Walked out of home purchase at closing rant

WOW ! Went to do our final walk through on our new home purchase yesterday, and I have never ! WT supposed to be at 1:30pm , people still moving stuff out and house was filthy and I mean NASTY filthy. This is a $350,000.00 house and was supposed to be our dream/final home, it is 4 1/2 years old and from when we looked at it 2 months a go until yesterday I don't think they cleaned, vacuumed maintained the house in any manor, the house stunk like urine, dishwasher was switched out and not anchored into cabinets, oven was caked up with nasty food around the sides, door and bottom, garbage on the floors, dry wall ripped out where they removed the flat screen TV's, empty utility boxes in every room with no cover on them and I have no idea of what they were even there for, no wiring into them, they were like light or a outlet switch box but a little bigger. OK I could type all day about my anger but I'll stop. Thanks for listening or rather reading.

The man that pays the fiddler gets to call the tune. You are the money man so I suggest you play "I'm Gonna go Farther and do Better" and blow the deal up. They will grovel to get you to the closing table.

allthumbs said:

WOW ! Went to do our final walk through on our new home purchase yesterday, and I have never ! WT supposed to be at 1:30pm , people still moving stuff out and house was filthy and I mean NASTY filthy. This is a $350,000.00 house and was supposed to be our dream/final home, it is 4 1/2 years old and from when we looked at it 2 months a go until yesterday I don't think they cleaned, vacuumed maintained the house in any manor, the house stunk like urine, dishwasher was switched out and not anchored into cabinets, oven was caked up with nasty food around the sides, door and bottom, garbage on the floors, dry wall ripped out where they removed the flat screen TV's, empty utility boxes in every room with no cover on them and I have no idea of what they were even there for, no wiring into them, they were like light or a outlet switch box but a little bigger. OK I could type all day about my anger but I'll stop. Thanks for listening or rather reading.

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I would agree but am curious, did you not ever walk through before the "final walk through?" was it all sparkly clean previously? If not, I would have tapped the brakes way before final walk through. IMHO

I would have walked away and not looked back. I guess their new house needed a good dishwasher. Yep they were rather stupid to think they had a done deal so they could do what ever they wanted to the place.
What the heck it sounds like they had renters in there. I wouldn't even think about giving them a second chance. Good thing the buyer can back out at the last minute.

Sorry to hear it. That's got to be a real bummer. I would have flipped out too!
f.t.

I wouldn't sign.

Plenty of houses around.

Do you lose your deposit by walking away at this late stage? Sorry, I think they call it earnest money in the US. Still thinking in British.

Wow, that really sucks I would have walked at closing too. Your agent shouldn't have any issue getting your earnest money deposit back. The owner might scream and cry but life sucks for them.

I sold residential real estate for dozen or so years. I've seen homes as you described. Most of the time it was a foreclosure and or short sale situation and the previous owners stripped the home bare of anything of value. I've seen wiring ripped out of the walls and not a plumbing fixture to be found. I've also seen a renter that didn't want to move destroy a home.

I can at least say I was lucky enough to have a home owner never strip a home when moving out...leave it dirty but never stripped.

we bought a house that was considerably lower than market.. when I made an offer, they accepted & we signed a simple contract on the spot that named the price & $10.00 earnest money.. they tried backing out all the way thru closing.. my attorney told them to either be at closing on Friday afternoon or he'd see them in circuit court on Monday morning... they signed over all on Friday afternoon..

I'm wondering too if it was renters that did the damages... you might negotiate a lesser price based on what you saw...talk to your attorney & follow his advice..... *never buy property without an attorney.

When selling a house, what you want to take with you, put in storage.
What a buyer sees on his inspection, he/she will expect with the offer.
Ethics and pride would dictate that the seller leave the house in a clean and spotless condition.

I am a custom builder and do expert witness work on behalf of home owners. With all of the obvious problems you can only guess at what the hidden issues are run!

We sold our farm home 1.5 years ago. It was in very poor condition and was contracted it as land only. (absolutely no expectations for the house!) The buyer was a flipper that thought he was pulling a fast one on me, and lied every time his mouth moved. The were some conditions for the sale; 1) remove old camper from the yard, 2) remove three dead tractors from the yard, 3) remove all ammunition from the house, & 4) remove recently discovered underground fuel tank. I had 30 days to move and completely fulfill the contract. I wanted out of there in the worst way and worked some days 16 hours to make it happen! Item 1, cost me most of a day and $130 for a roll-off tow truck to haul it to a used camper store, I gave the camper for free! Item 2, cost me a Saturday to help a distant relative load the tractors, again I gave them to him, Item 3, I was going to do this anyway, but it took 4 hours to haul the cans of ammo to the front porch then additional time to load the pick-up for 5 trips to the Cond. Item 4 was the hardest! This fuel tank had been there the entire 31 years we lived there only we never knew it. My brother volunteered to take care of it (I still had to pay any fees) I work with environmental reclamation companies seasonally, so I know this could cost up to $10 Grand! I saw the truck and earth moving equipment, but never any people, Then it was gone and the hole fill with clay (Top soil is bad for this!) When I ask how much this cost me? $480 it would have been about $100 less, but the back-hoe blew a tire and it took more dirt then they first thought. The tank had never had fuel in it so no problems or permits.

