My agent and I looked at several properties with nothing worth our time. Eventually, our agent's coworker stated his mother has a property that's not on the market. We then went to visit said property. We visited the property and received FHA preapproval. We then put down earnest money to secure a contract. My agent, seller, the seller's agent, the supervisor/ broker of the agency and I met via skype. We reached an agreement that we will cover repairs up to 20k with a decrease in sale price. This was done due to the fact the seller had no money for repairs. We then had an inspection done, ordered by the loan company. At this time I met with the seller who was beyond unpleasant. I requested to do the walkthrough with the inspectior, but I was denied access to the property by the seller. I did not cause an issue, I allowed the inspector to do the inspection and contact me with the repairs. The amount of damage that needed to be repaired exceeded FHA guidelines and went over the 20k threshold. My agent and I decided a conventional loan would be best. We were able to make the changes without issues. The loan offer then stated, of all the repairs to be done the exterior work must be completed prior to closing. I made contact with a local contractor for an estimate. Upon the arrival of the contractor, the seller denied access to the property delaying the process. Days later, the contractor returned and completed an estimate exceeding the allotted threshold. I then had a second estimate done. The seller again turned the contractor away. The contractor contacted us, I arrived and the estimate was completed without further incident. The only issue with the second contractor was that he did not have a license to do the necessary repairs. Due to covid pandemic the time of obtaining a license took us out of the window to secure the loan. In addition, the repairs itself would have taken too much time. I came up with a solution of having my contractor take care of the repairs under someone else's license and no permit. We reached a repair agreement to have the work done after hours. My contractor arrived on scene and the seller refused to allow my contractors access to the property. As of today the loan is well over and the seller's agent is refusing to return the earnest money. Their claim is that the seller planned on moving and because things didnt work out she feels we need to give her an additional $1000.00 on top of the earnest money for "damages." I plan to contact the realtor association, BBB and my attorney.
LOOKING FOR ADVICE.
