I need information if you are familiar with selling property in the US
By VotreAmie
@VotreAmie (3028)
United States
June 22, 2007 1:17am CST
We got an offer for our house that we are selling. The buyer is an investor and last week he came to inspect the house with an inspector. I thought everything is fine with the house, it is only two years old. There are two doors that are a little hard to open because of the settlement of the house. But today they sent us the list of things to do: he wants $2500 to fix the doors and he wants us to paint the bedroom and the hallway. We painted the bedroom few months ago. Well I am not happy at all with this buyer. He got the house already at a very good price because the housing market is down. But we are not in a hurry to get out.
I think because it is a buyers market now and also the buyer thinks we are in a hurry to move out, he wants to squeese more money...
So what we want to do is to not do any work. If he wants to take it as is okay otherwise we are not selling it. But I don't know if we can do that legally. Are you familiar with this matter? What do you think?
Thank you for your time and your answer.
3 people like this
4 responses
@Signal20 (2281)
• United States
22 Jun 07
You can do whatever you want!! It's your house. He's just negotiating, and being an investor, I'm not at all surprised at his tactics. You don't have to agree to anything he says. 2500. to fix doors and you have to paint, I don't think so. I would set your limits and what you're willing to do and not do, and stick to it, especially if you're in no hurry.
Sounds like you're past the negotiating phase, what does the contract say about the amount of repairs you'll be responsible for? Your realtor should've put in the contract either a set dollar amount, or as is-meaning not willing to pay/fix any repairs needed. Be leery of your realtor as well, with the market so slow now....sorry to all the realtors, but after our experiences, I rank them right down there with lawyers lol (and mortgage brokers)
One option, you can get an estimate on your own from someone to see what it will cost to fix the doors, and compare it to their ridiculous figure. As far as the painting, I wouldn't do it. That's not a necessity, that's cosmetic if he doesn't like the color, find another house. There's ways to stall the contract so it runs out of time. You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I remember reading somewhere(can't remember of course) about investors that were scamming people, same thing like what he's doing to you, and dragging out the contract so no one else could put bids on it, something else too. Talk to your realtor, and mention to him/her you're thinking of getting an attorney(that way they won't try to screw you as well). And if necessary, talk to a lawyer if the realtor is of no help. Good luck to you, buying/selling a house is so stressful!!!
3 people like this
@VotreAmie (3028)
• United States
22 Jun 07
Hi signal20, thank you so much with your answer. The contract doesn't say anything about work to be done on the house. The house is only 2 years old.
At this point, I am just looking to get out of this contract. I know our realtor will pressure us to sell tomorrow. She always says you are lucky, it's a very slow market. But I feel he got the house at a really good price already and he wants to squeeze more money from us.
You seem to know a lot about real estate so I want to ask you another question: If the contingencies are not met by the time the escrow is supposed to close, am I free not to sell? Is there a way to get out of it?
We will also call our financial adviser tomorrow. He might know what to do.
Thank you so much signal20 and take care.
@firumon (501)
• India
26 Jun 07
Hai dear friend,
Here the most profitable business is real estate. The price of any house or any ground will never get down. Its price increases day by day.. The buyers or any other intermediate included in it will play a great game inorder to loot maximum from sellers. Mainly intermediator play a intelligent game. They say one thing to the buyer and another thing to sellers. Very intelligent play. Thats the trick of the real estate business. But in your case its better that not to sell this immediately. You want to see a rate. And ask the sellers alittle more than that. They surely ask alittle bit less than you ask. Atlast your rate and sellers rate will become equal. Other wise kept it as a property. It price will go up. Unfortunately any town or any other business companies will come near to it, its rate will increase.... So sell that time. You get what you ask......
Wish you good luck....
Thanks dear friend.....
@VotreAmie (3028)
• United States
27 Jun 07
I agree with you firumon... The housing market here in the US is down. It's the buyer's market. The prices are getting down and the market is going to get even more down in the next two to three years. We read in a financial magazine that the prices in Hawaii are going to go down by 50% in the next few years. We hope so as we are planning to go there after we live few months in Denver.
You know what firumon, we said no to the buyer's request and they still wanted to buy. So the house is sold. In a way we are happy because we want to get oout of here and move next year to Hawaii. My husband lived back and forth between California and Hawaii and he likes it more over there. So we are happy to sell because it's not easy at this time. And we are afraid the prices will go down even more next year. Last year we tried to sell and the house was appraised at a certain amount, this year it was appraised less. So you see? The market is not always up... Most of the time it is but some times it isn't... Two years ago, the housing market reached the highest levels here in the US, the experts say it reached a bubble and it couldn't continue rising... So now it's going down and it will stay that way for few years... And then it will go up again.... For investors it's really time to buy! We hope we will get a good price on a property in Hawaii next year.
Are you done with your school firumon? I know you are a student in Engeneering. Anyway, I hope you are doing great with your studies.
We are moving on the 3rd of July so I will be absent from mylot starting the 2d. But I will come back by the end of the first week of July.
Take care firumon and happy earnings on mylot.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
22 Jun 07
No, you do not have to agree to these new requests. This is just part of the negotiation process. You can tell him that the price of hte house is an "as is" price.
However, if you tell him "no" and he agrees to still buy it at the original offer price without the $ or repainting, then you do (I believe) still have to sell it to him, since you accepted his offer.
1 person likes this
@VotreAmie (3028)
• United States
23 Jun 07
Yes I agree, it's just part of the negotiation process and he is trying to get more money because he thinks we are desperate to get out of the house. Which is not true.
So we said no to everything and we will get their answer tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks for your answer.
1 person likes this
@mlhuff12 (797)
• United States
24 Oct 07
When is comes to selling a house, you can do whatever you want to. As long as it is agreed upon by buyer and that everything is in the agreement to purchase or contract. Whatever is in that contract goes if it is signed by both buyer and seller.
