Liar, Liar
As the market gets tougher so do the home sellers. If you don’t know any better, you can go from a buyer to a victim. Here are some tips on how to deal with the shady home sellers before and after you interact with them.
A desperate home seller will say just about anything to get you to fork up the dough. And while it sounds perfect, it probably isn’t.
1. “We’ve never been close to foreclosure.”
With liar loans and a recession, there is a chance that the home sellers are on their way to foreclosure and the home seller wants to avoid their home becoming a short sale. If the home seller thinks they can sell it to you before the home is foreclosed, it is not illegal. It can be, however, a disappointing situation if the home is foreclosed right before you hand over the money. Best thing to do is sit down with your mortgage broker and attorney and insure that the deal will close on time. Here’s a good example of undisclosed short sales.
2. “The house has no foundation problems.”
Many times when finishing a basement, the home seller will cover up foundation problems. It is, after all, in their best interest to make the house appear as nice as possible. While it may look fine aesthetically, the repair costs start at $5,000 and go up to $100,000. Rather than take the risk, an easy way to avoid this is to hire a professional home inspection- they will be able to immediately spot cracks or uneven floors that indicate foundation flaws. If the realtor or home seller recommend a home inspection company, tell them you have someone in mind. Remember: it’s in their best interest to get you in their house and you don’t know what bias the home inspection company has to the home sellers.
3. “The exterior walls are sturdy.”
Some exterior walls are made from EIFS, which is a synthetic stucco. At first, it was seen as a perfect product and contractors would use EIFS from the top to bottom of walls. Unfortunately, EIFS was not a perfect product in the least- while it did it’s job, it also absorbed water and moisture at an alarming rate. This causes the walls to rot and the EIFS to crack. As of today, it is said that home owners with EIFS walls have a much higher premium when buying home owners insurance due to the general effects of EIFS. As a home buyer, you must realize that rotting walls are easy to cover up and it’s in the home sellers best interest for you to not know. Like foundation problems, this could end up costing you up to $100,000.
While you may not see the effect of the rotting immediately, it will certainly become an apparent problem with living in your house.
