Final Walk-Through Horror Story!

We are all familiar with the final walk-through. You know, that magic (hold your breath) time just before settlement when the new owners walk through the home one last time before they sign all the papers. Well how about this little nightmare? (One of the agents in the office relayed this at our sales meeting the other day.) You take your clients through the house and everything is just as you expect it to be. Nice, clean, quiet, ready to move in. Then, the unthinkable happens. You turn the corner into the the kitchen and to your utter gut wrenching shock, you and your buyer discover- there is no kitchen! It's been gutted from top to bottom, front to back. Just the bare walls stand in testimony to what once was a kitchen. As you gasp and clutch your pearls, you feel a flush of red-hot blood coursing through your head and you see today's settlement slip right through your fingers and hit the floor like a echoing thud in a deep canyon. Your client screams "What the &*#*@ happened?"

And all that comes to your mind is Fred Sanford grasping his chest saying "I'm coming Elizabeth, I'm coming!" So how could this scenario happen? Well, a well meaning contractor, with a not-so-well meaning method, decided to take it upon himself to start remedying some of the repair work that was agreed upon between buyer and seller. The only trouble is, the contractor did not get permission to commence work, nor was he provided authorized access to enter the home. He evidently gained access through an unwitting Realtor that mistakingly left the combination lock unscrambled and the contractor made note of the combination on a previous visit. Talk about a sad day for everyone. Buyer and seller get delayed, REALTORS are dismayed, and contractor, well what a baaaad boy and what a legal mess he's created for himself. Lessons to be learned: For the REALTOR, never allow anyone access to your listing without you being present and if you must use a combination lock, never give out the combo. To the contractor, get your work in writing and never commence work without a written contract.