All Forum Posts by: Gaurav S.

Hi

Thanks for checking back on this. My realtor told me that the home did got sold for 10k more than my offer after seller paid for the termite repair. It seems that wasn't the case.

I haven't found a home yet and based on how the listing prices have gone up probably won't find an affordable home like that anytime soon. Also rates have increased since then.

I know you don't purchase in Santa Barbara area but was just was wondering what your crystal ball says about the future of home prices ?

K. Marie Poe No they haven't countered yet. The cancellation deadline was today at 4:00 p.m.

The house has no debts and its free and clear. Why do you think the sellers might need to close the deal ASAP ?

Marie if you find a affordable home that is not in MLS and you are not interested in buying please send it my ways. As a first time homebuyer we have been looking for a year and a half now and have bidded on several homes. We have been outbid each and every time by offers way above the asking price.

There was a home listed recently in Monte Vista school district. It was 4bd/2ba listed for 1 million. It got 15 bids and it got sold for 1.3M an all cash purchase.

In this hot market would you recommend us to not waste our time and just keep renting ? Frankly this house hunting has become a full time job on weekends with no progress or end in sight.

Hi Everyone,

We decided to not fight this battle and did not remove the contingency. Since this was a estate sale I did not have the cheaper mediation/arbitration tools available to me and suing the seller would have cost as much money as the pest remediation problem.

Also after we notified the selling agent that we were backing out he forwarded an email to me where my realtor had asked the seller to do the Section 1 of the pest work before the appraisal. So if I would have gone to the court this email would have definitely worked against me.

My realtor never told me that she had asked the seller to do the pest work before appraisal. She kept insisting that the seller went ahead and did this work on his own and we shouldn't pay for it. But from day one it was the seller who was going to initiate the work and we had verbal agreement that we would pay for it.

Now I am wondering if I should fire my realtor :(

K. Marie Poe You are spot on. The cheaper option of mediation or arbitration are not available to me as this is a Estate sale through a probate court. The lawsuit itself will cost me more than the pest work.

Thank you so much for spending your precious time on this issue. You are the only people who are supporting me while everyone else (title company lady, my realtor,her broker, and her other colleagues) are all advising me to give in or walk away.

Here are the most noteworthy parts of the purchase contract. These are four different snapshots. Please click on them to zoom in. Most important in my mind is #11 where "Wood Destroying Pest Inspection and Allocation of Cost Addendum" has not been selected/provided.

[url]https://plus.google.com/photos/107558014387610912697/albums/5865093673210661025?authkey=CITt2aK1hLOvDA

Yes both husband and wife have passed away and the five children are going to get the proceeds from this sale. One of the brothers has signed off on all the documents. He is also the one who ordered the pest inspection work.

The contract does say that " The property is being sold by the executor of the estate for xxx subject to the approval of Probate Court".

Ned Carey : I don't think he even has a head agent or broker above him. He works for this independent firms as Marie pointed out. All your other points are valid and I will try to use that strategy.

Here are some pictures of the home
[/url]https://plus.google.com/photos/107558014387610912697/albums/5859507916502765905

K. Marie Poe : There is not much room for negotiation on price as seller already has a better offer. Also, tomorrow morning my contingency period expires so I don't have time left for that anyways.

BTW this is estate sale. So I am not sure if that changes the legal process if the sale doesn't close on time.

Yes you guys are right. I meant signing the contingency removal form.

The listing agent also sent us an addendum which says the following

"Buyer are to pay through escrow the cost for pest control repairs from xxx Pest Control Report dated 2/27/2013.
[b]
Escrow is not to close until this addendum is signed by Buyer and Seller. "

So if I don't sign the addendum he is saying we can't close. Is that legal ?

I am now leaning towards offering him 50% of the pest work even though I know I will have to pay 40k on top of that to fix the home. But the listing agent is not talking to my agent at all. He doesn't talk to her or reply to her emails. He is just trying to do his own thing.

My agent told me that listing agent called the pest company and asked them to put a mechanics lien on the home to prevent the closing !!!! Does that even make sense ? How will the owner sell the home if the mechanics lien is put on the home ? I feel the listing agent is going on a personal vendetta and owner is not even in the loop here.

Anyways, I have 12 hrs to decide to fight this battle or move on.

OK so tomorrow is the end of contingency period. The selling agent notified the escrow company that he wishes to add a clause which states that buyers will pay for pest through escrow. The escrow officer called us and my agent told her that we are not going to sign off on paying for pest.

She also talked to the pest company who said they wouldn't stop the closing but the wanted to be paid on full. Ofcourse they accept that the contact was initiated by the seller so technically they can't come after us but the seller said to him that if we don't agree to pay for the pest he will not sell the property to us.

My agent is giving me two options. offer the seller to pay half of pest work or not sign the contingency and back out. In the second case I am out of $1000 for appraisal and home inspection even though I am DG following contract

OK I am not going to make a counter offer and hope to just get the pest work paid for the seller. I got some quotes and the gas furnace replacement is around 2200 while the duct work is around 1500 along with asbestos removal.

@Marie : actually the home is off of Paterson on San Vicente drive.