Q: Bought a home near Rochester, wondering what a rights are after finding foundation issues
Bought a house with a dual agent, we are from out of the area so just contacted the poster directly and she also ended up being the owner. We did a few walk through, and she did a lot of upgrades to the property including a continous water heater and septic tank. We asked her about the foundation poles in basement, she said an engineer said they were fine (rust on them). 1 month after closing, one of those poles completely breaks. Asked her for that engineers report, but she has been "advised" not to provide it. She convinced us to not get an inspection on an as is home (stupid, I know). She did not disclose this issue, when experts are telling me no engineer would sign off on that. What can I do here?
A:
Sorry for the late reply - I just joined this site and found your unanswered post.
First, I am not sure I fully understand the background you provided but are you saying that you responded to a home listing and the realtor (a "dual agent") was the actual seller? While I agree with your self-assessment that you should have had an inspection (as is - or not), I wonder whether the realtor/seller had a conflict of interest. A true dual agent has a fiduciary duty to be loyal/faithful to both sides and if she (herself) is/was the other side, I do not see she could act fairly - and, in fact, from what you described, she may not have.
Next, did she complete and provide you with a Property Condition Disclosure Statement ("PCDS")? If not, did you get a $500 credit and did you sign a statement that you accepted the $500 in lieu of her PCDS?
Finally, I recommend you get to a local attorney as soon as possible to review all the documentation and facts to ascertain your obligations and rights under that agreement. You may have recourse against her in her capacity as "seller" and/or "Realtor." There are many fine attorneys on this website, and you can start your search for one of them here: https://www.justia.com/lawyers. Good luck!
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