Hey Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
sparkydave
Jedi Knight
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Note to Basil: If you think this is wholly inappropriate, let me know and feel free to delete this.
Got a problem. Perhaps some of you read about it in an earlier thread.
Got a house seller who is unhappy with the house I sold him a year ago. He claims I had water problems I didn't disclose, and he found a repair he thinks I made related to said water problems. He's experiencing water problems (water getting into the air ducts on a slab house), but I had none to my knowledge. The house is over 45 years old. I lived there for 4 years. I didn't make the repairs he found, but is blaming me, and wants money to compensate him for repairing it correctly. My home inspection found no problems, his home inspection found no problems, and no problems were disclosed to me.
This is not the first time he's attempted to solicit more money after closing. The first time, my agent relayed a message from his agent asking about some water coming under the garage door. The garage door seal was lousy, and any home inspector (even him) could have seen that. I didn't declare it because I parked my wet, snow covered car in the garage, which made the floor a whole lot wetter. I said no to his demands, especially because he had a contractor looking at the garage to turn it into a living room. What living room is going to have a garage door? It sure sounded like he just wanted money, he didn't really want to fix the door. All was quiet until a few weeks ago.
The other rub is that he got some mice in fall after closing. He calls the exterminator, and happened to call the exterminator I used once when I had some scratching noises I thought were mice. Exterminator put traps out, but they didn't catch anything. At the time I sold it, I had no mice, and he declined a pest inspection. Mice are not a required disclosure, but he insists I owe him for that too just because I had mice once (or so the exterminator told him).
We talked to a lawyer friend, because we were tired of these requests for money after closing. Bear in mind he already got a repair allowance to fix a couple other problems, and I paid to have another problem fixed. Our lawyer friend suggested offering part of what he's asking, but only on the condition he agrees to drop any further claims, and that our offer is in good faith, not an admission of fault. Our lawyer friend doesn't specialize in real estate, and doesn't carry malpractice insurance, so he couldn't put his name on the letter. He drafted one, we reviewed it, and sent it in my name.
The buyer rejected our offer, still wants the full amount, claims he has an attorney, and supposedly the neighbors (who hadn't been in the house while I lived there) offered their hearsay.
The wife and our lawyer friend think we ought to pay if we want it resolved. The guy says he'll consider it closed if he gets what we wants. Everyone I know says bad idea, including my agent. They think he'll just be encouraged to keep asking for more repair money if he finds more problems, and it might be construed as an admission of fault to support any further claims. I don't know what to think. My agent recommended a real estate attorney, so I hope to talk to him about it. I think I'd rather pay because a judge says so, not because he thinks so, but I'd rather not have to go paying lots of attorney fees either. He's asking less than the small claims limit, but I'd almost prefer going to small claims, spend a small amount of time in court, and have the judge decide. It sounds like if I still say no, he'll likely go that route, but no guarantees he won't try to sue for big bucks and spend days in court.
Got a problem. Perhaps some of you read about it in an earlier thread.
Got a house seller who is unhappy with the house I sold him a year ago. He claims I had water problems I didn't disclose, and he found a repair he thinks I made related to said water problems. He's experiencing water problems (water getting into the air ducts on a slab house), but I had none to my knowledge. The house is over 45 years old. I lived there for 4 years. I didn't make the repairs he found, but is blaming me, and wants money to compensate him for repairing it correctly. My home inspection found no problems, his home inspection found no problems, and no problems were disclosed to me.
This is not the first time he's attempted to solicit more money after closing. The first time, my agent relayed a message from his agent asking about some water coming under the garage door. The garage door seal was lousy, and any home inspector (even him) could have seen that. I didn't declare it because I parked my wet, snow covered car in the garage, which made the floor a whole lot wetter. I said no to his demands, especially because he had a contractor looking at the garage to turn it into a living room. What living room is going to have a garage door? It sure sounded like he just wanted money, he didn't really want to fix the door. All was quiet until a few weeks ago.
The other rub is that he got some mice in fall after closing. He calls the exterminator, and happened to call the exterminator I used once when I had some scratching noises I thought were mice. Exterminator put traps out, but they didn't catch anything. At the time I sold it, I had no mice, and he declined a pest inspection. Mice are not a required disclosure, but he insists I owe him for that too just because I had mice once (or so the exterminator told him).
We talked to a lawyer friend, because we were tired of these requests for money after closing. Bear in mind he already got a repair allowance to fix a couple other problems, and I paid to have another problem fixed. Our lawyer friend suggested offering part of what he's asking, but only on the condition he agrees to drop any further claims, and that our offer is in good faith, not an admission of fault. Our lawyer friend doesn't specialize in real estate, and doesn't carry malpractice insurance, so he couldn't put his name on the letter. He drafted one, we reviewed it, and sent it in my name.
The buyer rejected our offer, still wants the full amount, claims he has an attorney, and supposedly the neighbors (who hadn't been in the house while I lived there) offered their hearsay.
The wife and our lawyer friend think we ought to pay if we want it resolved. The guy says he'll consider it closed if he gets what we wants. Everyone I know says bad idea, including my agent. They think he'll just be encouraged to keep asking for more repair money if he finds more problems, and it might be construed as an admission of fault to support any further claims. I don't know what to think. My agent recommended a real estate attorney, so I hope to talk to him about it. I think I'd rather pay because a judge says so, not because he thinks so, but I'd rather not have to go paying lots of attorney fees either. He's asking less than the small claims limit, but I'd almost prefer going to small claims, spend a small amount of time in court, and have the judge decide. It sounds like if I still say no, he'll likely go that route, but no guarantees he won't try to sue for big bucks and spend days in court.
