Default start time of home inspection grace period

[alanning]

Hello,

What is the name of your state? VA

Where can I find the law that governs the start time of a home inspection grace period if it is not specified in the contract?

Specifically, I put an offer on a house that was accepted on Sunday, Sept. 7th but I was not told of it until the following Tuesday, Sept. 9th. I was also not given a copy of the contract until the following Tuesday, Sept. 16th. The home inspection took place on Monday, Sept. 15th. and turned up very costly structural problems and I would like to back out.

When does the grace period (in our case 5 days) specified in the contract usually start and where can I look to research this further?

It seems unfair to have the 5 day period start when the seller signs the contract since I would have no way of knowing (and indeed did not know) when they actually sign it! If it does start when the seller signs it, do I have any legal recourse against my Realtor for being delinquent in her duties?

Any other thoughts would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[HomeGuru]

Hello,

What is the name of your state? VA

Where can I find the law that governs the start time of a home inspection grace period if it is not specified in the contract?

Specifically, I put an offer on a house that was accepted on Sunday, Sept. 7th but I was not told of it until the following Tuesday, Sept. 9th. I was also not given a copy of the contract until the following Tuesday, Sept. 16th. The home inspection took place on Monday, Sept. 15th. and turned up very costly structural problems and I would like to back out.

When does the grace period (in our case 5 days) specified in the contract usually start and where can I look to research this further?

It seems unfair to have the 5 day period start when the seller signs the contract since I would have no way of knowing (and indeed did not know) when they actually sign it! If it does start when the seller signs it, do I have any legal recourse against my Realtor for being delinquent in her duties?

Any other thoughts would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

**A: the start date of the time frame for the inspection contingency is generally at time of offer acceptance by the Seller.
Your Realtor messed up and should not be a Realtor.

 

[alanning]

Re: Recourse...

Thanks for your quick response.

I agree with you about the Realtor. Sad to hear about the start date...

So do I have any kind of recourse against the Realtor?

Also, where can I find the laws governing this issue?

Thanks!

- Adrian

 

[Bigfoot]

Your real estate agent should have included an Addendum which would have outlined a cost of repair contingency, with a maximum dollar amount of repairs needed. So, if you said '$3000' and the bill was $3000 or more, you could have rescinded the offer.

For the laws governing real estate in your state, start with the Real Estate Commission. If they have a website, it will save you the time of poring over state laws, and will be up to date.

 

[alanning]

Re: addendum

Hi Bigfoot, thanks for your advice.

We did, in fact, write up an Addendum after we did the home inspection. The sellers are (quite understandably) saying that the addendum isn't valid since not having the home inspection during the time set out in the contract indicates acceptance of the state of the house.

Unfortunately we believed our real estate agent that the 5 days started when we were told about their acceptance.

This issue gets further murky since the selling agent is a Broker for whom the Seller's wife (who is a realtor) works. And our buying agent ALSO works for the same Broker.

New home buyers beware and DON'T TRUST REALTORS, especially when he/she works for the selling agent...that Code of Ethics...yeah right... (sorry my bitterness coming through...).

I'll be sure to check out the Real Estate Commission.

Thanks,
- Adrian

 

[HomeGuru]

Re: Re: addendum

Hi Bigfoot, thanks for your advice.

We did, in fact, write up an Addendum after we did the home inspection. The sellers are (quite understandably) saying that the addendum isn't valid since not having the home inspection during the time set out in the contract indicates acceptance of the state of the house.

Unfortunately we believed our real estate agent that the 5 days started when we were told about their acceptance.

This issue gets further murky since the selling agent is a Broker for whom the Seller's wife (who is a realtor) works. And our buying agent ALSO works for the same Broker.

New home buyers beware and DON'T TRUST REALTORS, especially when he/she works for the selling agent...that Code of Ethics...yeah right... (sorry my bitterness coming through...).

I'll be sure to check out the Real Estate Commission.

Thanks,
- Adrian

**A: did you sign a dual ahency agreement? Have a meeting with the broker to discuss your concerns. The broker did not live up to the general standard of care and violated numerous provisions and sections of the real estate licensing law and the Realtor Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics.

 

[alanning]

Re: Dual Agency Agreement

Hi HomeGuru,

I did not sign a Dual-Agency Agreement (nor do I know what that means...).

I would like to have a meeting with the Broker (selling agent) if he would return my calls... It would be nice to have some kind of leverage once I do...

The Brokerage is quite well known in this town and it seems extremely strange to me that he would take the risk of having his company's reputation hurt by this kind of situation...

I am planning to talk directly to the seller tomorrow to find out exactly what their intentions are. I have reviewed the contract in detail (again) and noticed that there are no dates on any of the changes that I or the seller initialed. I don't know what that means but the only dates on the contract are the original dates of when we both signed it. I signed the original offer. He changed stuff and signed the counter. Those dates don't reflect the final date of acceptance, at least they shouldn't since we went back and forth one more time after those signatures.

I think the seller is just trying to jerk us around and make us sweat by refusing to agree to a release...

In any case, I appreciate the help and the timely advice. I'll be talking to a lawyer soon if the sellers sound like they want trouble tomorrow.

I'll let you know how this turns out.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

[HomeGuru]

Re: Re: Dual Agency Agreement

Hi HomeGuru,

I did not sign a Dual-Agency Agreement (nor do I know what that means...).

**A: search the internet and talk to your state real estate licensing department.
*********

I would like to have a meeting with the Broker (selling agent) if he would return my calls... It would be nice to have some kind of leverage once I do...

**A: time to send a certified rrr demand letter and copy the state real estate licensing office, BBB, Board of Realtors etc.

*********

The Brokerage is quite well known in this town and it seems extremely strange to me that he would take the risk of having his company's reputation hurt by this kind of situation...

**A: I do not deem it strange.
*********

I am planning to talk directly to the seller tomorrow to find out exactly what their intentions are. I have reviewed the contract in detail (again) and noticed that there are no dates on any of the changes that I or the seller initialed. I don't know what that means but the only dates on the contract are the original dates of when we both signed it. I signed the original offer. He changed stuff and signed the counter. Those dates don't reflect the final date of acceptance, at least they shouldn't since we went back and forth one more time after those signatures.

I think the seller is just trying to jerk us around and make us sweat by refusing to agree to a release...

In any case, I appreciate the help and the timely advice. I'll be talking to a lawyer soon if the sellers sound like they want

**A: do not wait to talk to legal counsel.