Does your REALTOR® watch your back?
The following is a blog that I posted on December 4, 2009:
I had an elderly lady whose house I was trying to sell and I was able to prevent her from being scammed out of almost $5,000.
I hate to see elderly people be victimizied and that is why I am glad I found out that a technician tried to scam my client out of more than $4,000 before it was too late!
Today the termite and moisture inspection was done at one of my listings that is due to close in a couple of weeks. I used the company that my client has used for her yearly termite inspection even though I have never heard of them. While the technician was still there, my client called me quite upset. She said that the technician found standing water in her crawl space.
We have had severe rain storms last night so I asked her if the water was a result of the storm last night. She said that the inspector told her that some of the water was old because it has scum on the top of it. She also told me that he could do the work himself and mentioned a sump pump. I thought this was odd because the house is on a very level lot and sump pumps are usually only used on lots that have the house located below the level of the street.
I called the company this afternoon to see when we would have an estimate for the repairs. I was told that I wouldn't receive a copy of the invoice nor could they tell me how much the repairs would cost because that was between the technician and my client and the work was to be started on Saturday. I have never known a pest control company to conduct business like this so I called my client's daughter who has been handling the listing and sale of the property so my client can move closer to her daughter.
Imagine my surprise when my client's daughter told me that the work order was for over $4700!
The home inspection report had not indicated that there was water in the crawl space so I called the home inspector. He confirmed that there was no water under the house even though it was raining the day he did the home inspection. The home inspection report noted that there was a place where water can enter the crawl space. He explained to me that the corrugated pipe that runs out from one of the gutters is on a slight incline so water runs back toward the house from that one section of gutter. The daughter told me that she and my client were going to have a conference call with the pest control company the next morning.
Click here for part 2 and here for part 3 of this saga!
If you want a REALTOR® that will really watch out for you, call: Sybil Campbell, REALTOR®, ABR, SFR, SRES at 757-897-5889.
This blog was written by Sybil Campbell, REALTOR®, with Long and Foster REALTORS®.
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