Deadlines Missed for Inspections and Objections, Realtors' Fault, How To Respond

[honda.lioness]

My house was on the market starting early September 2013. I signed a nice o ffer in late October 2013. All inspections were completed and objections re solved. Then days before closing in late November, the lender disqualified the buyer. I put the house back on the market in May. I had another decent offer by late July. Per the contract terms and the buyer's request, the buy er was to receive and consider the old (2013) inspection report. Relevant d ates:

July 26, buyer and seller signed puchase agreement.

August 11, inspections to be completed. Contract states in caps that the bu yer is to order the home inspection. [Buyer still has not ordered either an y home inspection or re-inspection. Buyer pays for the home inspection up f ront. Seller is to reimburse this cost at closing. No closing, no reimburse ment.]

August 13, home inspection objections due.

August 14, seller receives objections amendment. The buyer had signed this on Aug 4.

August 29, currently scheduled closing date.

The Aug 4 signing date was the tip-off to the seller (= me) that communic ations had gone awry. My realtor ultimately explained that the buyer's real tor and he had messed up with what email addresses they were to use to exch ange documents. This resulted in the missed deadlines and 10 days where act ivity required by the buyer, going towards completing the sale, was zero.

My realtor (= the seller's realtor) has said he needs me to sign the obje ctions amendment. Because the dates are now inconsistent with the contract, I said no. It would make me look like I had dropped the ball. Technically I think I may be in my rights to say the buyer has now waived his right to have a home inspection and the accompanying home warranty. But it was both realtors who appeared to have screwed up, and I do want to sell the house. On the third hand, I am pretty angry I have more inspections to deal with, all while I am trying to pack up and make arrangements etc. I have met ever y deadline required of me, the seller. I emailed my realtor that I wanted h im to provide the following response to the buyer's proposed objections ame ndment, inserted in the appropriate place in the proposed amendment:

/// Seller was not emailed buyer's objection etc. amendment [dated Aug 4] until Thursday evening, Aug 14. Due to apparent missed communications between bu yer's realtor and seller's realtor, resulting in some ten days of delay, an d the apparent necessity of a home re-inspection for a home warranty, selle r requests (1) an extension to Monday, August 25 to complete home re-inspec tion; (2) an extension to Wednesday, August 27 for buyer to provide objecti ons to home inspection report; (3) a change of the closing date to Friday, September 5 [currently its Friday, August 29]. ///

What would be your response to your realtor, if you were the seller?

If there is a real estate google group that might be more appropriate for t his question, please share the group's name.

Thank you.

[gfretwell]

[dpb]

On 08/17/2014 12:41 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

between buyer's realtor and seller's realtor, resulting in some ten days of delay, and the apparent necessity of a home re-inspection for a home warranty, ...

What requires any re-inspection and what was/were the content of the objections filed?

You indicated all objections of prior were satisfied and were using the previously-completed inspection so what's up with anything else? As per usual, "the devil is in the details" and any short summary can't likely do them justice.

Is the buyer trying to close the deal too, or are they looking for a way out? If both buyer/seller are looking to close the deal, seems like should be able to just pick up where are and go on, actual dates be da[...]'ed...

[trader_4]

offer in late October 2013. All inspections were completed and objections resolved. Then days before closing in late November, the lender disqualifie d the buyer. I put the house back on the market in May. I had another decen t offer by late July. Per the contract terms and the buyer's request, the b uyer was to receive and consider the old (2013) inspection report. Relevant dates:

buyer is to order the home inspection. [Buyer still has not ordered either any home inspection or re-inspection. Buyer pays for the home inspection up front. Seller is to reimburse this cost at closing. No closing, no reimbur sement.]

ications had gone awry. My realtor ultimately explained that the buyer's re altor and he had messed up with what email addresses they were to use to ex change documents. This resulted in the missed deadlines and 10 days where a ctivity required by the buyer, going towards completing the sale, was zero.

jections amendment. Because the dates are now inconsistent with the contrac t, I said no. It would make me look like I had dropped the ball. Technicall y I think I may be in my rights to say the buyer has now waived his right t o have a home inspection and the accompanying home warranty. But it was bot h realtors who appeared to have screwed up, and I do want to sell the house . On the third hand, I am pretty angry I have more inspections to deal with , all while I am trying to pack up and make arrangements etc. I have met ev ery deadline required of me, the seller. I emailed my realtor that I wanted him to provide the following response to the buyer's proposed objections a mendment, inserted in the appropriate place in the proposed amendment:

il Thursday evening, Aug 14. Due to apparent missed communications between buyer's realtor and seller's realtor, resulting in some ten days of delay, and the apparent necessity of a home re-inspection for a home warranty, sel ler requests (1) an extension to Monday, August 25 to complete home re-insp ection; (2) an extension to Wednesday, August 27 for buyer to provide objec tions to home inspection report; (3) a change of the closing date to Friday , September 5 [currently its Friday, August 29].

