A young, unmarried woman, who lives with her parents, decides to buy her own house. Although the market is fairly soft, she cannot afford anything better than a small townhouse in a quiet neighborhood close to downtown Toronto. Her agent shows her a townhouse in a good area that is about 100 years old and is listed for $399K. The client likes the neighborhood, high ceilings on the main floor, nice size of the back yard (although the garage is almost falling apart and needs demolition), and decides to put an offer. The agent tells her that all offers should be presented on a certain day as per listing. The night before this day the woman meets her agent to prepare an offer. The agent informs her that there are five more offers, and in order to buy the house she needs to remove ALL the conditions. She also needs to put a good size deposit (20K) to show the vendor that she is serious about buying, and, finally, raise the price by 70 Grand. The client, a first time buyer, is not sure if this is the best way to proceed, but the agent insists that this is the only way to get the house. The buyer agrees to follow her advice. She gets the house and applies for insurance. The insurance company inquires about electricity, plumbing, structure, etc. The young woman asks her relative, who is a home inspector, to prepare this information for her. The home inspector inspects the house and finds knob-and-tube wiring throughout, leaky foundation and lead plumbing, asbestos, mold and in addition burnt rafters in the attic, which compromise the structural integrity of the roof. These findings go to the insurance company, which refuses to give the buyer full house insurance until all the issues are corrected. As a result, the lady cannot receive her mortgage and consequently cannot buy the house. She cannot afford to do all necessary repairs either, since they mount up to 70-80 K. She decided not to proceed with the transaction, and since she backs off from a firm deal she loses her deposit of 20K.
Should the agent share the responsibility and monetary burden with this young woman? Even though she knows about "buyer beware," if everyone could make their decisions without using professional help, why would we need professional advice?
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