When we finished we washed the hard floors and vacuumed the carpets and wiped down all the interior walls. It was the house we raised our 4 children in and couldn't allow it to change hands looking bad. I left behind an almost new Maytag stainless steel dishwasher, knowing it would be discarded! My Condo has a bottom of the line Whirlpool.

When the "Flipper" walked through, he mentioned to our realtor, that he had never had a house turned over in such a clean condition. The flipper has flipped and a nice young family lives there now. They have put about $100 grand of improvements in and it sounds like the have about $75 grand to go, but again the old house has the sound of young children playing in and around it again. (this is the 5th time that I have known about) It seem this take place there every 30 to 35 years, if the next changing of the guard takes that long, I wont live to see it, but in the mean time, Ill enjoy seeing the family age as we drive by going to church.

Ivan

@allthumbs: Hope you took pictures. I'd walk, get the earnest money and look elsewhere. What Leonard said... if they are going to leave it like that, it's only imaginable what is there not detected.

oldfart64 said:

I would agree but am curious, did you not ever walk through before the "final walk through?" was it all sparkly clean previously? If not, I would have tapped the brakes way before final walk through. IMHO

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Yeah, I mean...you didn't have any idea what this place was like on the inside when you {not the seller} wrote the contract????? Or was it fantastic and the seller turned into hillbilly hogs after the contract was signed????

Why not just make them reduce the price enough to get it back to normal?

msinc said:

Yeah, I mean...you didn't have any idea what this place was like on the inside when you {not the seller} wrote the contract????? Or was it fantastic and the seller turned into hillbilly hogs after the contract was signed????

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Didn't you read the op's post? This is all on the seller and is in no way the buyer's fault.

from when we looked at it 2 months a go until yesterday I don't think they cleaned, vacuumed maintained the house in any manor...

Wow that sucks! The problem with just walking away from settlement and not buying is most folks have a house to sell - which normally occurs before your buying your new home. If your a first time home buyer - then you can find something else with no problem in this market.

The other factor is the realtor(s) involved are going to want that sale to continue no matter what you say or feel - because frankly (and no offense here to anyone who is a realtor) they want to close that deal and make money.

I would try and make the seller pay for everything that needs fixing or cleaning. Take the money out at settlement.

In the future you should go back 1 or 2 more times before settlement. I've moved several times and I always make an excuse (take room measurements, curtains, whatever) to see the house a second or 3rd time either before or after a contract is made. You always miss things the first time.

Good luck

In the future you should go back 1 or 2 more times before settlement. I've moved several times and I always make an excuse (take room measurements, curtains, whatever) to see the house a second or 3rd time either before or after a contract is made. You always miss things the first time.

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Excellent advise. I missed one or two SMALL items when I bought the home I'm currently living in.

Here where I live, anything that is attached to the real estate becomes part of the real estate and cannot be removed unless specifically spelled out in the contract.

The pictures can be removed from the wall however, the nails or picture hooks should remain. Again, if the seller spelled out things in the contract and you agreed to them, then you are stuck.

As for the dishwasher, it is possible that it broke and was replaced with a cheap replacement merely to maintain the contract. I still would have taken issue with that.

This is why I always recommended to buyers (when I was in RE) to take photos of everything and then take them again when the walk through was completed. This also is extremely important when renting property and holding a security deposit. Normal wear and tear is expected but holes in the wall or missing appliances are not.

If it becomes a court situation, judges love photos and videos. When you take the photos or videos, make sure to have a copy of the local newspaper so the date can be documented. This way the other party cannot state that the photos must be from 3 years ago and the property didn't look like that when they moved in.

I think you did the right thing. That is not the house you contracted to buy!

It is my understanding, at least in my home state, is that if it is attached to the house, it is supposed to stay with the house, and in operating condition. In fact, If I recall correctly, the seller has to guarantee the furnace and like appliances for several months after closing. The TVs were attached to the walls and unless specifically stated in the contract, should stay.
Why should you pay for their destruction of the property?