Anonymous wrote:We were at first happy to get a great offer on our house. AS it went 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 2 more weeks and the closing did not get done by the LAST date they set, we decided not to sell it and move back in. During this 10 week period we said they could move some boxes in. They moved everything and now they want to sue because we cancelled because the date passed. We received a lawyer letter saying we must give access to the house. When this happened we changed the locks and said they could if they let us know and can let them in. Also they were sleeping there a couple nights. We said they could sleep there the day before closing because they live 3 hours away. We have retained a lawyer but the stress is awful. Just venting and thanks for listening.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We would have been happy not to sell our house as we did not need to and told our agent to take it off the market so we didn't have to deal with any of the sale crap before we moved out. She instead insisted on bringing this offer. We would have been thrilled not to sell it right now.

There is no financing or appraisal contingency on the contract, so no we did not have to let the appraiser in. I did not realize home inspections these days included inspecting our WiFi router, especially since that moves with us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you own an older home there is new scam some of the buyers agents in Arlington are now pulling.
Put a strong offer in with no contingency- inspection for information only.
Then they ask to have an additional inspection of the fire place.
The fire place guy is in on the scam and scares the crap out of the buyer ( often a younger family). He’ll tell them that the chimney isn’t up to code and must be replaced. It will sound like that home could burn at any moment, and they send the agent back to the seller asking for money back... often to the tune of 20- 30k
Of course the chimney won’t be up to current code. The house was built fifty years ago. Most buyers are ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.
It’s a scheme to give the buyer some leverage after the fact and bargaining in bad faith.
Do not let a buyer back in after inspection.
It’s a liability to the seller and no good can come of it.

This exact situation happened when we sold my Mom 's house in Alexandria
va. Home inspector came in saying one chimney needed $25K worth of work on a beautifully built older home, and he had contractor to fix it. He said would not pass home inspection. My Mom's agent said Oh No, Not happening, she hired her own contractor and got an opinion of $5K for repairs. My Mom gave a sellers concession of $5K. Sounds like the same home inspector. What a racket. Very unethical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you own an older home there is new scam some of the buyers agents in Arlington are now pulling.
Put a strong offer in with no contingency- inspection for information only.
Then they ask to have an additional inspection of the fire place.
The fire place guy is in on the scam and scares the crap out of the buyer ( often a younger family). He’ll tell them that the chimney isn’t up to code and must be replaced. It will sound like that home could burn at any moment, and they send the agent back to the seller asking for money back... often to the tune of 20- 30k
Of course the chimney won’t be up to current code. The house was built fifty years ago. Most buyers are ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.
It’s a scheme to give the buyer some leverage after the fact and bargaining in bad faith.
Do not let a buyer back in after inspection.
It’s a liability to the seller and no good can come of it.

I don’t understand who benefits from this “scam.”

Anonymous wrote:If you own an older home there is new scam some of the buyers agents in Arlington are now pulling.
Put a strong offer in with no contingency- inspection for information only.
Then they ask to have an additional inspection of the fire place.
The fire place guy is in on the scam and scares the crap out of the buyer ( often a younger family). He’ll tell them that the chimney isn’t up to code and must be replaced. It will sound like that home could burn at any moment, and they send the agent back to the seller asking for money back... often to the tune of 20- 30k
Of course the chimney won’t be up to current code. The house was built fifty years ago. Most buyers are ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.
It’s a scheme to give the buyer some leverage after the fact and bargaining in bad faith.
Do not let a buyer back in after inspection.
It’s a liability to the seller and no good can come of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you own an older home there is new scam some of the buyers agents in Arlington are now pulling.
Put a strong offer in with no contingency- inspection for information only.
Then they ask to have an additional inspection of the fire place.
The fire place guy is in on the scam and scares the crap out of the buyer ( often a younger family). He’ll tell them that the chimney isn’t up to code and must be replaced. It will sound like that home could burn at any moment, and they send the agent back to the seller asking for money back... often to the tune of 20- 30k
Of course the chimney won’t be up to current code. The house was built fifty years ago. Most buyers are ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.
It’s a scheme to give the buyer some leverage after the fact and bargaining in bad faith.
Do not let a buyer back in after inspection.
It’s a liability to the seller and no good can come of it.

I don’t understand who benefits from this “scam.”

The buyers. How are you understanding this?
It’s a hot market and they know they need to come in strong to win the house. Part of their offer is “no contingencies”. Then they try and come back and renegotiate after the fact.
It’s bad faith.

Okay but for that to be the scam, the buyers have to be in on it. They can't be a younger family ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you own an older home there is new scam some of the buyers agents in Arlington are now pulling.
Put a strong offer in with no contingency- inspection for information only.
Then they ask to have an additional inspection of the fire place.
The fire place guy is in on the scam and scares the crap out of the buyer ( often a younger family). He’ll tell them that the chimney isn’t up to code and must be replaced. It will sound like that home could burn at any moment, and they send the agent back to the seller asking for money back... often to the tune of 20- 30k
Of course the chimney won’t be up to current code. The house was built fifty years ago. Most buyers are ignorant to homes and the maintenance involved.
It’s a scheme to give the buyer some leverage after the fact and bargaining in bad faith.
Do not let a buyer back in after inspection.
It’s a liability to the seller and no good can come of it.

I don’t understand who benefits from this “scam.”

The buyers. How are you understanding this?
It’s a hot market and they know they need to come in strong to win the house. Part of their offer is “no contingencies”. Then they try and come back and renegotiate after the fact.
It’s bad faith.