I'm learning lessons every day in the foreclosure world and I don't mind sharing them. Recently I represented a couple in the purchase of a new home and may I add, I was delighted to have a qualified buyer. They knew what they wanted, they knew where the area they wanted to live in, and they were pre approved for their mortgage. Great couple. We were able to find the house they wanted in a short period of time. The house was new construction and a foreclosure. We worked out the contract, everything looked good.
The inspection process begins. Fortunate for me we had stated in the contract that the seller was responsible to have the utilities on for our inspection. Now this is where it started to get interesting. After a few calls with the listing agent he agreed that his seller was responsible for having the utilities turned on, problem was the since the house had been vacant for over a year the electric company would not turn on the power without a current county inspection. The listing agent called the county, cut a check to have the inspection done (I know this was a pain for the agent because the agent did not normally work in this county). When the agent got to the inspection department, they would not issue an order to do the inspection because the prior year taxes had not been paid on the property. Whoa, need another check. A few days later the inspector came out to the property. Guess what, it didn't pass. This poor listing agent gets an ear full about code, and the fact he will not give us a permit so we can have the power turned on. Keep in mind the items that failed were items that had previously passed by the same county inspection. The listing agent gets an electrician out there, repairs the items on the list, gets the inspector back, takes the inspection to the power company and now he needs a deposit because he does not have an account with this power company. Don't worry my buyers stepped up and used their credit with this power company so we got that worked out. There are a few things wrong, GFIC's not installed, can not locate a switch to the breakfast room light, and one of the light switches in the kitchen actually works the dining room light. Buyers are not discouraged by this, they have an electrician and they will get this worked out after the closing. Next, the appliances are set to be delivered, several days late, but we have to have them in by noon because the appraiser is making a second trip out this afternoon to sign off on the appraisal (because the appliances were not there for the first appraisal, remember they were late being delivered). Installation of appliances is also part of the seller's responsibility and so far it is not on schedule, but they say they can get them here before noon so we can close tomorrow. I'm starting to feel sorry for the listing agent so I agree to meet the appliance guy. Appliances arrive, right color, right model number, uncrate no dints, slide into place, we have it made. But wait, not so fast. The clock works on the stove, but not the burners. I'm no cook, but I don't think you can cook with just a clock. Is it the stove? Let's slide the dishwasher in place and hook it up. Here's the hole the dishwasher goes in, but where are the wires? Someone messed up, the sheetrock must be covering them. So we knock a hole in the sheetrock, next to the stud, that is where the wires should be, well after we take out about 12 inches of sheetrock, the appliance guys gives up. Look "I'll hook it to the water line and lady you need to deal with this electrical problem" OK. Now if the dishwasher is on the right side of the sink I would think that little hook up for the dishwasher would be on the same side. But then, I'm not a plumber, the plumber put it on the left side, he didn't drill a hole for the hose, but he did put it as far away from the dishwasher as he could get it. This appliance guy worked his tail off getting this hose stretched over the top, drilled the hole in the side of the cabinet and was able to hook up the water line. Now back to work on the stove. Well, it's not the stove. Did I mention I'm not an electrician or a plumber, I'm a realtor. But it does stand to reason that if you don't attach all the wires to the little outlet behind the stove, the outlet doesn't work properly. Well guess what, I call this poor listing agent. I know he is not happy to hear from me, but I tell him the situation anyway and we now have about half an hour before the appraiser get here. After I completed that call, I call the appraiser to see how his day is going and let him know if he is running a bit late, we're fine with that. Anyway, the listing agent gets an electrician out there, gets our issues resolved, appraiser arrives and everything is working. We closed the next day. All is well. Next.
Comments(0)