State Specific Question About: MINNESOTA (MN)

I sold a house on a 6 month contract for deed. I spend a year remodeling it before they purchased it 1/1/2014

Contract for deed is due July 1st, 2014.

They had it appraised, they said it appraised $5,000 less then I sold it to them for.

Now they called me and said I need to fix a leak in the roof and but a hand railing up on the (2 steps) up to a deck. The guy said he fell on the stairs and he is going to sue me for me more then the house is worth if I don't come put up a railing and fix a leak in the roof.

The roof did not leak the entire year I remodeled the house. Now they say the neighbors said the roof was leaking before and that I should have fixed it. There was NO leak when I owned the house. I was there almost every day last year.

Basically they are upset that the house appraised for less then they signed the contract for and they are trying to get $5000 worth of work and repairs out of me.

I am scared about being sued.

What should I do? They are demanding me to tell them what day I should come over and fix the roof and put up a railing.

I don't share your worry. If you sold a house I can't hold you liable for years to come.

Your response can be one sentence in writing. Ask them to communicate everything to you in writing from now on.

So your saying I wouldn't be liable the guy falling on a stairs that had no railing? He is threatening to sue me if I don't put up a railing and fix the roof. It was so low I didn't even realize it needed a railing.

How are they planning to get financing to cash you out?

My guess is their takeout financing is not happening, maybe because of low appraisal.

Like rent to own, i am guessing that many of these deals fall apart due to failure of buyer to perform.

Maybe offer to buy them out and sell it to someone else?

You can be sued for anything. The question is whether they have a good lawsuit. What does your Contract for Deed say about repairs? Did the buyer do an inspection? Did you have him sign anything that he accepted the condition of the house? If this house had been sold with a regular type of loan, with any type of knowledgeable assist like a realtor, attorney, etc, the chances are huge that your contract covers this type of issue, and that if you are sued, he's going to lose.

That all said....I'm sure you must want to sell the house. I'd either lower my price so that the buyer can get his loan, or I'd repair the roof and the railing, and after I did so, I'd have him sign an acceptance of the property in it's present condition, which is what you should have done to begin with. Those repairs aren't going to cost you much in the scheme of things.

The buyers aren't getting a loan. Its actually a rich uncle that is buying the house for them. I think they just want to get that $5,000 out of me. However, I think the appraiser came in to low, I suspect another appraiser will go higher.

Did the deck require a permit to build it? In any event, handrail may not be required. Check your local codes regarding handrails and steps to find out.

I would call their bluff about the roof and ask for contact info for the neighbor so I could confer with him about the location of the purported pre-existing roof leak. Or perhaps hire a roofer to evaluate the roof and repair it if necessary, to eliminate this ploy.

Sounds like they are not happy with the deal they entered into, so now they are attempting to beat you out of money just prior to closing.

Ok,

I found out that in MN you need 4 risers to require a handrail. I have 2 steps so I assume that is 3 risers.

I am debating whether to hand this over to an attorney.

A power of attorney to agreement. Or deal with this myself.

About the deck. It was already there when I bought the house. It has a railing around it. All I did is stain the deck and replace the steps because they were in poor shape. I did not modify the deck.

Where was rich uncle 6 months ago?

Yes good question. She said the uncle wanted an an appraisal. I suppose he wanted to make sure he wasn't overpaying. But the price was signed b in contract 1/1/2014

While I never did a CD, a buyer with a conventional mortgage would have paid around $ 5 k for financing related fees. That's life. You provided the financing. Otherwise, they couldn't own the place.

I've yet to be sued. Hope the same will be true for you. Dogs that bark don't bite...

Batpro,

Congrats on being so close with your price!!

-put eyes on their appraisal. Watch for an ESTIMATE from a realtor.

-bankers and licensed appraiser know that appraisals can easily vary by several percent.

-assessed value is seldom a true market price

-you could have your own appraisal done for a few hundred.

BUT...

buying is emotional. Do you wanna be right or rich???

If someone walked up and offered $84 cash today woudl you take it?

Me? I'd negotiate a compromise to get the cash NOW. Even if you discount by $5000 it's still cheaper than a realtor's commission, lost income while remarketing, turnover costs, or even some of the repairs they seek.

I'd say "If you take it NOW, AS IS, I'll drop the price."

This is a HUGE reason I no longer sell this way. They live in the house for a while, WE think they wll fall ni love with it, but in reality most find fault or repairs arise. They do not have a commitment to the home so they use this as an excuse to use their new credit (or this uncle's money) and shop for grass on the other side of the fence.

PS At a seminar, I learned to pay for my own appraisal before putting the house on the market. The price of a house is too large to guess.

Many wonderful landlords think they are blessed with all kinds of knowledge and should be able to fix things themselves on their properties. Never mind their City's regulations call for a permit and job to be conducted by a licensed contractor with insurance, bonding and 5 years training in their field.

Of course, the exact terms of your contract are very important. But I would tell these people to go to He11. They can sue if they want. They can fix the roof if they want. But they cannot frighten me with horse manure (well, not unless they have a shovel full of it and they are threatening to throw the actual product at me!!!)

You did not guaranty the price, did you? If I sell a property for $150,000 and some appraiser comes back at $130,000, it is NOT MY PROBLEM. Not unless there is a financing approval condition in my contract.

If I sell a property and the new owner slips and falls, it is NOT MY PROBLEM.

If I sell a property and the buyer's home inspector does not find a roof problem, and a roof problem later develops, it is NOT MY PROBLEM. If the new buyer wants to try to prove that I knew about the roof problem and deliberately concealed that problem, then the buyer would have to prove that -- otherwise, it is NOT MY PROBLEM.

I would hang tough.

Thanks for all the responses. I talked to one attorney today and he didn't really have any answers for me. I am going to talk to another one tomorrow.

The buyers are calling me several times a day an harassing me to come repair the leak in the roof (again it never leaked when I owned it). We had one of the worst winters and cold in history up here this winter, I am sure that caused the leak and the buyers want to say this was a problem from before, Incorrect!

I am starting to think just fixing the roof and putting up a railing is my easiest way out of this problem. The buyers are harassing me steady and are sue happy, they keep threatening to sue me.

I spent a year of my life turning up a fixer upper into a beautiful home and helped the buyers out by offering a contract for deed. Then they turn around and stab me in the back. This is unbelievable.

I have bought over 20 houses and they had had problems after I purchased them and Never once did I go back to the seller and make demand for compensation or have them repair anything!

Today's people are becoming lazy and can't fix anything for themselves.

If Bank of America owned the Mortgage, they aint coming to fix the roof and neither should you!

IF they fell in THEIR house then they should talk to their agent that sold them their homeowners policy about any claim they may have...