My Sellers signed all of the Paperwork for the Closing, on the Sale of their home, on Friday. While we were about to sit down at the table, the Buyers agent calls me, from my Sellers home as they are doing their final walk-through, to inform me that the Smoke and CO detectors were gone. They also said that when some Huge furniture pieces had been moved out of the Master Bedroom, the wall area(s) behind them weren't the same color and there was painting to be done. She needed those detectors to be replaced! My sellers had taken them all down to replace the back-up batteries, but had not put them back.
The Buyers will be signing on Tuesday
Saturday morning, I am at my Clients home putting the smoke detectors back and painting the areas in the Master. Unbeknownst to me, the Buyers had decided to visit the property, without their Agent, to "Look at a few things". They asked if it was okay to come in and being that I was there, I told them, no problem.
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors in place, I had just finished pulling all of the painters plastic and other masking from the Bedroom. I was walking towards the front door of the Home to discard the garbage I had created, when the Buyer stopped me and wanted to show me something.
In the Great Room, is a vaulted 22' T & G ceiling. On the back wall where the ceiling and wall met, Mr buyer pointed out visible water damage, that had dried, but was still evident. I thought to myself, "This was never identified during the home Inspection." I then spoke out loud, asking the Buyer, "Why didn't your Home Inspector catch this?" He simply stated, "We didn't have one because the home is not that old." (4 years)
I was stunned. I told him that since he was the one that decided NOT to have an Inspection and all of the dates on the contract are way past the deadlines, there was nothing I could do, other than note it. Since he neglected to have the Home Inspection, he will have to rectify this at his cost, unless he backs out now. If he chooses to back out, he will be in default and pay all associated costs and lose the EM deposit.
A home inspection date and a home inspection objection date are in the contract for a reason. Should the the buyer decide he's not going to spend the hundreds of dollars for such inspection, he will be responsible for the consequences.
Get a Home Inspection. $400.00 is better than $4,000.00 dollars.
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