All Forum Posts by: Ben Stout

Bienes Raices That's exactly what I've communicated to him. I refuse to lose $2500 because you were asleep at the wheel.

Yes, I can definitely find someone. Thanks for your guys' great ideas. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support! Hopefully the inspection reveals no major problems and I can close and move on. I just wish that it hadn't gotten this messy. Sometimes you act in good faith, but it's just not enough. It's hard to believe that a licensed professional would expect me to eat $2500 because he was asleep at the wheel though.

He has emailed me and stated it will be open on Wednesday and the inspector I use that is doing another house I'm hoping to buy will be over to inspect that one afterwards. It seems he's had the combo and was sitting on it through the holidays out of laziness. (Just my own speculation and not fact.)

Ibrahim S It's pretty unreal, isn't it? I've written a few emails that I promptly deleted because I want to make sure I'm professional and level-headed in my response, but it sure isn't easy right now.

Ibrahim S You just summed up exactly how I feel about the situation.

The agent writes:
"They signed the contract on Christmas eve. The 24th. So apparently there is only a seven day inspection period including Christmas and weekends. I thought it was 10 days. The contract says that today was the last day of inspection period. I am not used to business occurring on holidays. I have had family at my home almost every day since Christmas eve when I got the contract. It is totally my fault. I am sorry. You can still inspect but you would lose your earnest money if you withdrew offer. I think that based on what I have seen it is a great deal. You could not turn the water on anyway so all an inspector could do is inspect a relativly new electrical system. If it were me I would not sweat it but I feel very bad I did not catch this. No excuse. My fault. We can still inspect but no water can be turned on. What should I do? It just needed some windows fixed and carpet and paint from what I remember. This is a different site that I have dealt with only once before. Who signs a contract on Christmas eve!!
Let me know what to do."

Great information and ideas, thank you.

Brian Huggard This is exactly how I feel. Thanks for your advice.

Ibrahim S I agree with you completely. If I lose money myself, that's fine and I can man up and take ownership... but situations like these are really unnerving!

I will definitely try. Thanks.

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year to you all!

I am currently working overseas but have been watching a property in my neighborhood and waiting for it to come onto the market. The ARV is $60k, will rent for $800/mo, and the property was finally listed for $30k. I told a realtor I sometimes use that I wanted to have it inspected immediately and then I would hopefully write an offer. He went out to the house and found there was a 4 number combo lock on the door and he had a 3 number combo.

We tried to get the combo for a week with minimal response. The company dealing with the property (out of state) had it locked up. I told him fine, write an offer for me, BUT make it contingent upon the inspection (before someone else grabs it.) My mother signed the documents and I wired the earnest money. He said no problem and he finally told me my counteroffer of $27,500 was accepted on Christmas Eve. For the last week he's been out of touch and lazy. He has been very slow to respond to emails and told me not to worry and it was the slow time of the year.

This morning I woke up (Jan 1st) to an email stating that he is "very sorry" and it's "his fault," because he "wasn't paying attention and hasn't been into his office for over a week," but we have now gone through the 10 day inspection period and I can no longer back out without losing my earnest money. He wants to know if I "want it inspected still" or if I "just want to go ahead and close." I haven't even seen the inside of the home yet and was trying to tie up the property until I could get it looked at by a professional.

I put $2500 earnest money down. What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks,
Ben