I completed an elevation certificate this week. The buyer of the home met me on site and paid me. Somehow during our conversation she mistook or misunderstood something I said and now wants to back out of the sale. I feel sick. Apparently she said that I had told her that if she buys the home she will have a hard time selling the home because it is in a flood plain. Now both real estate agents are upset. I probably won't get any other work from either of them. All of this over something I never said.
Matt
> I completed an elevation certificate this week. The buyer of the home met me on site and paid me. Somehow during our conversation she mistook or misunderstood something I said and now wants to back out of the sale. I feel sick. Apparently she said that I had told her that if she buys the home she will have a hard time selling the home because it is in a flood plain. Now both real estate agents are upset. I probably won't get any other work from either of them. All of this over something I never said.
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> Matt
Was is a cash sale? Otherwise, she would have found out fairly quickly from the flood insurance quote how much it would cost to insure the place (and how it would effect the marketability of the property in the future). Just how bad was it and what did you tell her?
All that I said was that I have been doing a lot of elevation certificates lately. I said that this home was in the flood plain and that I have no idea of what the insurance rates would be or are.
She told her agent that I said "She would not be able to resell the home in the future because it is in the flood plain."
I said nothing of the sort. She did get a quote for insurance back that she could live with but is still trying to back out because of what she thinks I said.
Matt
> All that I said was that I have been doing a lot of elevation certificates lately. I said that this home was in the flood plain and that I have no idea of what the insurance rates would be or are.
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> She told her agent that I said "She would not be able to resell the home in the future because it is in the flood plain."
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> I said nothing of the sort. She did get a quote for insurance back that she could live with but is still trying to back out because of what she thinks I said.
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> Matt
Sounds like she is just looking for an excuse to back out of the deal.
If the house is in a flood zone it is...nothing you say can change that. Its a fact.
Elevation Certificate ?
By requesting an elevation certificate the owner acknowledges that the parcel is within a floodplain.
Go figure.
Paul in PA
> Sounds like she is just looking for an excuse to back out of the deal.
Agreed. You're her scapegoat to get out of the offer to purchase.
This is why I don't get involved with real estate deals
First of all it is a DISCLOSURE ISSUE and realtors have a duty not to mislead buyers. The sellers would be obliged to disclose the fact that the house is in a flood plain. It they want to argue other wise, then it would certainly be up to a reasonably prudent buyer to ask about such things. I get frequent calls from realtors,who are in the middle of deal, and they ask questions about area, or boundaries and other such things as might be disclosed as a matter of survey. My advice to them is to not involved a surveyor, if there is a chance that bad news will queer the deal. Do you like the house, lot, the new kitchen remodel, the neighborhood, the nearby school, then buy the property. On the other hand, I would suggest that the very best level of service provided by realtors would to realize in general terms that they are not qualified to give advice on survey matters and that they would be better off, in the long run, to consider a survey contingency to their sales transactions. Closing the deal and commissions are Kings. So if that is the crappy kind of service you offer your clients, as realtor don't complain after the deal closes... Boo hoo we didn't know it was a complex boundary, encroachments, possible prescriptive rights....no realtor wants offsets in the price due to the disclosure of survey matters... sorry it is the only choice do a stand-up job or hope it does not blow up latter....My guess is that a surveyor would be better off in the long run to avoid clients that do not want to pay top dollar for top dollars services(generally realtors think every thing cost $50) and who also have no respect for the duty the surveyor has to protect the public(they call on Tuesday for a deal closing on Thursday).
