When we went to the inspection there was a heavy mold smell in the basement and the carpet in the (finished) basement was wet. Our agent called the listing agent to see what had happened — turns out when the utilities were off, so was the sump pump. There had been a rainstorm after our offer was accepted and some water had gotten into the basement. The carpet had been damaged and after having a “mold person” check it out, they said there was mold starting to grow. We obviously sent a letter to the bank saying that if they did not remediate the mold we would void the contract. The bank responded by saying that they still will not make any repairs to the home nomatter what. So we walked away.

At this point, I have no idea who is going to buy that house. The basement reeks now, so anyone who shows it is NOT going to put in an offer. Even if someone wanted to put in a significantly lower offer, I don’t know if they could even get a mortgage if a lender knows there’s mold growing (seems like a huge liability to a lender). Even if the bank doesn’t want to sell the house to us anymore, you’d think they’d still fix the mold problem if they want anyone to ever buy the house. There are no windows in the basement and there were no de-humidifiers to deal with the wet carpet– a jungle is going to grow down there.

Also just because an addendum says something, it doesn’t mean it is legally enforceable. Many parts of the addendum are not legal and a judge would throw it out.

Yet they want you to use THEIR closing company? Give me a break!

A lot of foreclosure attorney’s will execute the foreclosure but hold the actual deed until they are paid for their services. If for whatever reason they are not paid, the deed from the foreclosure is not recorded. When this is discovered, it is usually only that payment has to be rendered for the foreclosure work and the foreclosure attorney releases the deed for recording immediately upon receipt.

If it is discovered last minute and everybody is on top of it once it’s discovered, then it can usually be remedied within a week.

In short, if the public record does not show the bank as the owner, it does not necessarily been that the bank is not the actual owner.

Buying an REO can send your blood pressure through the room, but sometimes the deal is good enough to make it worth it.

As a Realtor of 16 years – your post is right on!

Keep up the good work.

Here is another example of last minute screwing(s) thrown into the deal, my buyer signs a regular state accepted P&S (in New Hampshire) when the addendum arrives after a buyer flies in from Seattle for an inspection we find (not previously disclosed) deal is as is, and buyer is responsible for both sides of the state transfer tax on 200K is .75/1000 or 1,500 buyer side (expected) plus another $1,500 thank you needless to say a flight across the country, a review of a surprise addendum and a trip back empty handed no one was happy in the end… these banks should be giving first mortgages with no closing costs to dump this stuff rather than turning it into a profit center.

Steve

What a mess.

Have you looked around to see if there are any other homes. Sure you have already paid $1,000 but what if you could get another place for a few thousand less? I know it hurts, but you would be better off.

It is against the MLS rules to list a property that is not owned by the title holder (as far as I know). Who is the settlement company. If you tell me that you agreed to use the bank’s settlement company, I will throw this website at you. You need to get your own settlement company (in Virginia the buyer picks, but the seller somtimes offers bribes to use their lackey). The settlement company should be telling you who really owns the property.

Also you can contact the listing agent’s broker to find out who owns the place. The broker is the one that technically owns the listing.

Also never do anything verbally. And if they made even one change to the contract, that means you have NO contract. Everything is null and void until both sides agree in writing to one document.

Good luck

Frank

Here is a little background: The house is listed as “Bank Owned” and has been on the market for over a year, but we believe that the bank did not get possession of it until about 3 months ago. We placed our first offer beginning of December and did not receive a counter offer for 3 plus weeks. We then countered with a verbal offer(per our agent) and received a verbal acceptance January 11th. Not knowing any better we immediately had our house inspection done, without a signed contract. It wasn’t until February 14th that we received an illegible signed contract with a close date of March 6th. The contract had also been modified from our original close date of 30 days from signing. This gives us 3 weeks to close. We requested a letter changing our close date to March 17th to no avail and we have since sent them a contract for them to sign with March 17th as the close date. To make things more complicated, our agent was in Vietnam for three weeks and we were dealing with another agent during his absence. Upon our agents return we did get a preliminary title which has the original owners name on it, not the banks. The home is listed as bank owned on the mls and our agent doesn’t seem know why the title isn’t clean and he isn’t getting a response from the bank (Countrywide) or the original listing agent. Meanwhile, the bank did perform a termite inspection on January 31st(even before we had a signed contract) and found level 1 damage, which they have agreed to take care of which includes tenting the house. This will also need to completed before close of escrow, but we have yet to get a date for the completion of this either. So, as you can see.. it’s a mess.

Changed contract- we requested a legible copy, no results. We also don’t think that they can complete everything within their own close date. We are happy to close earlier than the 17th, but need the items below fixed.
No clean title – is this something they change at point of sale? Everything I have read, is that the bank should have title.
Termite Tenting
Good Faith Check- our agent also told us to hold onto this check until the bank performed.
Do you have suggestions for how we should be proceeding? We have paid over $1000 in inspections( house,septic,mold etc) and if the house has been mis-represented as bank owned and they can’t close the deal, we are out our $1000, plus the house. Unfortunately, our agent is our little help. We would appreciate any suggestions you might have help our house to close

Thanks so much