What you don't tell us is one critical piece of information, which is what are the defects that they are asking you to fix? If it's typical small, reasonable stuff that you can fix yourself or have someone else fix, the what's the big deal? I also don't understand why the stuff wasn't fixe d before. From the sequence, it sounds like the new buyer never had an inspection done and is instead relying on the old inspection report that you've had since last year. Why wasn't that stuff fixed?

Technically, you're in the right, because they did not notify you of their objections by the deadline, they missed by one day. But the question you have to ask yourself is, what's the point? If there is reasonable stuff that needs to be fixed, just fix it. Otherwise you're heading into the unknown. For example, do they have a mortgage committment ? IF not, they could manage to screw that, then use that as excuse not to buy it, etc. It could take months to resolve, tying up the house in the meantime. Is it worth escalating this, instead of just doing what needs to be done?

[honda.lioness]

stuff snipped

In 2013 there was no re-inspection to confirm the repairs I did post-inspec tion. Also almost ten months have passed since the October 2013 home inspec tion. I figure the buyer is justified in having the option to have another inspection.

The buyer fronted the money for the home appraisal on August 11. Results ar e not back yet. If the deal closes, I reimburse the buyer for the cost of t he appraisal. I tend to think the buyer wants the deal to go through.

If both buyer/seller are looking to close the deal, seems like

My realtor keeps pressuring me to ignore the deadlines saying things cannot always go per same. This is fine, but I expect buyer and seller to agree t o new deadlines, in writing per amendment procedures. Else there is no dead line, and both buyer and seller can play games. I am not. I hope my buyer i s not. But I do not know the buyer from Adam. Last year was a morass, with the lender takign up to a few days before closing to disqualify the buyer. I need to rely on the dates to make moving plans. I want them in writing.

[honda.lioness]

The buyer has not asked for anything to be fixed yet. The proposed amendmen t dated Aug 4 requested a list of what I (the seller) had repaired from the shortcomings identified in the 2013 inspection report. I repaired almost e verything, but no re-inspection was done to confirm this. I had already a l ist of what I repaired to my realtor on Aug 3.

My biggest concern right now is that no deadlines for home inspection (re-i nspection?) and objections are in place, due to the snafu in realtor-to-rea ltor communications.

[Ralph Mowery]

I often wonder about some of the realtors. About 35 years ago I bought my first house and did not have much of a credit record , but it was good. Everything went smooth.

Went to buy a house about 10 years ago. As far as the deal went I had cash money. Seems there was some kind of a mixup on the sellers end. Not that they did not want to sell the house, but more so with the bank or something. Not sure . We met at the lawyers office about 9:30. The sellers and the realitors and lawyers went to a back room for about 4 hours for some reason. Had I not been looking for a house for about 6 months like I wanted , I would have walked out after the first hour. They finally came out and I did buy the house.

Went to sell my dad's house after he passed away. It was payed for and I was an only child and had a will so everything was ok on my end. The buyers showed up about 2 hours late. It was not their fault, but the realitor had something about the loan and did not let the buyers know about it to that morning. They had to scramble around to take care of that.

Being fed up with the realitors I decided to sell the house I was living in myself. Put up a sign and an ad in the paper. Showed it to about 6 people and got an offer I liked. Downloaded a contract from somewhere on the internet and we signed it. Had a home inspection done and the buyer got an OK from the bank. Went to a lawyer and he did all the paper work. No problem and saved the 6 % realitor fee.

[dpb]

On 08/17/2014 1:14 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

Surely nothing wrong with adding a revised set of dates but I don't see any point in while doing that not doing whatever signatures are needed to keep things moving along (after all, as trader says, it was only a day, not two weeks after some deadline).

I'd ask the buyer to accept the house inspection as was done w/ items as repaired as itemized if there wasn't anything of any real significance that wasn't taken care of. That would expedite the process if they agree; can't be any worse than if they don't. Maybe they get a little money back besides if they've already paid for but haven't had accomplished another (seemingly useless) inspection. Again, this presumes you've not trashed the place or had some other major catastrophe that has materially altered the condition of the property since the previous.

