All Forum Posts by: Vish Rav

@Judy Parker - Here is how crazy this one is. The electricity was metered separately for each unit and I was able to confirm that during the inspection. The water meter was on a single invoice for both duplex and I called the county to verify if there were separate meters, they confirmed there was only one. I was OK with paying water and sewer. There is no gas connections. Garbage and recycling was being paid by the owner, but they misrepresented that to us in the documents. 

On top of all this, the crazy part was the owner of this property was also paying for internet for the tenant. That was not disclosed in the documents. Who pays for tenants internet? 

yeah, I'll let you know where I land with all this...

$3500

Yeah, a lot of lessons learned during this transaction. I should have included more contingencies and kept them all for the entire duration of the transaction. Also, I should have explicitly thought about exit plans if **** hits the fan at any step along the way. Good lessons for future transactions. 

I will update this thread if I get my escrow back.

@Andy Mirza - I did not terminate the contract prior to releasing my contingencies since they furnished me with documents that stated the tenants pay the utilities. I assumed that was true and moved forward with the transaction. After the contingency period had lapsed, they furnished my team with more documents that contradicted what they initially provided. I think that is BS. I have in writing from the Sellers agent that even she was mislead by the Seller on these utility charges. 

I am only terminated the contract when they provided the 2nd set of documents, which were different from what they presented us during the due diligence. 

I also tried to negotiate the price down with the Seller stating this discrepancy. 

@Caleb Heimsoth Yeah, I understand inspection is cost of doing business, but I wouldn't have ordered the appraisal if information was disclosed during the diligence period. 

Thanks for the response guys.

Attached are the contract and disclosures, below are a few key points.

Line 196 on the disclosures – they did not disclose there was a dispute ongoing with the tenant regarding utilities

They mis-represented the finances for their own gain to make the property appear more profitable than it really was, they sent additional documents that contradicted the ones they sent us initially AFTER we were through our due diligence contingency and changed their position on who pays what multiple times throughout the transaction

Line 322 of the purchase and sale agreement ‘if seller fails to complete the transaction in accordance with the material terms of this agreement or any condition which buyer has made an express contingency in this agreement and has not otherwise been waived fails through no fault of buyer, then all earnest money deposits shall promptly be refunded to buyer’

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I guess I will see them in court.

Just to add on: I terminated the transaction prior to the agreed upon closing date.

Hi BP,

Wanted to get some feedback on this forum. I was in active negotiation with a Seller for a duplex property in Portland, OR. The Seller misrepresented the operating expenses for the duplex during the course of the transaction. After the due diligence period was done, they presented us with new documents contradicting the initial documents for the operating expenses. Basically, the Seller was paying all utilities on the rental property and was claiming that the agreement was for the tenant to pay these expenses. Since I was going to keep the tenant stay on after the transaction, I didn't want to close on a transaction yielding negative cash flow. Hence, I went ahead and terminated the transaction (after trying to negotiate the price down). Now I would like for the Seller to disburse the Earnest monies and also pay me back for my home inspection and appraisal fee. If all of this information was disclosed up front, I wouldn't have offered a selling price above the asking price. 

Earnest money is with escrow and currently in dispute. 

Should I take this to small claims or are there other options? 

Thanks!

@Brian Knier

Nice job mate. How is the St. John’s Area in general? Would you classify it a hotspot or a more mature micro economy?

BP - 

The word on the street is the Fed is Dovish on interest rates. Thoughts on ARM financing (7/1 ARM) for the short term, and then possibly refinance to a fixed rate (once the fed cuts rates) in near future and lock in that low interest rates?

Is this all too much work for not much benefit/value?

Thanks in advance.

V