property damage before closing

[akinyon]

Florida
My husband and I are in the process of buying a short sale home. We are taking and an FHA loan which requires certain repairs and guidelines to be met. The last item on the list was to have the pool cleaned before the appraiser signs off. We are closing in 5 days. In our pool area are 2 Italian marble statues, estimated value is between $3,500-$5,000, one of which was broken and the other in near mint conditions. When the company hired to clean the pool came out, the gentleman and/or his son attempted to move the statues to clean the pool deck and ended up doing some severe damage to the unbroken piece. Since our offer has been accepted, the loan approved and we are simply waiting on the paperwork to close, is there anything we can do to hold this company financially liable for the damage? We were planning on selling the statues which are now worth significantly less, additionally it will be much harder to find a buyer. Any advice would help!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Banned_Princess]

They technically weren't your property yet, and unless those statues were instrumental in bringing the property value up, in the appraisal... then not your loss. even after you close, you would have closed on 2 boken statues.

You might try to get the sales price lowered 1 or 2k but that isnt even a significant reduction.

Oh well.

 

[justalayman]

are the statues even included in the sale? If they are movable, they are not unless you specifically include them in the contract.

the bank probably isn't going to reduce what they will accept because of the statues because they are not part of the house.

So, if the statues were part of the deal, you need to speak with the seller to see what he will do. If nothing and the statues were not included in the contract, the contract is still binding. If they were included, you can try to negotiate a discount but I would be cautious since the bank may not be open to the reduction.

 

[nextwife]

I agree that the bank not only is unlikely to adjust their payoff because some statues were damaged, they don't even have enough time to get it to commitee for them to to consider it. And the seller is unlikely to have the money to make up for it. Decide if you wish to close or not.

Personal property is not normally included in the value in an FHA appraisal, it is unlikely the statues were given any monetary value in the agreement..