I got screwed. Can I do anything about it??

[William Donnelly]

Greetings Bigger Pockets,

If you've read my previous posts, I was 30+ days under contract to buy a duplex (bank owned foreclosure) and was only waiting on the appraisal before closing. The VA appraiser discovered it is not actually a duplex, but it is zoned as single family. Therefore, this contract is null and void. The only options are for me to wait around for months and persuade the seller (the bank) to file a variance with the local zoning commission, and hope that it's approved, or, i'll need to find alternative financing since no conventional mortgage lender will finance this property.

Since the deal was dead, I personally contacted the listing agent to get her side of the story. She has stated that when she was "told" to sell this property, she could only find the first page of the appraisal, so she "didn't see why not" and listed it for sale as a duplex. The listing agent obviously did not do her due diligence before listing this property. After all the time and money spent, the only person to catch this zoning mistake was the VA appraiser. This property should have never even been listed for sale as a duplex.

I will obviously get my insurance deposit back, as well as my earnest money deposit. But as for my $450 home inspection, and 2-$200 plane tickets along with all the other travel expenses and days taken off work, am I just screwed?? Last week, I asked the listing agent to request some reimbursement from the bank. I still have not received word from anyone. Aside from taking this matter to court for about $1000 in compensation, is there anything I can do?

[Russell Brazil]

The short answer is no. Zoning is not something typical for an agent to check. Part of purchasing real estate is the possibility that you will be out of pocket some costs if you do not close the transaction. This is just a fact of life. Take your small loss and just move on to the next property.