getting out of contract

[Anonymous]

If they seriously want out, $5,500 isn't much to lose if this place is as much of a disaster as you claim it is. This seems like a troll post.

[Anonymous]

OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

[Anonymous]

this is all minor cosmetic stuff i'd take this over old water heaters/hvac/roof etc wtf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

I agree with the recommendation not to waste money on a lawyer. If the work was completed in an unprofessional manner then the buyers' agent should notify the listing agent in writing that the work needs to be corrected. Your friends should not settle until the work is properly finished. If their buyers' agent "conveniently left out" additional work that was supposed to be completed, then why did the the buyers sign the home inspection addendum where the work to be completed was specified? Additionally if the addendum stated that the work was to be completed by a licensed contractor, they should make sure that a licensed contractor actually did the work. The recommendations to suck it up and just do the work themselves is ridiculous. There is recourse.

If they feel that their current agent is not representing their interests, they should follow up with the manager of their agent's brokerage and perhaps request that another agent is assigned to help them. I would also recommend that after the house closes that your friends write up a detailed review on Google or Zillow to prevent others from using him/her in the future. Lastly, if ultimately your friends end up losing money because they need to pay someone else to do the work in a professional manner, then I would recommend that they file a Md Real Estate Commission request through the guaranty fund to recoup that money. Im assuming that DC or Va has a way to file to get money without them having to pay for a lawyer but I am not licensed there so am not 100% sure of who they would contact.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Where does your friend live that she was even able to negotiate fixing up the house? Everything we've seen has only accepted offers with no contingencies in place and we're looking at $800K-$1 Million homes.

[Anonymous]

What others have said. This isn't a big deal. You can do lots of cosmetic work to try to get rid of smoke smell but that house is going to still stink even if it was done correctly. Never buy houses of smokers or those with cats. The smell is in more than the carpet and drywall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's the agent's fault too. It's the agent's responsibility to get the paperwork right although obviously the buyers shouldnt have signed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's so funny how low the bar is for agents -- they get a hefty commission but people will gladly excuse their errors. If a lawyer did something like this, a client would probably fire them and sue for malpractice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's so funny how low the bar is for agents -- they get a hefty commission but people will gladly excuse their errors. If a lawyer did something like this, a client would probably fire them and sue for malpractice.

Another perspective here, we're hearing this third hand, from someone who "thinks" things but doesn't know any facts for sure. I have grains of salt for anyone who is taking this at face value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's so funny how low the bar is for agents -- they get a hefty commission but people will gladly excuse their errors. If a lawyer did something like this, a client would probably fire them and sue for malpractice.

It's funny how one person makes a stupid comment on here and you make a generalization about how low the bar is for realtors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's the agent's fault too. It's the agent's responsibility to get the paperwork right although obviously the buyers shouldnt have signed it.

She shouldn't have signed something without reading it. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP back again, and thanks for the posters who were helpful. I'll see if my friend can show the contract to a lawyer (which I am not). I promise I'm not a troll, just concerned that my friend is spending a lot of money on a house and that she'll have to sink even more money in to fix shoddy work.

What the heck are you talking about, "sink even more money in?" You've described cracks, "wavy" drywall, thin paint, and a missing baseboard. Spackle is like 10 bucks. A can of paint is 100 bucks if you go nuts. Drywall is like 50 cents per square foot, and baseboards are like $1-2 per foot. This (from what you have described) sounds like a weekend or maybe two of work and $1000 max.

I cannot imagine it being worth it to pay a lawyer to get involved over this. If the house is otherwise good, this seems like you (and/or your friend) are just having buyers remorse and looking for an out. If they just don't want the house, rip the bandaid off and walk away, lesson learned. If they do, suck it up and get it fixed themselves to their own satisfaction.

OP here. There are additional fixes she'll have to do that the agent conveniently left out of the work the seller was to do (a big one was removing carpet in half the house, which has to be done to help with the smoke smell). I think my friend was too trusting of her agent. And yes, the work that's been done badly is cosmetic, but at the same time, why should she be told the work would be done and then have to pay to redo it?

Your friend did not read the paperwork she signed. Period. If she had read the paperwork, she would have seen that the work she wanted the sellers to fix/remediate was not listed in the paperwork and she would have asked the real estate agent to rewrite it. But she didn't read the paperwork. She needs to stop blaming the agent, this is her own fault.

It's so funny how low the bar is for agents -- they get a hefty commission but people will gladly excuse their errors. If a lawyer did something like this, a client would probably fire them and sue for malpractice.

I would say the same thing if OP's friend had signed a contract written by a lawyer without reading it.

I mean, yes, the agent clearly sucks, mine walked us through the contract every time, but we also READ every line before signing things.