nothing worth having comes easy...or something like that

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Sorry to create another housing thread, but this is an unusual development and we need some thoughts. Pls take 2 mins to read thru and give me your thoughts.

The house we're in the process of buying, the one we have finished attorney review and home inspection on seems to be slipping away.

-About a month ago, seller and us came to an agreement on the price

-Soon after (next day) seller disclosed to us that the HoA will be doing a special assessment/major renovation that will cost each unit $10K upfront, or $68/month extra for the next 15 yrs. Seller claimed that she didnt disclose to us earlier because she didnt know what the exact amt will be until then (which was BS since she sits on the HoA board)

-after much huffing and puffing, we got the seller to pay for half of the upfront cost. This ended up working in our favor since we'd be getting a new roof, sidings, garage door, etc for half the cost.

-property went thru attorney review and is now under contract.

-last friday i logged into the HoA's website with the seller's username and pwd (which she'd provided to us) and found out that the construction is on hold because 50 homeowners have gotten together and filed a lawsuit and a temporary restraining order against the HoA 2 days before the construction was set to start.

-today I saw a further update that a judge did not dissolve the temp restraining order since neither parties (Defendants and Plaintiffs) could prove their damages at this hearing. So the lawsuit will go to trial on a date not yet set. Each day that passes w/o any work done is a day the HoA is under breech of contract with the construction company. There are two outcomes to this situation (verbatim from the letter)

A) The Plaintiffs will win and the Association could face bankruptcy and Owner Assessments to pay the Construction Company's and other parties damages and legal fees. The Association accounts could be totally depleted by this litigation, and you might have to pay an assessment to cover these damages, AND NOTHING WILL BE DONE TO THE PROPERTY FOR YEARS UNTIL THE ASSOCIATION ACCOUNTS BUILD UP AGAIN!

B) The Plaintiffs will lose and these 51 people could be personally responsible to pay the Association's legal fees and damages to the construction company and related parties.


Suffice to say that this is scaring us and got us totally down. We're so close to closing on this property and this shit happens. We're not sure if we want to buy this place until this matter is resolved but it could take months or years before this is resolved. We're under contract, so we cant really back out just cuz we dont like this recent development. But part of us still want this place. Is it possible to back out or push the closing by a month (currently set for 6/30)

We just dont know what to do.

Thanks for reading
 

RichardE

Banned
Dec 31, 2005
10,246
2
0
So she sits on the HoA board and did not disclose litigation that is ongoing in regards to the property? I would think thats grounds for dissolving the contract. I'd call your lawyer/attorney and ask him though.

From the sounds of it, she knew of the court case and did not inform you of it, and was willing to sell to you, without informing you of it.
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
-About a month ago, seller and us came to an agreement on the price

-Soon after (next day) seller disclosed to us that the HoA will be doing a special assessment/major renovation that will cost each unit $10K upfront, or $68/month extra for the next 15 yrs. Seller claimed that she didnt disclose to us earlier because she didnt know what the exact amt will be until then (which was BS since she sits on the HoA board)

That is against contract law for HoA's as I understand it. The contract is null and void from what I know. The seller must disclose all pending or known special assesments to the buyer. I am not a lawyer, don't sue me.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
no the lawsuit was brought forth only 2 days before the construction was set to start, which was June 1st. Letter from HoA was posted on 6/4 and subsequent one on 6/10. I dont think anyone on the HoA knew that this lawsuit is coming. But technically, she didnt disclose this lawsuit to us. I found out on my own by logging into the HoA's website
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
if 51 people had an argument with the homeowners association, there is something major going on. You need to run, and run fast. Find another house, this one is not worth it.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
sigh. I was afraid of that. sucks that both I and my fiancee got emotionally attached to this place. man this sucks
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,543
651
126
How much of a deposit/earnest money have you put down? Contact your lawyer, they will be able to advise you on your options.
 

blert

Senior member
Sep 30, 2005
926
1
81
Yes- cut and run while you can... I had to deal with a similar situation years ago and it ended up costing me a chunk of change and not getting the house.

+1 for talking to your lawyer... do it today if you haven't already.
 

gar3555

Diamond Member
Jan 8, 2005
3,510
0
0
Originally posted by: Aharami
sigh. I was afraid of that. sucks that both I and my fiancee got emotionally attached to this place. man this sucks

How long have you lived there? I couldn't see getting emotionally attached to a place without having been there at least a couple of years.
 

Injury

Lifer
Jul 19, 2004
13,066
2
81
Originally posted by: gar3555
Originally posted by: Aharami
sigh. I was afraid of that. sucks that both I and my fiancee got emotionally attached to this place. man this sucks

How long have you lived there? I couldn't see getting emotionally attached to a place without having been there at least a couple of years.

The big mistake a lot of people have while shopping for a place to live is getting attached to any place before they have the keys in hand. Once you've gotten attached to a place, you're fodder for any agent trying to sell the place. You're gonna pay more than you could have gotten it for, and you're going to overlook a bunch of things that in hindsight probably would have made you turn around and walk away from the place if you knew it before you even set eyes on it. (Which seems to be the case here.)
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,709
136
I will not buy a house that has an HOA associated with. I would look elsewhere.
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
How much of a deposit/earnest money have you put down? Contact your lawyer, they will be able to advise you on your options.

we've only put down 1K in ED.

im assuming that if we pull out, we'll still have to pay the lawyer fees and the title search fees (neither of which have been paid yet).

yea i left a msg with my lawyer yesterday. hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to him today
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Originally posted by: blert
Yes- cut and run while you can... I had to deal with a similar situation years ago and it ended up costing me a chunk of change and not getting the house.

+1 for talking to your lawyer... do it today if you haven't already.

care to explain your situation?

Im thinking of going around the place and talking to some of the plaintiffs (their names are listed in the letter) and see exactly why they brought this suit on. get their side of the story
 

Aharami

Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
21,205
165
106
Originally posted by: dawp
I will not buy a house that has an HOA associated with. I would look elsewhere.

there are no townhouses w/o HoAs in this area.
 

Blieb

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2000
3,475
0
76
RUNNNNNNN!!!!

That is home buying man ... you just dropped like 2k but probably saved 20k and all the heartache. Sounds like everyone in there is nucking futz anyways ... suits, injunctions, crybabies, liars ... you don't need that.

And you should be able to get earnest back. She didn't disclose the assessment, and this whole situation is mangled from what was represented.

Originally posted by: Aharami
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
How much of a deposit/earnest money have you put down? Contact your lawyer, they will be able to advise you on your options.

we've only put down 1K in ED.

im assuming that if we pull out, we'll still have to pay the lawyer fees and the title search fees (neither of which have been paid yet).

yea i left a msg with my lawyer yesterday. hopefully I'll get a chance to talk to him today

 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
21,474
5,948
136
Run fast and far. You're going to be embroiled in a cluster fuck that will drag on for years.