So the seller has posted some ads for the place in the past on Craigslist and PropertyShark before we moved into contract to buy. As of now, Monday or Tuesday is when the bank would like to close, and just last night I found a listing on CL (posted 7/6) that matched the description of the place I’m in contract to buy — only this time it was posted by a real estate broker. The thought had occurred to call the broker using a fake name and set up a walk through at the same time that say my family and I were there with an engineer. Why? The real estate ads on CL run anywhere from $50 – $75 to post, I’m just wondering if this f*cker told the agent that he was in contract already. Doesn’t make much sense for an agent to blow $75 on a sale that she won’t get any chunk of. Would’ve been interesting to see what happened, but this entire transaction is screwed up enough.

The visit couldn’t have been planned better, we arrived there before the seller got there to find a real estate agent showing the house to a small family. I told the agent that this property was already in contract for sale — he didn’t seem to mind. Called the seller, he said he’d be arriving for our walk through in 3 minutes or so and invited us to go into the back yard to check out the work that was done. “We would like to, but there’s a real estate agent showing the back yard right now..”

After he arrived, he explained that he needs to make sure he’s covered in the event that the deal with me didn’t go through. While kind’ve shady, we only have a $1 deposit down on this place, so there’s nothing serious to prevent either party from walking. Meanwhile, he’s continued work on the property and the additions that had originally been on a to do list have been done (aside from the gas, boiler and thermostat installation) — things def look really good.

Supposed to be closing next week, so I’ll see what happens then..

Lesson learned – if looking at a house, don’t screw around with something that isn’t finished by a seller who’s close to defaulting.. While I’m hoping that this turns out alright, the stress has been ridiculous.