Yes, you can use the inspection as a bargaining chip if the buyer wants something you are willing to trade for, such as a short closing date. Also, in a hot real estate market, it’s common for buyers to sweeten their offer by agreeing to waive inspections, which speeds up the closing period by about two weeks.
I wouldn’t call it unethical, but given the circumstances very unprofessional.
Regardless whether the agents behavior is justified or not, is there anything to say he needs to do any of that stuff?
A real estate agent is just giving you advice on what they think will help sell the home and get you the most money back. If he thinks the cost of the repairs are more than 50% of the extra sale price that will result (assume he’s paying 100% of the repair) just say “I’ll think about that”
When we bought our house, we made them install a pipe from the water heater to the drain as a safety issue. Maybe it meant the house was out of code and would hugely affect the price as it now had to be sold ‘As Is’? I don’t know but that’s my thought of why you may have to do a repair.
The real estate agent obviously sees the wife as her primary contact, and is friendly with the wife. But Ron and his ex have mostly the same interest in selling the house. If i were Ron, I’d have my lawyer keep an eye on any details where i wasn’t aligned with the ex’s interests (like, Ron is living there and presumably cares more about exactly when he’ll move out) but i wouldn’t be paranoid about it.
I don’t see the comment as all that bad. My son is getting divorced. I will congratulate him when it’s finalized. I’m also still friendly with his soon-to-be-ex, and see them regularly at dance events. It a fairly friendly divorce, but i expect both of them to be relieved when it’s finalized. (I probably won’t congratulate the ex, but people i am close to will, and that’s okay.)
Unless it’s a really nasty, toxic divorce, where both parties would rather screw each other than get the best deal on the house. Then it could be a giant problem if the agent is her friend.
But if they both want to cooperate to sell the house, it’s probably fine.
(Either way, you didn’t give us enough info to know.)
But if this stuff is coming from the buyer there is no way he can claim its because his agent isn’t acting in his best interests.
Very unprofessional given that the realtor works for both of them as is not being prompt with questions from the former husband. Again, the realtor works for both of them. I doubt that they are going to screw OP’s acquaintance though. There really isn’t any opportunity for that and what’s good for one spouse is good for the other.
Both of them should have got a “wahhoo” on the divorce. Problem solved.
Yes. A similar note to each of them would have been appropriate but best nothing at all.
Yeah, unless the divorce involves successfully extricating oneself from an abusive spouse, or getting primary custody when the other parent exhibits really poor parenting skills, or having gone through some particularly gruesome bureaucratic headache, a “Woohoo!!!” comment seems tasteless for any divorce. Sure, “Glad you can put this behind you and move forward” is okay.
But I dunno, divorce marks the death of hopes for a shared future that people once had. Imagine an estrangement from you child - you have one last conversation where you agree, “our relationship is toxic, let’s never talk again.” Would you post “Woohoo!!” on someone’s FB page for that?
(Of course, for all we know, this divorce did meet the criteria for a “woohoo!” I’m responding more generally to the comments above that seem to indicate they would offer a whooping congratulations for any divorce at all.)
I had about the friendliest divorce possible and it was still gut wrenching. There were no woohoos from any of our friends and certainly not from a realtor who is literally profiting from the tragedy.
I’m curious where this house is since the realtor is from someplace the ex moved to. Is Ron still living at or near the house?
The realtor was engaged by the ex who lives in close proximity. The realtor doesn’t want to deal with two clients so has no incentive to spend more time to talking to Ron as long as the ex is okaying the decisions. I think this is to be expected in this circumstance. If Ron wants that to change he has to inform his ex and the realtor that he’s not agreeing to anything else unless all of them discuss it and agree first. The ex might not like that but the realtor is way out of bounds if not complying.
The two situations aren’t of course exactly comparable, but I spent most of my career as a teacher. I NEVER commented publicly on a divorce of two parents of a kid who was or had been in my class, no matter how much I liked one parent over the other, no matter how much I felt one parent had been mistreated. A Wa-hoo! type of comment would be highly unprofessional in an educational setting, IMHO, and I can’t imagine that the ethics (and optics) would be any different in real estate.
Which is not to say that the acquaintance is being victimized, but it sure doesn’t look good.
I can’t answer any other questions. Ron is just an acquaintance who works on the next shift, not really a close friend. Am only going off what i heard during a gab fest.