Realtor didn't disclose all five hot water heaters are in my unit

Realtor didn't disclose all five hot water heaters are in my unit

Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote

Hi, I posted about this issue on Reddit, and it was recommended that I come here. This is a two-part issue, one that starts with parking and the second with every single hot water unit in the building being in a secret closet of my unit, which was only just revealed to me today, 11 days after closing. Copy and pasted from my Reddit thread 

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I'm a first-time home buyer and have run into a lot of frustrations after closing on my condo in Seattle at the end of May. I had posted about the parking situation previously and was met with some vitriol and eye-rolling that I wasn't sharp enough to catch these things myself, but I'm 31 and doing everything for the first time completely alone, and I trusted my realtor. It's all been a lot for me.

The first issue that arose was that despite the listing being advertised as the unit including a "parking garage + storage," there are only four total parking spots for a building comprised of five units, plus one storage shed. Two cars fit inside an actual garage, two spots are uncovered, and the final spot, which apparently used to resemble a small carport with two lockers inside it, had doors added to it just before I bought my unit.

When I first visited with my realtor, I was told the shed belonged to my unit, which implied that one of the parking spaces was mine since the listing said "parking + storage." Fast forward to closer to closing, and it comes to light that my shed is my "parking garage." My realtor was flustered at this but assured me that since apparently everyone else got a parking space, I got my own secure shed, and that was the trade off. Fast forward to the day of closing when my realtor is giving me the keys, and we go inside the shed where (for the first time) we are learning about the two lockers inside. We became frustrated that the keys we had wouldn't open one of the lockers.

Fast forward a few days later when I meet my next door neighbor, who informs me that one of the lockers inside the shed belongs to her. So now it turns out my private shed/parking garage/whatever is actually shared. This seems especially unfair considering every other unit in the building has their own personal parking space, while I have a shed, and one unit now has both a parking spot and also space in my shed.

My realtor was pretty embarrassed and tried contacting the HOA head on my behalf, asking if the doors to the shed could be taken down so I could use the space as a carport (if my car will even fit), but the HOA balked at that because apparently they literally just paid to have the doors installed to make the lockers inside more secure. So I can't take the doors down because 1) it affects the appearance of the building, 2) it affects the safety of another unit's belongings. I've taken to just parking on the street, which is highly irritating but not impossible. What adds to that frustration is the fact that one of the owners here saw the listing for this unit and even went out of her way to contact the realtor who represented the seller to say that it was misleading, that the unit did not come with a parking garage. Obviously the listing was never updated to indicate that it didn't come with both "parking garage + storage."

I thought I had gotten over the situation and decided to make the best of things until another huge surprise popped up today. My upstairs neighbor came to my unit, which apparently has a secret closet behind a bookshelf that houses all five hot water heaters to the building. At no point in time was this ever mentioned by my realtor, who I'm still waiting to hear back from but am 100% certain he wasn't aware of it.

Obviously I'm sure this is somewhere mentioned in the mountain of paperwork I have and am about to start sorting through, but it's honestly been a huge surprise. Everything has felt so misleading.

Of course this has been a huge learning experience for me, and I was really naive about a lot of things; I implicitly trusted that my realtor knew everything about the unit. And of course moving forward in the future I know things to be more vigilant about and the questions to ask. But this is the situation I've found myself in, and I'm just venting and also I guess looking for a bit of help if there's anything to be done.

I just closed on May 31st, am moved in, and I accept my situation for what it is. It just sucks.

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Mike CumbieBusiness Member
REALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7y

To me the parking and the shed are a big deal, I would focus my energy there. As far as the H2O tanks. How often does someone actually touch one? I haven't touched the one in this house in 4 years since I moved in and the last house 7 years. So as far as occasionally providing access? I wouldn't stress that too much myself. If there is nothing written up about how and when you have to provide access, just to be neighborly I would make a best effort. Now if they started asking for a key to your unit or something else, I'd let them know they could have a plumber move theirs to their unit. 

Good luck!

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  • Real Estate Broker · Kirkland, WA · Member since 2018 · 549 posts · 411 votes
    7y

    @Olivia Lowe

    It sounds your realtor is trying very hard to fix or mitigate the situation. This sounds like a very small building and I'm pretty sure there's no way he could have known about these issues. He's probably never sold one in there before and both of the things you are describing are pretty uncommon.

