patrick.net

To place the blame on the real estate listing agents is absurd. Inspite of what you might think, or expect, Realtors are not "experts" regarding construction, etc. The fact that the lack of footers under the pillars needed to be found by your inspector proves the fact; it wasn't readily observable and was a latent defect. The reason for hiring an independent inspector is to find such things. Unless your contract calls for the seller to reimburse you for the inspection fees in the event of failure of the inspection, you are the one that will end up paying for those inspections. READ your contract. Furthermore, if this property is in foreclosure, it typically (i.e. always) is being sold in its current "as is" condition. Any repairs necessary to satisfy the county, city, et all in order to obtain the Occupancy Permit will be your responsibility. I get a little bit perturbed to read on this site the constand ignorant bashing of real estate agents, as if they have the market cornered on sleeze. What I've noticed in here is constant generalized statements that are based on ignorance as to how the industry actually works. Your acting in due dilligence is exactly what YOU need to do as a buyer. Caveat Emptor, i.e. buyer beware should always apply whether you're buying a home or a car. To assign responsibilities to others that are simply not responsible is nothing other than a cop out.

After hearing these horror stories I am glad that I am building a home. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath, 2100 ft^2 Ranch style home. It is also a full ICF home using that Eco Block brand (6” below grade and 4” above grade). When you take out the area that the walls take up, it ends up being about 1900 ft^2 of living area on the main floor. It also has a full basement with an egress window so I can always finish that if I need extra room. It also uses steel beams for the main support. There will be plenty of room for just about anything that I want.

I have never seen the blue clay mentioned above, but I have seen black clay in the Dallas area. That stuff is horrible on foundations. The lot that I bought has bedrock at 7’ below grade. I had some test holes dug before I bought it and this made me very happy. That bedrock is a type of limestone called Dolomite. It is a tough stone that does not get attacked well by acids. The foundation has footers with lots of vertical #5 rebar in it. In order to allow for a bathroom, we built a few feet above the bedrock on clay and sunk the vertical rebar down to the bedrock. The clay in the area is a dense glacial clay that was very dry at the time when the footers were installed so the clay will not shrink. The clay will also not have the ability to heave it up because the ICF wall goes up about 20’. All that mass above it will just be too much.

I have watched it go up from day one and I am glad that I did not buy the standard $hit box in the area. It is a headache to build, but I think it is an even bigger headache trying to find a well built home.

RayAmerica says

I get a little bit perturbed to read on this site the constand ignorant bashing of real estate agents, as if they have the market cornered on sleeze.

Oh Ray, they may not have the market cornered but they're working on it. By golly they're working on it. Suzanne is researching it!

@Ray, by your explanation, Realtors do not deserve to split 6% of the sales price. In my case the listing agents can't even get answers for simple questions, nor do they understand them. Nothing in our contract says "as-is" and the fact that this was once a default or foreclosure was never mentioned until we were a week into escrow. Contractually, they are bound to make the repairs - that is, assuming we don't back out. The listing agents purposely withheld information and do indeed deserve some heat here.

@Ray, a bigger example of ignorance is referring to someone or a group of people as such when they simply see things differently than you do. For example, is everyone who votes differently than you ignorant as well?

The only way to know if a house is constructed properly is to build it (literally) yourself and even then there can be problems i. e. almost no one tests concrete in residential construction and how about that Chinese drywall. So there is an element of risk in buying/building a house new or old. I think in this case ones due diligence should exceed the norm because it was built under distressed circumstances, over a long period of time which in my experience greatly enhances the possibility of problems. This is one reason why many people contracting the construction of a house throw out bids that are way below "the pack" You really, really don't want a contractor to be loosing money on a project or be in any financial distress.

RayAmerica says

I get a little bit perturbed to read on this site the constand ignorant bashing of real estate agents, as if they have the market cornered on sleeze.

Jeez, after reading your post I realize that we're wrong.

RRayAmerica says

Inspite of what you might think, or expect, Realtors are not “experts” regarding construction, etc.

Realtors aren't "experts" on anything. They're salesmen. They used to have a corner on the market when it came to venues to get info out as to homes for sale - the MLS. But with the advent of the interweb, realtors are relics of the past. They should be. To pay a percentage of your home sales price to someone who hangs a sign outside, fills out some paperwork and waits for people to come to them is just plain stupid.

If you want legal advice, hire a lawyer. If you want to get screwed, hire a prostitute. There, we've bypassed realtors.

elliemae says

If you want to get screwed, hire a prostitute.

This phrase too should be found on the PatNet shirt.

elliemae ..... typical liberal mindset; because you "feel" Realtors are nothing but "salesmen" .... well ... that makes it so. Of course, you have a right to make unsubstantiated generalized statements that apply across an entire industry. I've personally known a number of Realtors that are highly professional and honest people. Last I checked, real estate agencies aren't disappearing as "relics of the past" as you claim. Last I checked too, real estate agencies continue to do an incredibly high percentage of all real estate transactions. By the way, when a "seller" doesn't pay the commission to a real estate brokerage, who is it that benefits from that savings? Is it passed onto the buyer, or, is it kept by the seller?? If it's kept by the seller, how does that benefit the buyer?? I'd be curious to hear your answer.

RayAmerica says
By the way, when a “seller” doesn’t pay the commission to a real estate brokerage, who is it that benefits from that savings? Is it passed onto the buyer, or, is it kept by the seller?? If it’s kept by the seller, how does that benefit the buyer?? I’d be curious to hear your answer.

Of course there is no way to know for certain whether the sales price on a house would be lower without a sales commission and therefore whether the seller or the buyer would benefit but it is safe to say neither save money or make money from the act of paying the commission. While you can make a case, (and realtors do this) that the seller more then makes up the cost by the sales ability of the realtor I would say this is possible but not likely. My experience is that in a weak or average market realtors want the seller to list and accept a low price so that they can lessen their work load and move onto the next sale (commission). I can see no case that the buyer benefits. My own personal experience involves commercial leasing and sales and many times but not all the time the commission cost is added into the sales price or lease price, this is done at times with the full knowledge of the agent for the buyer or lessee. So that the seller or lessor suffers no cost and the buyer or lessee unaware of what is going on pays the commission indirectly.

rdm .... some valid points, however, I've had lots of experience in real estate (dare I admit it on this site?) including holding an agent and broker's license. I've purchased a number of properties in my lifetime beginning at the ripe age of 20. I've dealt with numerous For Sale by Owners over the years and they are almost always considerably above market value on their asking price. I've also found a number of these FSBOs purposely hide defects that my discerning eye found very quickly. Sometimes sellers have ulterior motives as to why they don't hire an agency. At least when working with a buyer's agent, the buyer is able to look at numerous propterties for price comparison in order to establish in their own mind what market value is on a subject property. Also, the buyer's agent can provide valuable information on recent sale comparables. Are there bad real estate agents? You bet. As long as human beings are involved in anything, there will always be bad apples.

RayAmerica says

Sometimes sellers have ulterior motives as to why they don’t hire an agency.

Yea, $$$thousands$$$ of them...

elliemae .... if it's the sellers that save $$$thousands$$$ ... what's the advantage for the buyer? The buyer will have to hire a real estate attorney and coordinate the inspections, loan application, removal of contingencies, follow up on escrow, etc. .... all so the SELLER saves $$$$ ????