[honda.lioness]

My take at present is that the buyer has been waiting almost two weeks now for a response to their Aug 4 objection amendment, the one that was not sub mitted to me until Aug 14. I think the buyer took no steps towards ordering a home (re-?)inspection because the buyer heard nothing from me, via our r ealtors. I suspect the buyer is as confused as I am about where things stan d regarding the home inspection and objections.

I agree it's fine if the buyer wants to get this home inspection scheduled without any signed documents. Per the documents, I am not allowed to order the home (re-?)inspection, though. Everything else (HOA disclosure, termite inspection, appraisal) is either done or in line with the contract's terms .

I have knocked myself out keeping it up and even added further improvements (new window; new washing machine; a bit more). But the buyer does not hav e proof of this firsthand, so it's understandable to me that the buyer want s another inspection. Also no home warranty is issued unless a (re-)inspect ion occurs. For a house as tiny as mine, I think the home warranty and insp ection are baloney, like you. But I know less handy people feel otherwise.

The buyer himself seems to be a reasonable person. The realtors are mucking things up and inconveniencing me and the buyer, though. Hopefully it will be water under the bridge soon.

I appreciate the input.

[honda.lioness]

On Sunday, August 17, 2014 1:00:38 PM UTC-6, Ralph Mowery wrote: [stuff snipped for brevity]

Thanks for sharing the anecdotes. This realtor of mine also miscalculated m y net-out to the tune of 3%. That is, he missed a major expense and had me netting about 3% more than what a proper estimate would say. I just reporte d the facts to him and he owned it. Still one would think the guy would use a spreadsheet for calculations like this. I too am inclined to say forego the realtors next time, go FSBO, adjust the price down, and get an attorney for closing etc. Or if this deal falls through, I will ask to terminate th e contract I have with my current realtor, on grounds of unsat service yada . I cannot afford to be so generous to mess-ups like his and the other real tor's.

[RobertMacy]

and your realtor expects you to pay 'full' commission for services 'not rendered'?

I found the title companies for escrow only too helpful to enable buyer sellers to work directly, too.

[Ralph Mowery]

Those home warranties are just a waste of money for the most part. If you really look over what they cover and how much they cost, you get very little in return. Sort of like the warranties on most things they try to sell you in stores on electronics now. Usually if they last the first week you will not have any problems for the warrentied period.

I bought a house about 10 years ago and they tried to push the warranty on me. Those realitors must get a kickback or something.

[trader_4]

ent dated Aug 4 requested a list of what I (the seller) had repaired from t he shortcomings identified in the 2013 inspection report. I repaired almost everything, but no re-inspection was done to confirm this. I had already a list of what I repaired to my realtor on Aug 3.

-inspection?) and objections are in place, due to the snafu in realtor-to-r ealtor communications.

There's a lot here we;re not privy too, like what exactly the "objections ammendment" is. It sounds like they signed a standard contract that says they were to do inspections by Aug 11 and give any objections you by the 13 th. Then the buyer sent some "objections ammendment" on Aug 4, that you didn't receive until Aug 14. Not clear what exactly that was about, but the buyer is pretty dumb, because they are bound by the original contract that both parties signed. Did you even know that they were planning on sending this ammendment? They can propose anything they want, but there is no guarantee you'd accept it. Presumably that ammendment concerned doing the inspection, whatever, but they and the realtors involved should know that the original contract is what governs, unless you want to accept the ammend ment. There was no ammendment and the two deadlines passed.

So, from what is given, looks like you have two choices:

A - Rework that ammendment agreement into what is agreeable to both of you regarding inspections, new dates, etc and both parties sign it.

B - Tell them that the inspection window has passed, they missed two explicit deadlines, one for the inspection to be done by Aug 11 and the other for any list of fixes to be provided to you by Aug 13.

I think my position would be to tell them in a letter, in a nice way, that they missed the deadlines, the opportunity for an inspection has passed, but that you've fixed X, Y, Z etc from the previous report, which they have and if they want to verify that, they can do it themselves or hire an inspector of their own. Again, we don't know what the defects were. If it's stuff like a dripping faucet, downspouts need spash-blocks, dishwasher not working, they should be satsified to just see those things themselves. If the defect is that the roof is falling in, well that's another story. And I'd tell them in the letter that if they want to accept the opportunity to reinspect, they only have until Aug X, to do so.

If they push back on B, you could still agree to A later.

