My Real Estate Nightmare (Part 5)

With my brother-in-law now on a mission to destroy all evil-doings in real estate (ok, maybe just all the shenanigans that happened to us), things were finally starting to look positive. Over the course of a few days, we were able to determine very quickly just how negligent our previous agent was, and how with the right agent on your side, how smooth things should typically go when selling your home.

On August 4th, when it was clear that our buyers (who were being sued for damages at this point) were no closer to fulfilling their obligations, we decided to put our home back on the market. We had had the original Promise to Purchase officially declared dead, so my buyers were no longer responsible for the house, but they were responsible to pay any out of pocket expenses I'd have to incur by carrying 2 mortgages.

Lesson 7: Always read brokerage contracts in full. It is also the law that the agent must clearly "walk through" the contract at the time of signing so that you understand everything being written (even if a similar document had been previously drafted).

In order to relist the property online, my wife and I had to sign a new document listing the price and granting the rights to list. When my agent presented me with the paperwork to sign, there was no mention that the document was a new brokerage contract -- which would extend her contract to us until December! At this point, I thought I was only signing permission to list the property online, not to continue working with a negligent broker for 6 more months... It was an error on my part for not thoroughly reading what I was signing (working on her guise that "you've signed this before, it's the same thing"), however, by law, she needed to explain to my wife and I what exactly we were signing. There was no way I was going to be held hostage for another 6 months like that.

Upon the advice of my brother-in-law, we decided to release hell. We called the broker directly and demanded either a shortened (1-month), non-exclusive contract with our agent, or to cancel what we just signed immediately.

Lesson 8: When the agent is a bad seed, the broker is typically the bad apple.

The broker's response was to wait 2 weeks before making up our minds, and then we'd re-evaluate the whole thing. In real estate, you have 3 days from receiving a copy of a signed contract to cancel it without any legal penalty. So what was going on here? The broker was trying to goad us into a lawsuit. Had we cancelled our contract 2 weeks later, we would have been totally lible for any commission our former agent would have lost should we have sold our house under a new agent. We couldn't believe this was happening to us. Not only was our buyer screwing us, but now our own agent was trying give it to us too? This whole situation was completely insane.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law, well versed in the anals of real estate practice, advised us on how to officially cancel the new brokerage contract by submitting a registered letter to the broker himself, as well as one to the Quebec real estate commission.

What would prove to be another error in a list of errors that we're still tabulating, we also found out that the agent indeed had the house relisted, but had left the OLD listing online as well, indicating that the property sold for $298,000. Had anyone decided to make an offer at that point, they would have been fully aware that we settled on that specific price -- so how could we have ever sold the house for more?

With a negligent agent now officially off our backs, we were able to look forward and open a new chapter in the process of selling our home.

My Real Estate Nightmare (Part 4)

With our home officially sold, and the cherished "Sold" sign now affixed to our realtor's signpost dug into our front lawn, we quickly signed away the condition that required us to sell our home prior to purchasing our much-sought-after new one. I've watched many episodes of the HGTV show "Buy Me" within 30 minutes, everything pretty much seems to go so smoothly. Everything works out. Both the buyers and the sellers (and the agent) are happy campers, the credits roll, and that's the end of the story.

Our story doesn't bode as well.

There was about a month and a half delay from the time all the paperwork was signed, to the time when we were supposed to meet at the notary to pass title to our buyers. This time was spent acquiring boxes, packing materials, and planning for the move.

Lesson 5 (about packing): Pack early. The more organized and clear cut you can be, the quicker the unpacking process will be (NOTE: We eventually settled into our new home within 1 1/2 days).

It was the end of June and there was a fair amount of time that had passed where we were in "radio silence mode." I hadn't heard anything from my agent, nor the notary, nor my buyers. I figured that this was pretty much normal. By the time June 28th had come around, and passed, things were still quiet. If you recall from my previous post, weren't my buyers supposed to have taken possession at this point?

Another week and a half passes by, and we are now into early July. By this time, it had occurred to me that something had gone wrong.

Lesson 6: Make sure your agent is proactive in adhering to deadlines.

When June 28th had passed, and we had not met at the notary, bells, alarms, and fireworks should have immediately gone off. Instead, my agent waited for almost 2 weeks before addressing the situation. At this point, my buyers were officially in breach of contract. It took a few more days to finally uncover the truth behind what was happening -- my buyer's own house hadn't sold, and were therefore unable to obtain their mortgage in order to purchase my home. We would later find out mid-August that my buyers were in fact mired in debt, further compunding the problem in obtaining financing.

So why hadn't my agent gotten to the bottom of this earlier? Why did it take several weeks before uncovering that my buyers were financially crippled? These were just a few of the enormous number of questions that we began to ask ourselves over the course of several weeks. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get any answers, and our own agent began to know less about the situation than I did.

