The Great Real Estate Debacle of 2008 continues.
To review:
1. Seller's agent misrepresented the number of rooms in a house (I asked him repeatedly to confirm that one room was a bedroom; he confirmed that it was, which turned out to be untrue). Seller's agent also claimed (dishonestly, as it turns out) that Mr. Sam and I could not get a real estate agent of our own unless we paid out of pocket. According to our lawyer this is just not true.
2. Mr. Sam and I talked to a lawyer, who assured us that this meant we could terminate the contract. We followed the protocol as dictated in the contract for doing so.
New:
1. We receive email from Seller's agent, saying that they were fixing all the problems (riiiiight) with the house, and that, oh by the way, the contract was still in force.
2. Mr. Sam, who, bless his poor little heart, has been on the phone *all day* now, calls lawyer back. Lawyer explains that agent is full of fecal material.
3. Mr Sam calls agent, and tells him that the contract has been terminated, but we'd be willing to a) negotiate an addendum to the old contract, bringing it back into force, or b) negotiate a new contract. Agent refuses to acknowledge termination of old contract.
4. Suspicious little Sam I. Am feels that this is not good. Suggests that Mr. Sam ask lawyer to call agent.
And now all hell breaks loose...
5. Agent starts lying. Big time. First Mr. Agent says (take notes, kids, this is a good one) that the official MLS listing (which listed the house as a four bedroom house) is the result of a software glitch. Lawyer expresses disbelief. Agent then says that he and Seller knew that the room in question wasn't a bedroom, but decided to list it as a 4 bedroom house anyway for tax reasons. (Note that Agent had said to Mr. Sam earlier that the house was a 3 bedroom house for tax reasons). Agent then claims that Mr. Sam knew that the room wasn't a legal bedroom at the time the contract was signed. Now people, this is just straight out lying. I asked the agent repeatedly (needless to say in Mr. Sam's hearing) if the room was a legal bedroom. Agent repeatedly assured me that it was.
So that's where things stand. I think I shall report Mr. Agent to the National Association of Realtors. I was perfectly happy to believe that the misrepresentation was totally accidental. These things happen. But when someone just starts straight out lying? Not so cool. What a nightmare...we just wanted to buy our first house. We didn't ask to get into a legal mess. We're also not sure where to go from here, except that we know we want to run far, far away. Unfortunately, Mr. Agent has $3000 of our money held in escrow, so we can't run yet. Mr. Sam and I feel physically sick over the whole thing.
Waaaahhh....*sniff* waaahhhh
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