Attorney To Advocate For Buyer In House (fraud?) Case

Q: The attorney I had hired to help us with this bailed on us this week. The first lawyer who led me to believe he could help represents only real estate agents; he had us going for a year believing he was going to represent us--gave us advice, checked the identification of all parties to be sure there would be no conflicts, etc. This one I think just wimped out--maybe he has other problems, don't know. Anyway, we are looking for a lawyer willing to come to Grayson County (Sherman). There doesn't seem to be anybody up here. We closed in McKinney so it is remotely possible that Collin County could be a reasonable court of venue, but I'm betting not. The facts of the case as well as I can line them out, are as follows. If you know someone I'd sure appreciate hearing from you or them; please email christine_in_van_alstyne at Brian And Christine dot com We bought a home in Van Alstyne (Grayson Co) about 18 months ago. Not a lot of problems, but we did have it inspected, and when we bought the house we did find that there were substantial differences between what was told and what was found. The skylights "never had a problem" but leaked with the first rain, making a large balloon in the freshly (thickly) painted bathroom ceiling in one bath, and just totally degrading the plaster on the ceiling of another bath. Cigarette burns in two of the three carpets in the house. Furniture had been moved during our visiting the house prior to buying it and during the 10 days after we made our offer when we had the inspector come in. Since the owner stated multiple times (between mentioning her church activities and how wonderful were the grandchildren she was raising by herself, a poor widow) that no one was allowed to smoke in the house, it did not occur to us to move heavy furniture! Needless to say, we can still smell smoke in one of the bedrooms, a housekeeper told me last year that the woman's son smoked incessantly, and always in the house. Lesson learned: fresh paint + lots of air freshener = potential problem When they moved a gun safe out of one of the bedrooms, there was a big square with no hardwood but a piece of carpet set down in the hole. Seller stated that they could not put in the new flooring under the safe because it was too heavy to move. (The church people got it out with no problem.)

A: It's sad you have gone thru this. A few things come to mind about your situation: Skylights leaking> if it was not noticeable during the inspection, how can you hold the previous owner responsible seeing the 100 year rain we have had recently. Sprinkler system> was the agreement to repair by the seller in writing? If so, where were the receipts indicating completion of repairs? Pool pump>

did you have the pool inspected at the same time as the rest of the home, prior to purchase? An inspection possibly could have caught the pump issue prior to purchase. Missing floor wood and carpet burns> it would have been advisable for you to visit the home a few days prior to closing to verify the condition of the home and agreed upon repairs (final walk thru and acceptance of property conditions). If you would have done this, you could have halted the closing until negotiated repairs were completed. The home should have been just as you viewed it, other than normal wear and tear. On a side note; were you represented during your purchase process or was it a fsbo?