that I could have negotiated repair costs completely informed. If I had known, I may have negotiated things differently. Wasn't it my agent's responsibility to check into the termite inspection and made it clear to me that there actually was termite damage that I was responsible for fixing BEFORE I signed anything? Is this kind of thing typical? Is there anything I can do at this point?