Did your agent explain what you were signing? I recently had the occasion where an appraisal was done for a government program loan. I'm being non specific to protect the guilty. But on FHA and VA loans just any old appraiser won't do. You have to jump through some extra hoops to get on the FHA or VA approved list.
Those programs are loan programs where not only the borrower must qualify, but certain standards about the property itself must be met that are different from conventional loans that are not government insured.
On this particular loan the seller had agreed to do appraisal required repairs to a negotiated preset amount. If the repair estimate would be over that amount we would still have to either negotiate further, have the buyers repair or not close the loan. In the recent case our estimate came in below that amount agreed to IN WRITING in the contract.
So when the time came to send over the list of repairs, the estimate of cost and the time line for repairs to be completed so that the appraiser could re-inspect we were more than a little surprised at the response we got which was... "I ran this by the seller and they said no, no repairs".
So wait a second, not only did the seller not know what the document they signed said, but the agent didn't either?
This was not a new agent. This seasoned agent had no idea her sellers had already agreed to do repairs we asked to be done at the time of our offer. But I tell buyers that no matter how clean a house seems and even things that might be missed or not noted on an inspection are sometimes issues for these appraisers. I've never seen one just pass without some sort of little repair.
So maybe before you sign a contract you need to read it, because you never know when your agent doesn't know what is it says. Well that is unless the agent works at Lane Realty. Because not only do my agents know and understand the real estate contract, but I as the broker review every single contract in or out of our office to make sure no little detail falls through the cracks. It's actually the law for the broker to review all contracts after they are ratified, but I'm not convinced that actually happens based my conversations with some brokers about deals on going with their offices.
Our repairs were done. But the seller wasn't happy about it. They said, "we would have NEVER agreed to that had we known!" I suggested they hire a better agent next time. Because I knew, my agent knew, our buyers knew, the lender on the transaction knew. And it really isn't our responsibility to make sure the client on the other side understands what we're offering before they accept it. Hire the right agent. Hire an agent that will explain the contract to you and work out a net sheet for you.
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