    Did you hire an inspector when you purchased the property? If so, I'm surprised the inspector did not find and document the water heaters in the inspection report.

    The parking space/storage shed is a pretty odd thing. During the purchase, you should have been handed a copy of the latest HOA meeting minutes for the last year or so. Within there, I would guess you could find the discussion about your parking space being converted to storage sheds.

    You should read the CC&R's, meeting minutes, and resale certificate. It's a lot but you don't have to read it line by line. It's good to familiarize yourself with the rules of the building however. I would think this parking thing would have had to be voted on by some majority of the association. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Chilliwack, B.C. · Member since 2015 · 115 posts · 37 votes
    7y

    With having that many hot water tanks is your unit exceptionally warm/hot? I feel although this secret room would be vented there is a lot of radiated heat in this room. 

  • Lynnwood, WA · Member since 2016 · 16 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    I bought a condo that I was told that it had two spaces for parking.  In the ad said two spaces.  When I read the resale certificate I saw only one space listed.  I contacted my realtor and they assured me that there was two.  I bought the unit.  Fast forward a couple years, and no, I only technically had one parking space.  Lucky for me, I had the ads for both units, which stated the other unit that actually had the two spaces only listed one, I had the original listing as two.  Some adjustments where made and when I sold my condo a while back, the re-sale on that sale showed two parking spaces.  

    Your re-sale certificate on a condo is your bible. If its not specifically on there, it is not yours.  I will never make that mistake again.  

    The water heaters, that should have been disclosed, because they need to access a common area through your unit. Again, look at the re-sale certificate and HOA bylaws to look for access addendum for your unit.

    If the re-sale says that you are the sole possessor of the shed, you can kick the person with the lockers out of the shed, citing the resale certificate. Talk to the board to make sure that they know you are exercising your ownership. Your HOA dues are based on this percentage of owned space. If they mis-understood that when they bought, that is their problem. Your seller must have known known the water heater part. And I think there is a line in the sellers statements about access and such. Glad you are talking about this and posting everywhere so others learn. Look at your disclosures closely, where the seller makes statement of facts about the unit parking, shed and water heater. It may have been there, but when you are reading 500 pages of documents, you and your realtor may have missed it. And if you are not able to have a parking space, your HOA dues might be less then those with a parking space. The extra parking spot cost an additional 1.5% over the base HOA cost for myself. I would argue that the HOA dues should be lower since you have to have the inconvenience of the water heaters and are not assigned a space to park like others.

    Good luck and keep us posted on where this goes.  

  • Real Estate Agent · MA · Member since 2018 · 167 posts · 57 votes
    7y

    @Olivia Lowe Did you receive copies of the master deed and rules and regulations from your realtor? If there is a parking spot deeded to your unit then you should have access to that spot legally. If there is no deeded rights in the deed then at that point it would fall upon the HOA management.

    Regarding the hot water heaters that should have been found by the home inspection, assuming you had one.

  • Mike CumbieBusiness Member
    REALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    To me the parking and the shed are a big deal, I would focus my energy there. As far as the H2O tanks. How often does someone actually touch one? I haven't touched the one in this house in 4 years since I moved in and the last house 7 years. So as far as occasionally providing access? I wouldn't stress that too much myself. If there is nothing written up about how and when you have to provide access, just to be neighborly I would make a best effort. Now if they started asking for a key to your unit or something else, I'd let them know they could have a plumber move theirs to their unit. 

    Good luck!

  • Russell BrazilBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
    7y

    So much went wrong here, that it is unclear actually if the responsibility falls on the listing agent, the buyers agent, or yourself. Condo docs should have stated if there was a parking space or not, and where it was.

  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    I feel your pain. As much as you try to educate yourself before buying, there’s no way you can know and learn everything. I’ve bought/sold my fair share of houses and I’m still learning every time.

    Unfortunately the MLS listing is not a legal document and mentions that it may not be 100% accurate. Unless someone was intentionally being fraudulent (and you can prove it), there's unfortunately not much you can do with that.

    Everything is based on the deed and associated documentation which most people don't read or understand fully. If the HOA is doing something different than those docs, you have some legal basis... but it's probably one of those things that should have been looked at more closely (in retrospect).

    It does sound like your agent is trying to help, but in many cases, they only have the same details as you do. Maybe they made some assumptions they shouldn’t have... but it’s unfortunately a learning experience too.

    Good luck. Let us know what you find in your closing documents!

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