All Forum Posts by: Ed Yoo

Thank you for the correction! I meant that I went under contract last week, not close. Closing is about three weeks out, and to my surprise no push out on the date so far. What I know is the seller has insurance, but chose not to claim because his priority is to close earlier rather than later. He owns a fix and flip company so his guys were already at the property attending to the problem when we went to check out the damage. Inspection was rescheduled one week later meaning the seller expects to finish the work before inspection date which is full 1 week. As a buyer I would rather have the work take time and finish as best as possible rather than earlier, but the seller obviously doesn't share the same priorities.

I have been looking in the market even after going under contract just in case, but it is not looking promising so far. There is no guarantee that I'll win another bidding. I'm leaning towards going through with the contract but want to make sure I'm not overlooking this issue lightly. It's good to hear the replacing flooring and dry walls are easy, and the coldness and dryness of Denver right now is probably good for preventing possible mold growth. Hoping to find out as much as I can from the inspection but also want to prepare options I can introduce to the contract that are favorable to me with this unfortunate event.

I closed on a first primary property last week in this crazy market. I felt pretty lucky since the seller would accept offer before the weekend and only had to go through bidding with one other buyer. I was also told that soon after we went under contract the seller received a back up offer that is 30k higher than mine which puts me at a position where I won't be able to negotiate much.

The following Monday when inspection and appraisal was scheduled, I got a call from my agent informing me that the property had been vandalized over the weekend, resulting in a broken window, vanity from the main bathroom torn off which caused flooding from the first floor to crawl space and into the basement. I had little grasp of the extent of the damage but when we went to go see the property later that day, first floor looked relatively okay from water damage but it was the basement that had been entirely flooded. All new engineered flooring in the basement had been removed in order to dry it out. No idea why anyone would go through tearing off vanity and take it over all the new appliances that were there. This is probably the worst outcome possible from someone breaking in.

I'm not aware of the extent of the damage nor if the property can be fixed to the level of finish and quality as when we went under contract. Remediation is to take about a week and seller will be providing all invoices and services done, and keep us in as close communication as possible. Right now I can only hope to find out as much as we can through inspection and not sure how I can compare the state of the property before and after at this point.

I would describe the current situation as the property had gone through a flip so the seller is probably motivated to sell asap. By the time we get inspection report we will be about two weeks into contract. I need a home before end of March.

My question is, given all the circumstances, what is the best course of action as a buyer? Can I find out if the back up offer still stands? How can I make sure fix is done well and there won't be lasting damages? Is there room to negotiate the offer price? Is this enough of a reason to walk away?