#RealEstate #HomeSelling #HouseProblems
Hey everyone! 🏡 Have you ever had buyers try to back out after a walk through? Share your experiences and advice with me in the comments!
So, here’s the situation: we’re selling an old house in Iowa that we’ve put a ton of work into. The buyers requested repairs after the inspection, which we agreed to. Now, after the final walkthrough, they’re saying we need to shell out $20k for a foundation issue they found.
Here are some key points:
– Buyers had 7 days after inspection to ask for repairs, which we addressed and signed off on
– Final walkthrough is for new problems post-inspection
– Contract doesn’t bind us to arbitration
Do you think the buyers have a case here? They’ve been a handful from the start, so I’m not entirely surprised by this turn of events.
Any advice on how to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated! Let’s help each other out and share our insights. 🤔💡
It really depends on the details of your contract. I’d talk to your agent and see what they recommend or better a lawyer to review things.
The problem is forcing them to complete the sale is going to be expensive. Walking away with earnest money + something might be the best option.
I was less than a week from closing on a house when it got water in the basement after we had an inspection. It counted as a material change in the house. The owner refused to fix it so we walked away and got our earnest money back. Talk to your realtor and maybe a lawyer but the answer you get may not be the one you hoped for.
The Iowa Bar has a [referral service](https://www.iowabar.org/?pg=Find-A-LawyerHP) that will provide a 30 minute consultation with an attorney in your area, practicing in the field you need. Personally I wouldn’t have the realtor in the conversation, but available for an update afterwards on next steps.
Not sure about state law in Iowa, but I was in a similar situation in California after I sold my condo “as-is.” The seller tried to get me to repair and paint drywall that they ripped out during their inspection and was refusing to sign the forms.
My agent (who was in Real Estate for 40 years) gave the buyers agent a “Notice to Perform,” which gave the Buyers 2 days to sign the contract or back out or I could legally cancel the contract. That said, I was operating at a position of strength, which the buyers probably didn’t realize. For one, I was very confident in getting my price. Second, the property was paid off and I didn’t need the money at the time to purchase something else. I sent an email to my agent (who forwarded it to the buyers agent) stating the buyers were being unreasonable, that I didn’t need to sell the property immediately, and to put it back on the market.
They caved the next day and signed the papers.
With the amount of rain lots of areas have been getting this isn’t surprising. We get trickles of water in our 100+ year old house every few years but has happened multiple times this year due to the insane amount of rain we’ve gotten. But it’s super common especially for older houses in my area when we get lots of rain. But most older houses in our area don’t finish their basements either.
I’m surprised they took off that much drywall.
Strong arm them, if they don’t know what they’re doing they’ll either close or give up their earnest deposit. If they lawyer up they probably get out of it.
If it’s past the timeline for discovery and amendments They would lose their earnest money if they pull out. This would be good for you I guess since you would get the money and could either pocket it or fix the issue
They can back out at anytime before close. They will probably lose the earnest money deposit. It sucks.
Is the removal of paneling or drywall a new request because inspectors found they have moisture meters?
Same thing was requested of us and we removed one piece of panel and the buyer wanted more even though there was no evidence of moisture.
I cancelled the sale and ended up having to pay to have the wall fixed and the room repainted.
I hate this whole process.
If you don’t go through you are going to have a problem with other buyers wanting you to fix the foundation.