Up North

My son is in the process of buying a home, yester day his Realtor told him he has to fix a couple plugs, place covers on some plugs and put new shingles on the garage for the home to pass hud inspection, Now the question is Why should he have to pay to do that when he doesn't own the home yet? Is this typical?

dakotamaid

No, something is fishy! Have him contact an estate lawyer.

CraftsByRobin

Up North ... I have a stupid question ... who owns the home???

The person who owns the home must do the repairs before it can pass HUDs inspection.


I just purchased a house last year that HUD owns. According to my realtor ... I could not touch the house for repairs, painting, etc ... in any way, form or fashion ... until I had signed the papers and the house was legally mine.

If I did try to do ANY repairs, I would not only not be able to buy the house, but I could get her in trouble and myself.


Tell him to NOT touch that home in anyway ... go to HUDs website: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD for further details ...

Also they have a number you can call and those folks will answer all your questions for free. I called them myself last year when I was told I couldn't borrow additional money on the house to fix the repairs that my lender was going to require done within 2 months of purchasing.

Call them, it's free ... and they were super helpful to me.

Rebecca VLQ

Yes, the house would have to have those repairs to pass inspection, but that is the responsibility of the SELLER not the buyer. The only time I would think that would be the responsibility of the buyer is if there's a clause specifically stating that, like the sale goes through pending the inspection, but all repairs are the responsibility of the buyer. I could see that if, say, he's buying a foreclosure that the bank owns. They are just trying to get out from under the house, kwim? The house is priced rock-bottom already and they're trying to satisfy the exsisting loan.

But generally? No. The seller makes it move-in compliant.

Deb watkins

As a Realtor, I will tell you that in NYS, the seller is reaquired to fix the items before it will pass. Some deals can go with the seller giving credit to the buyer at closing for such repairs, but it is NOT the case with HUD or FHA or VA funded loans.

CraftsByRobin

I'm curious ... I wonder if the Realtor owns the house your son's trying to buy ...

Rebecca VLQ

I know, right? We bought and sold our house in Cali with the same realtor, and when we sold it (we got a "fair" price, don't get me wrong) but she told me AFTER the sale went through that she was trying to wean off of back pain medicine, and was going through withdrawals the WHOLE TIME she was our realtor!!! It explained some of her erratic behavior, but I'm like...really? She must have known she was doing something illegal, otherwise she would have disclosed it before I hired her.

Pam

In NO way should your son be expected to pay for repairs to pass an inspection. That is the responsibility of the seller.

Up North

Actually the girl that owns it lives out of state now, Her mother is a Lawyer and Realtor but my son is dealing with a different person in the same office. My son and his brother rented this same house about 4 years ago and it has had one short term renter since. They were trying to purchase it but there were some dumb stipulations that couldn't be worked out. The loan company they were going through wanted the price of the home raised about 2 thousand dollars some dumb thing about not granting less than $50 thousand dollars for a loan (Weird I know) and at that time she wasn't willing to do any improvements, After they moved out She then had new windows, siding, furnace put in. 4 years later the price is even lower and it has those improvements.....

Rebecca VLQ

At the end of the day, what does his offer to buy say? People put in all sorts of things in there!

Your son and "his brother" (not your son?) rented the house for a period of time, then moved out. Their rental agreement was satisfied when they moved out, and their deposit returned. If "the girl that owns it" is somehow a friend of theirs, with no formal agreement with them, then she's in even LESS of a position to say something was not right when they moved out, which is possibly why they're trying to say they need to fix XYZ.

Are you saying the short-term renter couldn't get THEIR purchase figured out because of some dumb blah-blah?

A loan company that says they don't do less than $50k sounds kinda scammy...like, only loaning to people with less-than-stellar credit. Normally you can get a loan for 80% of the appraisal value, so if you have a huge downpayment, or you're buying a fixer upper, the loan amount could be small.

Having the realtor in the same office as the girl's mom kinda raises some eyebrows...your son's realtor SHOULD have loyalty to him, and legally he MUST do the best job for their client. But, if they're in the same office, that bond may be (unfortunately) stronger than some guy trying to get a small loan. That realtor only makes 3% kwim? On $50k, how hard are they going to work for them? When they've got someone they want to work cooperatively with until the end of time? They're gonna wanna put this deal through as quick and painlessly as possible, not so much that they're shady...but if it was a $300k home, they can afford to spend more time working out the details.