[honda.lioness]

Your dates are correct. The standard contract the buyer and I (the seller) signed in late July also has an added, non-standard clause stating "existin g home inspection will be reviewed for buyer to accept or decline." I went in knowing the buyer might want another inspection. Also in the standard co ntract I agreed to pay for a home warranty at closing. I do not like home w arranties but my paying for one was a part of the three rounds of negotiati on in late July. All the damn realtors push them around here, to largely un suspecting clientele.

I hope what I wrote above clarifies that the buyer did not do anything wron g, at least in my eyes.

Agreed, but the 10-day delay that (1)resulted in a deadline not being met; and (2) was neither the buyer's nor the seller's fault, has put the rush on , in my view. I feel like one never knows what home inspectors will come up with. For example, my roof had around 25 sq. feet of new shingles added la st year, per the 2013 inspection, but the next inspection may yield an insp ector who says this is not good enough.

Agreed, with the caveat that I know it is in both the buyer's and my intere st to be cooperative and have some flexibility, assuming both still want th e sale to happen.

The buyer did send the amendment a week+ before all deadlines. The problem is that, due to the two realtors' being slovenly (IMO), I did not get the a mendment until 10 days later and after the deadlines passed.

I will be calling my realtor regularly now, believe me, whenever anything i s due, and making him call the other realtor or the other realtor's company whenever communications seem frozen.

They were minor and nearly all fixed. The one item I did not address was cr acked [plastic?] glazings at the window. I do not know if this is really re pairable.

Right. It's not. It's in good shape but old, for sure.

I think maybe one other option that is a bit tempting is to tell the two re altors they can now pay for the home inspection and warranty, or the deal i s off. I know they do not get 6% commission; their companies do, and they g et a tiny slice of this.

Thank you for thinking this through.

[Lee B]

With the last house I sold, there were several things that the buyer wanted fixed, based on the inspection. For several of them, eg electrical or larger repairs, I provided a copy of the receipts. For smaller items, the buyer and agents did a walk through to see that they had been done.

One thought - if any of this delay caused by the agents is going to cost you money, I might be inclined to strongly suggest that *they* pay for it and/or reduce their commission.

[dpb]

On 08/17/2014 3:19 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

And there's the rub in the "who's right" part -- if push comes to shove he'll point at the timestamp on the signature. Your initial posting indicates "the two realtors had a misunderstanding regarding addresses for communication". To settle that, either one has to concede he/she was in error or you've got a two-lawyer deal there. That can't be good to getting something going from the status quo.

If new dates are a subject of negotiations, then you've got the choice of whether to just sign the document now to try to get the ball rolling as it sounds like it is in your court and express concern to both realtors that somebody ought to be minding the kitchen. It's always possible, I presume, to make your position known to note that your signature of X date is within Y date of time or receipt of document to indicate the delay wasn't on your part. Don't know that it would have any effect or any legal standing but it might make you feel better... :)

Meanwhile, work on the other dates as a side issue...doesn't seem that it could muck anything up; all they can do is try to push the schedule one way or the other but if were amenable to the original one would think they'd still be agreeable to holding as close as feasible given the current status. Meanwhile, you could have your agent deliver the message to them that the holdup was an oversight and not intentional on your part to try to assure them as buyers you're not holding out...

It's the problem of not being allowed to just talk--could probably work it out in five minutes face-to-face, but they'll never let you do it I'd guess....maybe aren't even allowed to.

[trader_4]

We still don't know what is in this "objection ammendment, why it was proposed by the seller, what it's about, etc. Is this a list of alleged "defects"? If so, then it's not an ammendment, it's a list of stuff they want fixed, pursuant to the signed contract, and I agree with you, it could turn into did it get lost in the mail, we sent it, you didn't get it controversy. But if it truly is a proposed ammendment to the existing contract, then there is no controversy. They have a contract signed by both parties that's in force. If someone wants to ammend that, ie change it, add to it, whatever, then they need to get it signed. Otherwise they have nothing and it doesn't matter in terms of the existing contract who dropped the ball. And it's up to those seeking the ammendment to follow through, not the seller. It sounds like he was OK with the signed contract. The buyer might have a legitimate claim against one of the realtors, but that doesn't change the fact that the existing contract, existing deadlines are what govern.

They could muck it up by doing an inspection and finding a lot of new stuff that they want fixed. As of right now, the deadline for an inspection has passed and the deadline for giving a list of items based on that inspection has also passed. He has to decide if he wants to open the door to an inspection again or leave it closed.

