A couple of months ago I received an reo listing from an asset management company that sometimes sends me listings, not many, but hey every little bit helps. They ordered the CFK, and although I am usually succesful with cfks, in this case the homeowner did not agree to it. She was receiving advice from an attorney/friend that told her to stay in the house. After a while, as it happens, I was notified of the lock out date. The family was already gone on the lockout date, but they had destroyed the property. Among many other things, they took of all the electric outlet covers throughout the house and left the wires exposed. The house has illegal additions, code violations, an empty pool, electric issues, they broke walls, took all appliances, Central A/C, etc. Since I am very familiar with the way this particular city works, I sent in a document attached to the bpo explaining everything and advising what needed to be done before the house started showing to avoid problems with the city. Needless to say they sent my bpo back 3 times because the appraissal came in at a higher value. Of course the appraisser was not using reo comps with similar illegal additions and/or conversions. He failed to mention that probably more than half the house would have to be demolished because it was done without permits. Finally my price is approved and the property goes on the market, I go back to the property before listing it on the mls to make sure it was ready to be showed. When I get there, I find the only thing done was the trash out and they caped the exposed wires. I again write to the am and send pics, since they have their own preservation co to do everything, they've decided that was all they were going to do to sell the property as is. Ok, well I dont want to be a pain...To make a long story short, the house has been on the market for less than a week and somehow the city already heard about this beauty and went there today (without even notifying me) I don't know how they got in. They later faxed a 2 page long violation to my office listing everything they could think of and they want it fixed yesterday. Now for the plastic cover plates that I recommended to put on all the electric outlets just to make it look decent we have to hire an electrician, pull permits and pay fines!!! They are going to make my life miserable and hold up the sale for months and many of this problems could have been avoided by just doing some minor work in the house, not only to avoid problems with the city, but also for safety issues. Now even the mosquitoes in the neighborhood are coming from inside this house. LOL. I could only laugh when I saw what they were hitting us with. I love my job, I work very long hours, try to stay optimistic in all situations and will go the extra mile to get issues resolved and close the deal. This one will close, I know that, but Im going to have to move into the city office until everything is done the way they want it and they take pity on me or get tired of having me around. Oh... and drain my pockets while I wait for reimbursement.
I feel your pain Diana. Was the Prop a FreddieMac? They have relaxed their Appraisal rules and have ammended them within the last week. I deal with many properties that are of questionable permits. One city in my area has a Health & Safety Inspection. The buyer agrees in writing to do every repair within 2 months of COE. Basically the inspection cites every code violation of the 5 major building codes here in CA. This has caused a terrific drop in the going price and wile it inproves the city overall. I have had many more buyers walk than stay with the deal. But they buyers who stay are usually very satisfied knowing that whenthey are through the process and eveerything is done they are bulletproof when it comes to selling the home again. They will also remember YOU were the agent that guided them through the process and usually they are very thankful for your help. The City proeople are just doingtheir job and I don't sweat it any more than they do.
Thanks for the comment Terrence, you are so right. The buyer was just here at my office today and everything is moving forward thankfully. And here I was loosing sleep over it...
It is amazing sometimes how I get all worked up over things that never actually happen. It also amazes me how many issues resolve themselves with nothing more than passing time. Thank you for the follow-up. Things work out just like they are supoosed to.
Thanks everyone for the comments. Let me give you all an update. I met with the City Code Inspector at the house last Friday, he was very nice and actually took the time to take me through everything the city is going to require to bring the property up to code. We also met there with a prospective buyer who had been calling me like crazy about this house. After full knowledge of all the issues with the property, she made a cash offer that was accepted by the seller and she is signing an agreement with the city to fix all the violations after closing. : ) Couldn't have gone better!!! I am amazed!!! I guess a positive attitude and the will to take the extra step does pay off. The code enforcement officer told me not to worry about the fines, they'll be put on hold for now. Wow! This actually turned out to be a positive experience and I've definetely learned from it. Sometimes things seem real complicated and they end up being resolved easier than we anticipate. Love it!
Diana - if you get a weird charge out of this kind of stuff, you should go into property management - work for the companies that have multifamily homes, preferrably a company who likes to acquire and rehab properties, you'll love every second of it. I did it for 15 years. It is this stuff, and bizarre stuff with tenants, all day/every day.
What an adventurous life we live as REO listing agents. I say it beats being tied to a desk any day of the week. No two days are alike and I enjoy that :-)
Diana:.. It sounds like you were following me around last week.. I just had the exact same situation.. however, mine was a BPO assignment to give Freddie Mac a valuation prior to listing the property.. I knew the former owner very well & when he didn't get to do a Loan Modification according to his terms, he trashed the house..took every electrical switch plate, switch, ceiling fixture, and dug up the overgrown yard leaving mine holes concealed by 3' high weeds and grass..& then there's the huge hidden Cement Pond(not a Beverly Hillbillies swimming pool) mosquito infested swimming pool size overgrown w/tropical foligage..and lets not go there with the huge dogs he had who pooped everywhere!!!! I had a 30 minute phone intervention with the QC people at the BPO company before I proceeded... to explain the code violations and potential fines.. then valued it at 20% of what was owed.. It went thru without any questions from the company or Freddie Mac..& the listing agent thinks Im GOD.. Can't wait to see what Freddie puts it on the market at..
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