Texas flipper and their agent lied about tankless water heater, square footage, and signed repair agreement. Now says selling at appraised price was their “concession.” Looking for advice.
I closed on a house in Texas last week and I feel as both the flipper and the agent have acted in bad faith in several instances. Now I may to have to pay several thousand dollars to fix an issue they agreed to fix in the repair amendment.
First, the online listing stated the home had a tankless water heater. When I toured the home, I discovered that the home had a standard unit. I thought that it must have just been an oversight on the listing, but also thought it was weird that the brochure on the table said the home had a tankless water heater. I let it go.
During inspection, we also discovered (among several other needed repairs such as a plumbing leak and a GFCI issue) that the electrical outlets were two-prong and the home and outlets were not grounded. We added the repairs, including grounding the outlets and home, as well as repairing the GCFI to function as intended, to the repair amendment. The sellers signed agreeing to complete these repairs before closing.
Then the appraisal came back, and the home appraised $11,000 below list price. The main reason for this was that it measured approximately 150 square feet smaller than what was listed. At this point I’m thinking it may not be a mistake that there were multiple inconsistencies in the listing, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.
My lender would only lend based on the appraised value, and my agent told the sellers I would not pay a dollar over appraisal. They pushed back hard, and hired their own private appraiser to try to contest the appraisal. It didn’t change anything. Then they asked me to “meet them halfway” and split the gap, which I refused. Then they said they’d accept the appraised price , but only if my realtor lowered his commission. I said absolutely not, and they finally agreed to sell at the appraised value.
For context, the sellers purchased this home less than a year ago and flipped it. They are selling it for roughly $150,000 more than what they paid. Well over double than what they purchased the home for. Even at the appraised price, they are making a significant profit.
The day before closing, I did the final walkthrough with my agent, and we notice the outlets were still two-prong. My agent texted the seller’s agent asking whether the grounding repair had been completed. She responded in text that the outlets had been grounded and that they simply reinstalled the original two-prong covers. Based on that written confirmation, I closed.
Three days after moving in, my power starts going out repeatedly. I hire two separate licensed electricians who both confirm that the house and outlets are not grounded and that there is no GCFI protection. The estimated cost of the repairs is over 5k.
My agent reaches out to the seller’s agent. Her written response was essentially. “Sorry for any miscommunication. We are not paying for a voluntary upgrade to the electricity. My sellers already conceded $11k.”
They did not “concede” $11k. The house was overpriced based on falsified sq footage and appraised lower. Selling at appraised value is not a repair credit.
So in total, they:
-Overstated square footage.
-Listed a tankless water heater that does not exist.
-Fought aggressively to keep the inflated price.
-Tried to reduce my agent’s commission.
-Signed a repair amendment agreeing to ground the outlets and home, and repair the GCFI.
-Confirmed in writing that grounding was completed.
-Now say it was a “miscommunication” and call it an upgrade.
I feel like I closed under false pretenses because I was told in writing that the repair had been completed. For those familiar with Texas real estate contracts, what would you do next? Demand letter? Small claims? File a complaint with TREC?
Also, for any agents, can I get some insight into the behavior of the listing agent? Is it possible that the listing was sloppy work, or is it more likely the home was purposely misrepresented to attract buyers? Just to be be petty and call out another thing I noticed about her professionalism, she had us wait 30 minutes after closing to bring us the keys while while texting my agent that she was getting coffee and would “be right there!”
If any flippers want to weigh in, I would appreciate that too. The closet did not have a door installed, there was no glass on the standing shower, and no dryer ventilation in the laundry room. Again, petty, but just more context for the overall picture.
Thank you in advance for your feedback. No
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1rhw90o/texas_flipper_and_their_agent_lied_about_tankless/
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