I recently closed on the transaction of a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in St. George Utah. I represented the buyers and they were very gracious to work with. It was a pleasure dealing with them and helping them find a vacation home here in St. George. My buyers came to town the week before closing to do their walk-thru, take room measurements and just have one more look at the gorgeous home they had picked out. Everything went smooth and they were anxious to call this one "theirs".
We closed on the home the following week, a Friday to be exact. Because my buyers live out of town we made arrangements for them to close at a title company in their home town. The sellers had movers come on the date previously agreed to and everything went off without a lick. Buyer moves out and to another state. The listing agent removes the keybox, does one more walk-thru after the seller has moved, then drops the key off at my office. I promptly send a closing gift and the key in the mail to my buyers. They call and thank me for my efforts and appreciate the work I did in their behalf. Sounds like the perfect transaction, right?? Not.......
Because my buyers are from out of town, they didn't make it back to St. George for about a week after closing. They arrived at their new dream home late one evening after a long drive only to find water damage to their kitchen floor. At first glance, they thought the seller had covered the warped floor with a rug to disguise it during the showings. Upon entering the kitchen, they felt the awful sensation of water squishing up through the floor. This is not old damage, but very recent. As they begin to investigate where the water is coming from, they notice that the water line for the ice maker to the fridge has been duct taped and kinked over. Apparently, someone knew there was a problem and tried to solve it with duct tape. Not a good idea! This repair job slowly leaked into the wall and onto the kitchen floor for a week before my buyers came to town. Now the entire kitchen floor is warped and will have to be replaced.
I receive a distressed phone call on a Saturday evening around 8:30 pm from the buyers. Of course the home warranty that was purchased for the home doesn't cover this kind of damage.
The buyers feel like this is the responsibility of the previous homeowner because he or someone helping him obviously knew about the problem and attempted to repair it. The sellers feel like it's not their responsibility because when they left the home it was in good condition and there was no water damage. They tell their agent to tell me that there is some extra pergo in the master closet and the buyers can use that to replace the damaged floor. The buyers estimate the repairs to cost about $2500 because the entire kitchen floor needs to be replaced as well as some of the drywall where the water hose leaked into the wall.
I get the feeling we may be headed to court if we can't come to some type of agreement!
What do you think? In favor of the buyers or the sellers?
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