Ask George & Chuck: Questions From Consumers - November 10, 2004
by George Stephens & Chuck Jacobus
Dear Ask George: Is there a list of houses that have been repossessed by banks or other lenders that they want to sell? If so, is there a way that you can get the list for me? - Hopeful Dear Hopeful: Since you are writing from New Hampshire, I entered a Google search as "New Hampshire + Real Estate Owned." That search returned 868,000 pages. There are numerous foreclosure and pre-foreclosure listings available as free reports, subscribe after sampling a search, and via straight subscriptions. For example, you might want to try the RealtyTrac report for a free look. Or try FreeRealEstateReports for a look at distressed sales. But a word of caution: Perform all the research you want, but please do use a professional when purchasing real estate. Hire a REALTOR® or an attorney. Dear Ask George: My neighbor bought a mobile home in California. She was living in another state when she bought it so she didn't have much time to check it out. Instead, she had a distant relative do most of that for her. She also used the same REALTOR® as the seller did. After closing the deal and moving out to her new home (she is a single senior in a senior park) she has found a lot of things reported by the inspection companies that should have been fixed by the seller and were not. For example, the home has dry rot so bad that the new furnace cannot be installed. Does she have any recourse? Or once the sale is final is she stuck with this lemon? – Worried Neighbor Dear Worried Neighbor: I would have to have the answers to some questions before I could provide any useful advice to you. For example, were the inspections ordered and paid for by your friend or by someone who was acting for or on behalf of your friend? Were repairs by the seller negotiated so that they became a part of the written contract between your friend and the seller? And, did the seller or the seller's agent provide receipts to your friend or advise her in writing that the required repairs had been completed? You may discover that the broker (or the broker's agent) who handled the transaction for the seller and for your friend, discharged all the required responsibilities, and that the real culprit is the seller. Contact a California lawyer. If your friend knows one, or you know one who can recommend a good California lawyer, then contact him or her. Otherwise, contact the California Bar Association. From there access "Attorney Search," then click on "Lawyer Referral Services." Find out what it would most likely cost to hire an attorney to represent your friend. I imagine the lawyer will want to contact the real estate broker used by your friend. Because that broker also represented the seller of the mobile home, the broker's (or the agent working for the broker) primary duty is to the seller. However, that broker also has a duty to be fair and honest with any consumer with which the Broker deals in the transaction (i.e. your friend). The attorney may also need to speak with the "distant relative" to determine if and how much responsibility that distant relative had in the transaction. Dear Ask George: We own property in a Texas homeowners' association where each property owner gets one vote. Some of the members are now saying that husbands and wives who are joint owners of a single lot each get a vote, thereby giving two votes to lots that are jointly owned as opposed to one vote to people who are the sole owners of their lots. This doesn't seem right to me. Is there Texas case law on this? – Suspicious Dear Suspicious: The answer to your question is very simple: The covenants control. Most covenants allow one vote per lot, as that is the fairest method. If a lot is owned by the whole family, do they get more votes? No, unless the deed restrictions provide for it and that would be very rare. Dear Ask George: This past year my husband and I decided to sell our home. I had a client whose husband is a real estate broker and she kept asking me to let him work with us to sell our house. I finally agreed. It was bad from the start. But out of respect for her I continued on with him. We had a verbal agreement (now I know it should have been in writing) that part of the commission would be used in trade for services I delivered to his wife. The broker stated this in front of my husband and me a couple of different times. It was such a horrible experience selling our house with that broker that we ended up looking on our own a lot of the time and eventually settled on a new home. We had agreed to purchase a new home with this broker, and then he would give us a discount on the commission he charged when we sold our house. I didn't feel he deserved a penny after what we went through, but again, out of respect for my client I didn't say a word. Now my client has let me know she doesn't have time to work with me anymore and she didn't say a word about our agreement. I brought it up to her and she tried to act as if we didn't ever really have an agreement. What if any thoughts do you have about this issue? – Steamed Dear Steamed: My first thought is that you are so much better off severing any relationship you may have had with this particular client, you should be thanking your lucky stars! My second thought is that you might be successful filing a complaint against her husband-broker with your state licensing authorities. However, it is literally his word against yours. Final analysis: Get on with your life and wait. What goes around comes around! | 
