Real Estate transactions are like obstacle races. Ideally, they are easy to navigate and end with a sprint to the finish line. Occasionally, though, obstacles just seemingly drop out of thin air right into our path and we must figure out a way to climb over them.
Overcoming obstacles in Real Estate transactions: let's find a precedent.
A few years ago, I was working with a lovely client to sell a Silver Spring condo. It was a garden-style, on the top floor, and very well maintained. Among the numerous improvements my client had made were a new sliding glass door and new windows. Since she replaced the old with like-kind, she did not have to petition the condo board - or so she thought. She had also hired a contractor who had done several jobs in the neighborhood, and it was all covered under a lengthy warranty. Great selling feature -unless it causes the sale of your condo to come to a screeching halt that is!
My seller ordered the condo resale packet to hand over to the buyer. Per law, condo docs must be delivered at least 15 days prior to closing and the buyer gets 7 days to review it all. The docs include a resale certificate that states whether the unit owner is in good standing (ideally, yes) and the property is free of violations (also, ideally, yes).
When the resale certificate arrived, we were surprised to read that the new windows had been flagged! True to the color scheme of the subdivision, they were the same shade of brown, but there was one subtle difference in design. It wasn't noticeable unless you were looking for it, especially because the neighbor one floor below had windows just like it.
What to do? Replacing the new with new and spending 5K doing so, didn't make any sense, but this was exactly what the condo board was expecting to cure the violation.
We extended our closing date to buy some time to deal with this. The seller contacted board members but none were willing to communicate. She was invited to submit an appeal which was denied. Our buyer walked.
We put the condo temp off the market while we tried to find a solution that did not involve investing 5K my client didn't have. I suggested that she talk to the neighbor below who reported not having run into any issues with these windows, and to walk the neighborhood in search of others. She found them. It wasn't many, but there were others! I looked up sales records and called the listing and buyers agent and asked for their assistance. I was able to confirm for at least 1 other sale that the very same windows had been installed prior to a purchase contract being signed and the resale docs being ordered. They had not been flagged on their resale certificate!
Armed with unit numbers, pictures of the windows, and the info from a comp sale, my client appeared at the next board meeting and successfully plead her case. The violation was removed. Of course, she was required to order and pay for another resale packet to get a clean bill of sale.
We put the condo back on the market and had it ratified again within a few days. My seller ended up netting just a bit more the second time around. That one was as smooth of a transaction as we could have hoped for.
March 2023 Challenge - March to a Solution*
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