Refusing to sit idly by, I began to make daily phone calls to my buyer's agent. This goes against protocol, however, I felt that my own agent wasn't able to get the information I needed. My buyer's agent, for some reason, also seemed more inclined to talk to me than my own agent -- for what reason I'll never know. Over the course of the weeks that followed, we began to hear confusing stories and melodrama, NONE of which ended up being true:

- My buyers home (a bungalow) is going to be sold in a matter of days. They're just waiting for the paperwork at the bank to finalize.
- The paperwork was final. We'll be getting our financing in a matter of days.
- The buyer's own a 4-plex and have actually sold it as well in order to provide a backup financing path.
- The buyer of the 4-plex is getting his mortgage approved in order to buy the property. It's just a matter of days.
- My buyer is working on paying off his debts. Once the debts are paid off, the bank will issue his mortgage to purchase my home.
- By August 15th, we will be meeting at the notary.
- By August 25th, we will be meeting at the notary.

As I write this, we still haven't met at the notary.

Of course, by now, my buyers had been sued for breach of contract, however, it was only suggested to me several weeks after the breach date that I proceed with a "lawyer's letter" in order to officially terminate the Promise to Purchase by providing a "rigorous date." Had my buyers not purchased my home by that date, we would be entitled to resell the home, and any costs associated with that would be borne by the buyer. This date was July 31st, ironically my wife's birthday. Unfortunately, it would turn out to be one of the worst birthday's for my wife.

On August 2nd, when it was clear that my buyers were in no position to buy my home, we decided to relist the property. By now, we had moved out and were in a delayed state of elation by being in our new home. It was difficult to celebrate with a 500-ton monkey sitting on your shoulders. We were mortified by the prospect of starting from scratch. It was as if the previous 5 months were a complete waste of time and energy.

By this time too, two auspicious events had transpired. One, my agent's broker's contract had expired, and two, my brother in law had just become and agent himself. This would turn out to be a fortuitous set of events that set the tone for the month of August.

My Real Estate Nightmare (Part 3)

It took only 4 days after the disastrous turn of event on the purchase of my home to see another offer come our way. The selling of our home was truly turning out to be a real roller coaster ride of up and down emotions (which, as of this writing, has yet to end). In what was another "meant to be" moments I'm trying to infuse into this whole situation, we actually signed a new Promise to Purchase with a new buyer that was willing to pay more than our previous offer -- $2,000 more.

Well, that was exciting now, wasn't it?

Lesson 4: Never get excited until the money is in your bank account.

As before, we had to wait again until the home inspection was carried out on our home, however, this time around, we didn't have to wait the arduous 7-day period + 3-day reply to get the confirmation of a sale. By now, the exposed basement wall was completely covered by a fresh new layer of drywall and paint, so there was no longer any evidence of the latent defect that my home suffered with.

The 2nd inspection of our home was a little more thorough (although I've yet to actually see the report). In the end, only one major defect was uncovered: the roof. The shingles on the back half of my roof, which faces the sun most of the day, were beginning to curl. The inspector estimated only a few good years of life left, and would then have to be replaced. As such, the value of my home suddenly dropped. In an instant, I lost the $2,000 extra that I thought I had gained with these new buyers.

We then received word that the buyers wanted to take possession of our home 1 month earlier, and effectively "rent" our house back to us until we moved into our new home at the end of July. So we signed an amendment that on June 28th, our home was no longer ours, and I would be living "mortgage free" for one month.

Ok, so we were back to the $298,000 sale price that we thought we had a few weeks prior. Still not so bad, and we stood to make a $20,000 profit after taxes and commission. At least the house was sold.

Or so we thought...

My Real Estate Nightmare (Part 2)

After 40 days of our house being on the market, we had an accepted Promise to Purchase on the table. The buyer's had purchased our house for only $11,000 less than our original asking price. We were of course, elated and relieved. Then, anxiously waiting 7 days later (the maximum time permitted) it was time for the inspection.

One thing I should mention is that my house had unfortunately suffered from a latent defect that was revealed to me about a year ago. The original builders of the house had built a window in the wrong location in the basement, but didn't seal up the window properly when discovering their mistake. Thus, the concrete of the foundation and the now filled-up window didn't bond together properly. Over time, water would begin to infiltrate the seam of the window and leaked into the basement. I discovered this when the carpet began to get moist about 3 years after I took possession of the house. Needless to say, I had this repaired (and didn't bother suing), paid for by my insurance company.

Lesson number 1: Have your agent insist that the buyer's entire family NOT partake in the inspection process.

When the inspector showed up along with my buyers, other family member's showed up too -- most annoyingly, an over-protective, over-reactive mother. Before even stepping into the door, the mother began shouting things (within earshot of me) like, "what's with this bush? It's overgrown!" "I don't like that!" "What's with the colour of the paint?" These were obviously silly things, but annoying to hear -- particularly since her daughter had fallen in love enough with the place to want to buy it, and here she was ripping it apart.

