Another cautionary tale. I just had a closing postponed (and maybe won't ever close) due to the final walk though on a Fannie Mae owned property which revealed that all of the copper piping had been neatly and expertly removed from the house!! The property had only been under agreement for 3-4 weeks. It was a cash deal for the buyer and so no appraiser had visited. The house itself is in need of extensive repair but the condition now is significantly worse. If it were not for the buyer's broker insisting that the buyer do a final walk through on the morning of the closing, we would have closed and gone to record without knowing. I can only imagine Fannie Mae's unwillingness to undue the deal after it had closed. The buyer was not inclined to do the walk initially, as she knew repairs were going to be needed anyway. Little did she know how much repair was need. Fortunatly, it did not close and Fannie Mae is faced with accepting a much lower offer from this buyer (if she choses to do so) or letting the property sit for a while (maybe a long while) longer. Good work by this buyer's broker. Lesson . . do not ever skip a final walk through on any sale. Who knows, they could have taken the whole house away!!
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Hi Luke,
Thank goodness for that final walk-through!!!
Don't forget me if you learn of anyone moving to "The OC!"
Michael
(949) 753-7900
How about me? More snow tonight here in Mass.
WOW nice save. I try to make sure that we do the final walk through because there has been issues that came up as a result of not doing it.
Luke: There are lots of stories like that around here.
Primarily on new construction, where a builder has a few homes in a subdivision, or is still building in the area you have to be vigilant.
Once you have an offer accepted, change locks. Every sub and most of their workers have keys.
Make sure the Risco or agent lock box goes. (or Remove the key)
With foreclosures and short sale the property inspection is even more important. Buyers usually expect that some work will need to be done but can get "bushwhacked" without and inspection. This is especially true when the utilities have been off for a while and little surprises can show up when they are turned on again.