Should Realtor be there as party to home inspection?

Q:

Regarding your response on July 15 suggesting any agent avoid attending an inspection: while yes, you want to limit liability or being a party to any potential liability, an agent also has a liability and responsibility to the seller, who still owns the home. Letting an inspector and buyers have “free reign” of a home, without any licensed Realtor or licensed assistant there? Not a good idea, in my opinion. Licensed inspector doesn’t count: a lot can happen while he is on the roof or in the garage. In this day and age, the Realtor should be there as a disinterested party to the inspection.

A:

Whether or not you want to attend is a business judgment. We’ve heard both sides of the argument. We don’t like to see a real estate agent as a defendant when they seem to have “supervised” an inspection that turns out to be bad. If you choose to take that risk, more power to you.

Q:

I have a contract to sell my house. As we get closer to closing, the buyer’s lender keeps throwing up roadblocks. There have been many delays, it seems to be in control of everything and the buyer seems to be helpless. I don’t want to extend the closing date. He is past his contingency period for financing. Can I keep the earnest money?

A:

Welcome to the new era of real estate finance. Lenders have more regulations than you can imagine, and more are on the horizon to be effective this October. Trying to comply with these new regulations have many lenders in a tail spin, and many have stopped mak- ing home loans altogether. This is most likely not the buyer’s fault. If you try to play a hard line, you may get into a hole you can’t get out of. He may try to sue for specific performance, file a lis pendens, and cloud your title. The Texas Real Estate Commission is considering a change in the contract forms to provide for lender delays, as this has become so common. Unless you have some major damage, we suggest waiting a few days to get through this.

Q:

I have lived in a townhome since 1996. We remodeled in 2012 and installed all new wood flooring downstairs. Within a year the new wood floor started to blister in areas. We have had the Tramex Moisture Meter and the Tramex Hygrometer tests run on our unit. Results for the moisture test were 14.5 percent above normal. Also, a licensed plumber ran a leakdetection test but no leaks were detected in the plumbing and sewer systems. Finally a moisture test of our slab was run and it showed results above normal in the dining room.

Since there are no leaks in the plumbing or sewer lines and there don’t appear to be any roof leaks (heavy rains over the last couple of months without any extra visible water damage), this leads to the conclusion that the moisture barrier below the slab has failed.

We have extensive degradation in the garage slab as well as a ruined new wood floor throughout the first floor. The foundation is part of the common area which is the management association’s responsibility. The association repaired the unit next door when the foundation had caused damage due to settling. We feel that it’s the association’s responsibility to repair our garage and first-floor foundation along with the wood floor that was ruined.

Can you help us?

A:

You will need to have experts who can testify that the moisture barrier has failed. You’ll need to get a copy of the declaration or restrictions that define the responsibility for the slab maintenance and repair. Then take everything to an attorney experienced in suing HOAs, and let him or her handle it from there. You need to keep in mind that they may not have the money to pay you without an assessment from the property owners (which could include you).

Q:

I feel so stupid. I deposited over a million dollars with a title company to facilitate the purchase of a commercial tract of real estate. I later signed the contract, took it to the title company and no one was there. Their phone has been cut off and I can’t get my money. What

can I do about this?

A:

Was the title company a title insurer or an agent of an insurer? If you deposited it with a recognized title company, you can sue it and/or file a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance. If the title company was an agent, you would have to sue them, but they may be insolvent. In our opinion, it is always smarter to deal with nationally recognized title companies to minimize this kind of risk on large transactions. You also can get an insured closing letter from the agent’s underwriter to guarantee against the loss.