The Good
Views and Trees and Wildlife and Fresh Air
The Bad
Having to walk up/ down the hillsides with bad knees or drive in icy weather!
The Ugly
Selling your gem and finding out the buyer insists that you spend $25,000 or more on foundation repairs before he will honor his purchase offer!
I’ve unfortunately been witness to the heartache experienced by hundreds of homeowners selling their pride and joy mountainside home, only to be told that the buyers feel that their home has severe foundation problems and they insist that it be stabilized at costs nearly always exceeding $25,000.00. The sellers’ dreams of cashing in their gold nugget for maximum value suddenly fades when facing huge foundation repair estimate costs and especially if they desperately need to sell their home for whatever reason. They are being bent-over the barrel
Why is this?
How and why does this continue to happen in the year 2020?!
Who do Realtors often let decide the seller’s fate?
Who is it that they let decide if a home has a serious foundation problem warranting repairs?
I contend it’s the foundation repair contractors!
How many foundation repair contractors have come into your office and sold their services to you?
If you contend that you have no choice but to allow a foundation repair contractor to evaluate a home for structural damage, because you consider them “qualified” to determine when a home has a serious foundation problem requiring repair, you are grossly mistaken. Especially when the sellers are profusely screaming in your ear that they disagree.
If you represent a seller who lives on a mountainside with various amounts of outcropped limestone bedrock surrounding the home, and insist or encourage them to relinquish the earnest money they received upon accepting a contract offer for purchase, because the buyer was later told by a foundation repair contractor that the home had major structural problems needing repair; and the seller refused to “play into their hand” and pay for ridiculous repairs, so the buyer now wants to walk away, then you are violating your fiduciary obligations. Why? Because the house is likely sitting on or very close to bedrock and cannot sink into oblivion as a foundation repair contractor might be contending!
You can stop this from ever happening again.
You can advise the seller not to let any foundation repair contractor step foot on their property.
If the buyer wants a professional opinion, regarding the adequacy of the home’s foundation, he can find many more-qualified and non-biased, professional opinions – from educated and licensed professionals. Not former car salespersons.
A foundation repair contractor is not qualified to make this assessment, so therefore you do not have to relinquish the earnest money if the buyer wants to walk away due (likely) to bad (and biased) advice.
I hope you understand this. This is not just my opinion. The State of North Carolina passed legislation several years ago that foundation repair contractors are not qualified to develop foundation repair plans and if they perform foundation repairs, it must be in accordance with a professional engineer’s design!
Folks: It is a crystal clear conflict of interest for a foundation repair contractor to offer free inspections (as if they are qualified to perform such inspections) and then recommend foundation repairs with huge price tags.
They are salespersons selling their goods!
Did you know it’s a violation of the Alabama Home Inspector Code of Ethics for a home inspector to charge a fee to make repairs on a home that he inspected, because he might also be a licensed contractor or handy man as well?
If this is a conflict of interest, why is it not a conflict of interest for a foundation repair contractor to tell a seller that his home has major structural problems but he can fix them and save the day for about $ 25,000.00!
Please stop letting this happen!
Write a Comment