I asked him previously if there are any other contingencies, eg a mortgage contigency. That comes into play, because if he says tough, deadline passed, deal proceeds pursuant to the contract, and they haven't given him a committment letter yet, and they want out, they could screw up the mortgage deliberately, so they don't get it, and have that out. If he has a committment letter and there are no other contingencies, then he's in much better position. IDK for sure what I would do. If he says window is closed, they may try to get out. If he says go ahead, get an inspector, then it could wind up costing him bucks not just for the inspection, but to fix stuff, where as of now, there is no stuff to fix. If I were to allow the inspection now, I probably would not pay for it. Let those that dropped the ball, ie buyer, realtors, figure it out.

Meanwhile, you could have your agent deliver the

How can anyone possibly stop you? Presumably he has the buyers info and he can contact them anytime he pleases. Seems especially appropriate under the circumstances, with stuff apparently not getting through.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I never bought a pre-owned house. Always had one built per my specs. and sold one I was living in via realtors. Like I mentioned, no prospective buyer without pre-approved financing. Price the house couple grand less than going price in the neighborhood. Never took more than a month to sell the house. Brand new houses always come with government backed warranty.(mandatory for every house builder here) One example, a new house was built in a brand new sub division. The house started sinking dangerously after less than 2 year's occupancy to a point of beyond remedy. Research found out that spot was farm's trash dump >100 years ago. House was demolished, rebuilt with properly reinforced foundation by the warranty program.

[Ralph Mowery]

I wanted to build a house like I wanted, but searched 6 months for some land like I wnated and could afford. Could not find any , so started looking at houses and land for another 6 months before I found a house that was about

25 years old that met most of what the wife and I were looking for.

I don't think the realitors around here were too serious about looking for things. I had seen 3 differant companies and not one contacted us about anything in that period of time. I did find 3 houses during that time that would have met most of the specs I gave the realitors. Finally found this house on the internet using the MLS search. Then had a lot of problems buying it even though I had the cash in hand for it.

I made an offer much less than the asking price as I knew it had been on the market for over a year. I did not even get a counter offer,but just a flat no. I waited 2 months and nothing else came open that I wanted. I then put in a more reasonable offer and was taken up on it. While in closing I said something to the owners and they said they did not even get the first offer I made.

[NotMe]

July 26, buyer and seller signed puchase agreement.

August 11, inspections to be completed. Contract states in caps that the buyer is to order the home inspection. [Buyer still has not ordered either any home inspection or re-inspection. Buyer pays for the home inspection up front. Seller is to reimburse this cost at closing. No closing, no reimbursement.]

August 13, home inspection objections due.

August 14, seller receives objections amendment. The buyer had signed this on Aug 4.

August 29, currently scheduled closing date.

The Aug 4 signing date was the tip-off to the seller (= me) that communications had gone awry. My realtor ultimately explained that the buyer's realtor and he had messed up with what email addresses they were to use to exchange documents. This resulted in the missed deadlines and 10 days where activity required by the buyer, going towards completing the sale, was zero.

My realtor (= the seller's realtor) has said he needs me to sign the objections amendment. Because the dates are now inconsistent with the contract, I said no. It would make me look like I had dropped the ball. Technically I think I may be in my rights to say the buyer has now waived his right to have a home inspection and the accompanying home warranty. But it was both realtors who appeared to have screwed up, and I do want to sell the house. On the third hand, I am pretty angry I have more inspections to deal with, all while I am trying to pack up and make arrangements etc. I have met every deadline required of me, the seller. I emailed my realtor that I wanted him to provide the following response to the buyer's proposed objections amendment, inserted in the appropriate place in the proposed amendment:

/// Seller was not emailed buyer's objection etc. amendment [dated Aug 4] until Thursday evening, Aug 14. Due to apparent missed communications between buyer's realtor and seller's realtor, resulting in some ten days of delay, and the apparent necessity of a home re-inspection for a home warranty, seller requests (1) an extension to Monday, August 25 to complete home re-inspection; (2) an extension to Wednesday, August 27 for buyer to provide objections to home inspection report; (3) a change of the closing date to Friday, September 5 [currently its Friday, August 29]. ///

What would be your response to your realtor, if you were the seller?

If there is a real estate google group that might be more appropriate for this question, please share the group's name.

Thank you.

(((

Not familiar with the licensing requirements in your area and this is NOT legal advice.

Were I you I'd look to both realtors' Errors and Omission insurance carriers (or the local equilivant)