So after the quickest inspection I'd ever heard of (about 45 minutes), the entire clan came downstairs and began to rip me apart. Well, to be more accurate, the shmuck of an inspector began to grill me in front of his clients about the fact that there was no GFI outlet in the bathroom. There was a concern about the basement, of course, but at that point, there were no tell-tale signs of any water-penetration. The bare wall in the basement was still exposed where the water was entering the house, but with the foundation having been properly repaired, injected with polyurethane, and no more water actually coming in, the wall looked like crap, but was fixed. A home inspection is a VISUAL inspection only, so the inspector could not comment on what had happened previously, but did nonetheless. I tried to defend myself by stating exactly what the insurance company had told me -- there was no significant damage to the basement, and nothing that should be cause of concern. There was also a healthy 10-year guarantee should the problem resurface.

Feeling attacked by an inspector and prospective buyers is not fun. I felt humiliated as well. And where was my agent in this whole debacle? Standing off to the side without saying so much of a word. Now I don't know if it was her job to step in an defend me, but it was obvious that the sale was now in jeopardy as was her beloved commission.

After waiting another anxious 3 days (the maximum time permitted), my agent received a text message saying that the buyer's have walked away.

Lesson number 2: Choose an agent who's sympathetic to her clients.

My agent relayed the tragic news to us in such a non-chalant manner, almost with a humourous tone in her voice, and even worse, around 9:00pm in the evening, that the phone call was almost worse than the news itself. Needless to say, we didn't sleep well that night. And the casual way in which she broke the bad news was even more disturbing.

The next day, the anger set in. I demanded to see the inspection report. What probable cause did the buyer's use to get out of their Promise to Purchase? By the end of the day, my buyer's agent's wife dropped off the inspection report. She was quite sympathetic to our situation, and sadly, much more so than my own agent.

The report was a complete joke. I was 2 1/2 pages long. It was filled with silly (albeit practical, I admit) recommendations, like "don't forget to lower your thermostats at night to save energy". However, this isn't the stuff that inspection reports are made of. Even I know this. And 2 1/2 pages?!? Not a single picture? Needless to say there was no valid reason for the buyer's to have broken their contract.

Lesson number 3: Go with your OWN instincts when selling real estate, not your agent's.

I wanted to sue, and I'm convinced that I would have won (I was later able to confirm this when speaking with the ACAIQ). This whole mess would have been over back in March. However, my agent persuaded me not to go down that road. Even scolded me a bit for even thinking along those lines. "If they don't want the house, there's no sense in trying to force them into it," I was told. So without so much as hearing the real reason for the buyer's to renege, they were forgotten. Apparently, these buyers were sadistic people who'd previously made 3 other offers on other properties, and ultimately backed away. We found out that day too that their agent had fired them. I guess we weren't the only ones who thought these people were insane.

What was even more comical was that there was no mention of the basement issues in the report. So it seems as though the buyer's listen to the mother as opposed to the inspector.

So we were back to square one, and were on the hunt for a new buyer, hopefully for one final time. This house HAS to sell. The next buyer WILL buy this house.

Or so we thought...

My Real Estate Nightmare (Part 1)

So I've been pretty distracted for the past couple of months. For those of you who tune into my blog now and again, you may have noticed that I've been on hiatus. The real issue is that my family and I have been living in hell.

It all started back in February when on a whim, my wife and I decided to start cruising around Dollard-des-Ormeaux to look for what might potentially be our new house. We had decided that our previous home in the Bois Franc area, was getting to be a little tight, especially with my son Ethan being so vivacious. We were also fully aware that this was going to be a starter home for us, and had planned to stay in it for only 3-4 years. So that time had arrived.

It turns out that after only visiting 3 or 4 houses, we landed upon a true gem. The house ended up being exactly what we were looking for. Central air, double-garage, beautiful backyard, the works. And immaculate. The owners had also invested roughly $30-$40,000 in new windows, double insulation, and what not, in order to improve the house's energy rating. Long story short, we made an offer on the place about 3 days later, and after a bit of haggling, settled on a reasonable price.

Being the cautious guy that I am, we instated a clause specifying that we needed to sell our house first prior to finalizing the Promise to Purchase. We had 30 days to do so. And the race was on.

The first week we listed our property saw roughly 30 people dissect our home. The first open house we had saw roughly 75 more. The house had TONS of traffic, but no offers. 30 days was just around the corner and we were stressed. We were terrified at the prospect of losing our new home. "There'll be others" we were being told, but not to us. We wanted our house, and we just kept visualizing ourselves in there.

Then the 30 days passed. In the only good piece of news in this whole ordeal, the sellers had agreed to give us an extension, particularly since they hadn't yet found their new home. So this extension was granted for another 30 days.

It turns out that 10 days after we were granted the extension, we received our first offer! We were ecstatic, and mostly relieved, in that we were beginning to believe that our house just wouldn't sell. So the bargaining began, and we finally settled on a reasonable price. At that point, we were more relieved to have sold our old home, and that we were ready to receive our new one.

Or so we thought...