Shady people sell houses too

We spent years trying to buy a house. Our very first mortgage pre-approval came in 2015. We must have looked at hundreds of houses and put in offers on a bunch of them. That's where the universe stepped in and something always happened - outbid, failed inspection, mold or taken off the market. Whatever the case, it never worked out. We branched out and started looking in a bunch of different areas in different states. 2019 is when we found our place. I read tons of reviews on the area and services we needed and I found our realtor team - a seasoned broker and a newly licensed agent. To say they were amazing would be completely understating what they truly were. Since we were from out of town, we packed our visits with tons of viewings in addition to touring the areas. The husband and I were able to sneak away (kidless) to visit from Thursday to Monday. We must have looked at 50 houses and ended with two - one he loved and one I loved. We first pursued "my" house. This house was beautiful but unfortunately it was one thing after another. The realtor did not disclose that it failed inspection for water damage. Actually the realtor did not follow any form of the mandatory disclosure laws and that was just the tip of the things that went wrong before we walked away. We moved on to "his" house. He loved this house much more than I did. It is also beautiful and checked off all the boxes we had for needs and wants. After a little back and forth, we were in contract in under 48 hours under asking price with seller covering closing costs. A few concerns came up during inspection which were all easily addressed and repaired. everything went smooth as silk and six weeks later we closed and that is our beautiful home today.

But not every experience is a dream and not every person is honest; as is the story of my friend Miracle. I call her Miracle because it truly is a miracle she has not lit her money pit on fire and watched it burn. They too purchased from out of town. They came into town for a home tour. They even took video of their walk thru for reference. Everything was great. The house was well staged, checked off the wish list and then some. Their offer was accepted and the inspections were uneventful. Now, the sellers of this home were both real estate brokers and he had a home improvement business which they dabbled in flipping houses. This wasn't a flip but their personal home. That morsel is going to be important in a moment...

The actual closing and the time around the closing has some questionable moments and miracle had thoughts about backing out of the deal. They followed through with the closing and the home was officially theirs. After tying up all the loose ends at their place of origin they headed out on their adventure to their new home. What they arrived to find was completely inexcusable. Despite Miracle setting up no service interruption in the electricity, the a/c was off. In the summer. In the south. The house smelled of a pungent lingering stench that would not relent. The carpeting was destroyed - pet stains, nail polish, rips, cuts and tears. Apparently someone painted which resulted in pain splatter all over the wood floors. The baseboard molding was caked with filth that was painted over with dog hair added like it was glitter. A wet moldy mop was left in the master bathtub complete with bugs. Bedroom walls were damaged from pulling off adhesive lights when the sellers packed up and holes in the drywall. The master toilet has a large crack in the bowl and was leaking. One of the showers was leaking which eventually lead to find out the other bathroom was also leaking. They walked into the twilight zone. This was not the house they saw, toured, inspected and purchased. But sadly it was. You see, the house they saw was covered in "make up", similar to the dressed up person you meet at night versus the next morning.

Being a Real Estate professional, you know the process - you know what sells and the the do's and don'ts of home inspections. The way you can creatively stage a home with furniture, photos, throw rug, no clutter to be seen and plug in air fresheners in ever outlet. Bake some cookies or light a candle before a showing. Those are all things perceived as normal to everyday Joe. Now for home inspections - what most people don't know is that home inspectors can only inspect what they can see. They are not allowed to touch or move anything in the home. Let's say that you KNOW that there is termite damage on one of the walls in the garage and you stack all of the moving boxes in front of that wall - the inspectors can't see it and it goes unfound. Placing a dog crate in the middle of the floor where there is a giant piece of carpeting cut out or dropping a throw rug over top of pet stains in the carpet or hanging pictures over top of holes in the drywall or telling the garage door repair company to not replace the equipment as suggested but to just make it work for a little longer. All of these things while not only deceitful practices they are illegal in not only my state but many other states. State law mandates that sellers disclose all known damages, defects and other issues with the property to the potential buyers before entering contract.

An unfortunate combination of a newer realtor, a home inspector that did not communicate concerns of oddly placed items or the inability to inspect areas and professionally knowledgeable sellers who just happen to be terrible human beings transformed what should have been an exciting new chapter in their lives into a series of costly events. It's been a couple years now of blood, sweat, tears, strings of wild profanity, more tears and boat loads of money but this house is finally in a place where it is starting to feel like home. Hopefully all of the financially disastrous surprises are long behind them and any improvements going forward are wants and not needs.

I think we have all heard similar stories not limited to home purchases but automobiles, boats, electronics, anything really. Most people don't have your interest as their concern. A strong human motivator is self and money is the root of evil. Combine the two and you can really see the true character of most humans. When looking at making purchases, especially large ones, be sure to surround yourself with a solid team who care more about your investment than themselves. People with whom you have a good rapport, trust and they bring a solid foundation of knowledge that they are willing to share with you at the table. Good Luck Friends!