Property got vandalized the morning of closing

[almac]

California,
The duplex I just closed on was vandalized and demages were perpetrated a day prior to the closing date. Upon closing, my buyer's agent came to deliver the keys, and to let me know that the property had been vandalized the night before closing.
Since I had tenants waiting on those appartments, I had to hire a guy to do the repairs, and paid the bill for $390.00 dlls.
My buyer's agent submitted a request to the seller (a big bank since this property was a REO) to reimburse me for the repairs, but the seller refused to pay a dime. My buyer's agent is saying that we might be at fault because we didn't do the final walk trhough prior to closing.
I say that even if we did, the demages occured just the night before closing, there is no way I could have stopped the closing the next morning (unless I was supervising the property 24/7 which I couldn't because I had no right to enter the property until it was my property).
What would be my course of action to get the seller to pay me the $390.00 dlls?. I am inclined to file a small claim at the court. Any advise please?.
Thanks.What is the name of your state?

[seniorjudge]

My buyer's agent is saying that we might be at fault because we didn't do the final walk trhough prior to closing.

I agree.

I suspect that your contract said the place was sold "as is". I also suspect that the contract said that in no way was the seller liable for any damages to the place.

But if you want to take the seller to small claims, have at it.

[LindaP777]

I buy REO's all the time. You had the right (and obligation) to do a walk-through prior to closing, including that morning on your way to closing. There is that small window of opportunity that seems to be at risk.
$390 isn't much! Count your blessings!

[almac]

The contract does say "as is". I inspected the property and agreed to the conditions the property was in at that time. Now, the conditions of the property were not the same when we closed. If seller is "not responsible for any demages", then do all buyers need to have a guard at the property 24/7 to make sure the property they are buying doesn't change conditions between inspection/walk through and closing?. How could that be done if buyer has no right of entry until closing?. So once escrow is closed buyers are obligated to take whatever is left of the property from the inspection/walk through until the closing?. What if the property is burnt down during that time without the buyer knowing it and closes? That does not seem right to me at all.
Now, the way is done in this area is we go to the closing table and sign all the paperwork, then the next day the deed is recorded and escrow closes, but demages occurred between after I signed all the paperwork and before escrow closed the next day. So even if we did a walkthrough on my way to signing the paperwork, the demage was sitll done after that, at that time everything had been already signed.

If the sellers don't want to pay, could I reverse the transaction and return the property to the seller?. Legally it was the bank's property. I resist to believe that buyers in my situation have no protection from law and just have to take what big corporations throw at them. If this was a low-ball transaction I would just absorbe these expenses, but I paid even more than the asking price, so I would have no problems returning the property back to the seller if that was an option.
So what is the advice here. Do I have a case for small claims or not?.

[seniorjudge]

Q: If seller is "not responsible for any demages", then do all buyers need to have a guard at the property 24/7 to make sure the property they are buying doesn't change conditions between inspection/walk through and closing?

A: No; it's a simple as calling your hazard insurance agent the moment you sign the contract. But even if you had done that, I suspect that your deductible would've been a lot more than $390.


Q: If the sellers don't want to pay, could I reverse the transaction and return the property to the seller?

A: Yes; the way this is done is to sell it back to whoever you bought it from.

[HuAi]

Go read your sales contract. I just put in an offer on a house yesterday, and one of the clauses stated that seller has to deliver the house and yard (landscaping) at closing in the same general condition as at the time of the contract signing, and will be responsible for any damages caused by seller or seller's tenants moving out. This was a template contract that my RE atty pulled up, so it may appear in your contract as well.

The time to address this, however would be at closing time - refuse to close or demand a discount. Now you're trying to shut the barn door after the cow ran away (or something like that =)) $390 is chump change in teh long run. Count your blessings and move on.

[almac]

I'm posting this last update to the thread to inform other readers of the outcome of this case.

After reading the responses posted here, I was very reluctant to accept that I just had to "bite the bullet", absorb the expenses and "move on". It wasn't much about the money, but the fact that the seller simply refused to pay for the demages and delivered a "defective" product to the buyer.
As buyers, don't we have the right to return the purchased item if the delivered item is not in the same condition as it was advertised? Why should it be different with houses?.

So I decided that I wasn't going to just shut up and let the bank seller get away with it.
I called my buyer's agent and told her that I wanted to sue the seller in small claims court. I asked her to contact the seller's agent (who was my agent's boss as in a dual agency), and get the full name and address of the seller so I could file the claim.

The seller's agent responded that he and my agent felt that they were to blame for not having adviced me to do the walk through right before signing the closing documents. They also didn't want to bother the seller bank with a law suit since they were getting a lot of REO listings from that bank. So the broker decided to pay for the $390.00 and just sent me the check.

While I didn't like at all the idea that the bank was still getting away with it, I decided that I was too tired of dealing with this duplex to continue fighting the bank. Besides, how could I reject the money that I was fighting for?. So I just took the check.
Some adviced to just "swallow it up" and move on, but I was taught to never give up, and always defent what is right. And that is exactly what I did.

Thank you all for your advice anyways.

[HomeGuru]

Another happy ending**************..

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by HomeGuru

Another happy ending**************..

Yes but lets not let other posters think this is the Norm. Seller sold house "as-is. That means "as-is" at the time of closing. It is buyers fault they did not do a final walk through on day of closing. They could have brought up the damages at the closing table and negotiated payment then.

Bottom line is the bank was not responsible to pay for them.

[VeronicaLodge]

the bank didnt get away with anything you did. you had the right and obligation to inspect right before closing and to NOT CLOSE if things were not to your liking or expectation. you could have negotiated a deal at closing for the bank to repay you based on what you found in the final walk through.

the fact that the agents wanted to make this go away and pay you is just luck on your part, they had no legal obligation to do so nor did the bank and as i said no one got away with anything but you.

congrats!