Some people would really show you why they belong where they belong.

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Home flipper gets what’s coming

This post might get removed but it’s a story I feel is worth sharing. I am a real estate agent in the pacific northwest.

Inventory of homes for sale throughout the region are historically low, and demand is especially high creating a perfect storm for buyers – forcing them to compete for every sale.

It is extremely difficult emotionally for buyers, and creates a lot more work for us as agents for several reasons.

There’s some backstory…

The first is the home values are so high people from all walks of life decide to become licensed agents, and currently we have more agents in our market than homes sold.

That means we have a lot of inexperienced agents listing homes at prices that don’t make sense, so we have to do a ton of work for each offer written to insure our clients don’t overpay for a property (also knowing that the likelihood for that offer to be accepted is super low when there will be 5,10, sometimes as many as 20 offers on any one home).

Things are pretty competitive.

Also, with having to compete against a ton of other buyers, buyers are offering to purchase homes with little to no negotiations for inspections, let alone repairs.

This puts an even higher burden on us agents to try to look at home as critically as possible to try to catch costly repairs before our clients commit to purchasing.

I woke up one morning with a text from a buyer expressing interest in a home that just popped up for sale.

This is where it begins…

After looking at the details I realized the home was perfect for the two of them… the listing pics were of a home that was nicely remodeled in the area of town they wanted to live and at a price that was right in line with their budget.

The private notes from the sellers agent to the buyers agents on the listing said the seller would review offers 4 days in the future and to “submit your highest and best offer by 5pm” on the deadline date.

I reached out to the listing agent to chat about the home and to schedule a showing. The agent was new (this was their first listing), and they also worked mainly in a city 40 miles away.

Too many alarms!

The listing advertised a full remodel and incredibly low property taxes.

Those are red flags 1 and 2 for non-permitted work.

After scheduling the showing for the following day (when my clients were off work) I set to work determining a fair price per square foot and to verify the permit status of the recently finished remodel.

First, I determined the home was underpriced by about $100k. Any offer we would be making would have to be at a minimum $100k above what they were listing at (there are no deals in our market, an underpriced home will just get a ton more offers; no one is paying list price for an underpriced home).

He knew what he was doing….

Second, I compared the home to the tax records and the listing pics from the last time it was sold (the seller was an investor that owned the home for less than a year).

Well wouldn’t you know it, the home went from 1300SF 2 bedroom 1 bathroom, to 1800sf 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home, with no permits on file from the city.

YIKES!

This was an illegal flip, no permits pulled, no guarantees the work was done by professionals, no inspections to insure the wiring was safe or the plumbing wasn’t leaking. And no records with the taxing authority.

This means that once the home sold to the new owners, the city could fine them every day for non-permitted work until the work was inspected, retroactively permitted (if even possible) AND the county could sue the new owners for up to 6 years back taxes for “omitted property”.

This means that the buyer wouldn’t have the state mandated warranty from a licensed contractor. There was no bonding or insurance to collect if the work wasn’t done in a professional manner.

The buyers needed to be CAUTIOUS!

This could ruin a buyer if they weren’t sufficiently capitalized. The flipper would profit, and profit mightily, by taking advantage of a sellers market and unsuspecting buyers.

While I was doing my due diligence I was shocked to see the home went Sale Pending less than 2 hours after I first spoke to the listing agent.

They didn’t tell me an offer was received when I asked, and they ignored the offer deadline (that they themselves set!), the agent said the sellers received an offer they couldn’t refuse.

I then had to tell my (rightfully frustrated clients) that we missed the boat, they didn’t even get a chance to see it in person.

He wanted his returns!

Here’s the petty revenge.

I collected all the information the listing agent provided, including the photos of the home, saved them as a pdf and submitted them to our city’s code enforcement department.

Then I set the home on a watchlist and waited to see what would happen.

And waited.

I knew full well I pulled the pin on a grenade and hoping it was thrown in time to blow up before ownership was transferred.

The clock kept ticking…

10 days, 20 days go by and I hear nothing.

By the 25th day I am starting to worry.

A sale contract typically only takes 30 days to finish.

Then, literally on the 30th day, I see the city has officially launched an investigation and a certified letter went out to the owners. AND the sale hadn’t finished yet.

Just in time.

Then the sale doesn’t close. 35 days, 40 days, and nothing.

On the 50th day the deed is recorded and the sale finishes.

And the cherry on top!

The deed contained all the usual language, except that the previous owner was made responsible to pay for all fees, penalties and fines issued by the city and the county for ongoing issues relating to the non permitted work and the subsequent tax increases they would have had to pay had they gotten permits in the first place.

The buyer received the home with assurances that they wouldn’t be on the hook for the previous owners negligence.

He enjoyed every bit of it.

For me, it was sweet revenge knowing that the seller was held accountable to ensure they sold a home that was safe to live in.

Not all heroes wear capes? Those buyers should really applaud this real estate agent for his amazing work!

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this story.

This person loves the honesty of this real estate agent.

This person shares what he does.

This person found some interesting things through this story.

This person wants to thank this real estate agent for the extra mile of work.

This lady shares her experience with a real estate agent.

Who doesn’t want an honest and hardworking real estate agent?

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.