REAL ESTATE QUESTION!!!!!! PLEASE HELP <span title="ME!............wahooooooooooooooooooooooo....yeeeeeeeeeeeehawww">ME!............wahooooooo...</span> please?

Question

A broker (Kawinkle) listed a house in Salem, Oregon. During the listing appointment he noticed a 3/4' height difference that ran the width of the floor in the basement. He told to the seller. She stated that ..it was that way when she bought it.

Kawinkle followed up with the brokers who showed the property. He discovered that the basement was hindering the sale of the property. Kawinkle phoned the owner and advised that she obtain a structual engineer's report regarding the basement floor.

The engineer, Nipfungle, visited the property and discovered that the unevenness in the concrete was strictly cosmetic...but the repair estimates exceeded 25k. Susie mailed the report to Kawinkle.

The owner then hired a contractor to make sure the basement was structurally sound. He agreed that it was.

The owner instructed Kawinkle to not disclose that there was a report by Nifungle...but he could disclose that the Contractor had inspected the basement. Kawinkle obeyed.

They sold the house to Pedro and Gorgia.

QUESTIONS:

Did the previous owner have an obligation to disclose the report to Pedro & Gorgia?

Did Kawinkle have an obligation to disclose the report to Pedro & Gorgia's broker?

What are Pedro & Gorgia's chances of getting a judgement against the previous owner?

What are Pedro & Gorgia's chances of getting a judgement against Kawinkle and his brokerage?

Thanks so MUCH!!!!!!

Answer 1

I live in a high radon area and yes 3/4 of an inch would be a major problem.  Holes, cracks and such are a mojor source of high radon levels.

While it may not be a problem in some areas or let&#039;s assume all areas I am personally not going to buy a house like that when I can go elsewhere and get a nice smooth foundation.

Answer 2

What does the disclosure statement say or how is it even addressed?  Why didn&#039;t  Pedro and Gorgia have their own inspector after discovering the situation in the basement?

You are on a slipper slope and if it is just stated that the home is structurally sound on the report I am not sure what obligation the seller had to disclose the fix it price.  The BUYERS hold ome responsibility once the observed the condition in the basement.

See a real estate Atty who will have all the facts to go on.

Lots of questions before your questions can be ansered appropriately.  Then some will start answering ethically versus morally.

Answer 3

First of all, the fact that everyone was flipping out over a 3/4&quot; difference in a basement, concrete floor blows my mind, b/c it is very, very common, and even in old houses on MAIN floors, you can experience differences up to 2&quot;....and that doesn&#039;t mean a single thing is wrong with the foundation/footers/or other structural elements.

IN FACT, such differences in a basement are necessary, especially in a wet basement that is unfinished (your article didn&#039;t say), to facilitate the flow of water....and some basements are designed for this purpose.

The neighborhood my parents live in everyone has &quot;wet&quot; basements.  it is not a flaw in design...it&#039;s a purpose they serve.

The owner was not required to disclose the floor or ANYTHING ELSE that she isn&#039;t personally unaware of....or made aware of by someone who doesn&#039;t have the authority to make a decision regarding the matter, which in this cases was the broker..b/c he is not a licensed inspector.  

The seller is not required to go to extraordinary measures...or inspect the house themselves before it&#039;s placed on the market...if they were, then buyers would never need a home inspection.

Kawinkle is a Broker, not a licensed inspector.  Therefore he is commenting on things outside of his scope of practice.

Kawinkle does not have the authority to disclose ANYTHING without the seller&#039;s permission...he can refuse to represent the listing, but he cannot disclose anything.

Again, just because HE thinks it&#039;s hindering the sale, doesn&#039;t mean that it is.  It&#039;s an opinion.

Since the report confirmed that the engineer stated that it was COSMETIC and NOT a structural defect, there was no obligation to disclose...just like you don&#039;t have to disclose the fact that you&#039;ve put wallpaper on without a primer.

Pedro &amp; Gorgia&#039;s chances of getting a judgement against the seller is 0.  First, b/c anything unknown isn&#039;t required to be disclosed, anything known and cosmetic in nature, also, does not need to be disclosed.

P&amp;G also MADE THE CHOICE not to get their own inspection--their fault.

They can&#039;t get it against the broker either for the same reasons.

PS:  To those that think &quot;disclose, disclose,disclose&quot; is the best way....a listing agent CAN GET SUED by the sellers if the listing agent is not LEGALLY aware of what has to be disclosed vs what doesn&#039;t have to be b/c if a listing agents tells them to disclose something that they don&#039;t have to, and it causes them to not sell their home...then the listing agent may find herself buying it!!!  I&#039;m serious folks, these things happen.

Answer 4

the general rule of thumb is &quot;disclose, disclose, disclose&quot; ANYTHING you know about the home - the seller, the listing agent or anybody. If items such as this are fully disclosed, you wouldn&#039;t be here posting.

I once showed a home to someone- and I had personally almost boughtt he home 2 yrs earlier but found a flaw inthe furnace and the seller wouldn&#039;t replace it at that time. When I walked into the home with a potential buyer, the first place I went to was the furnace - it had been properly repaired so all was ok.

The main reason for the disclisure is to make sure the buyer is aware of anything that may &quot;harm them or impede their enjoyment of the property&quot;. Since the defect is not something that can harm you or impede your use of the property - you probably won&#039;t get very far. But it would have been simple enough for the seller to tell you about the report since it also seems knowing about the report wouldn&#039;t have made any difference. Sounds like the only &quot;problem&quot; here is the buyer wants to fix something that doesn&#039;t necessarily have to be fixed and doesn&#039;t like the price of said repair. If you really want to try to pursue this - talk to a Real Estate Atty. Good Luck