When you make the decision to sell your home, making sure you’re selling it to the right person is critical. Any time there is a substantial amount of money involved, you need to make sure that you fully trust the person on the other side of the table.
At Laurel Buys Houses, we understand that we serve a critical role in every story we touch, and we treat everyone with respect, integrity, and compassion. We know the deals we make change lives, whether we’re helping someone avoid foreclosure or ending the nightmare of a hoarding situation. We also know it’s our responsibility to be aware of all the proper procedures, and we partner with a reliable, local title company and lawyers to ensure that we always do things the right way.
But not all homebuyers are the same.
Below, we’re going to share with you a true story from a real homeowner in Sacramento.
All names and details have been changed or removed for privacy reasons.
A woman—we’ll just call her P—reached out to us at Laurel Buys Houses for help selling an inherited home in a trust. We handle inherited home situations all the time and we immediately said we were happy to help.
There were some additional complications, though. P had a brother who was living on the property, refusing to leave, and he had stopped making payments. The foreclosure process had begun and the clock was ticking.
Members of our team met with P and her attorney at the house for a walkthrough. After taking a look around, it was clear that the house was going to need a lot of work, but we’re no strangers to handling homes in rough shape.
We made her a fair offer then and there, including some money to offer P’s brother to help him find a new place to live. P’s attorney, a Sacramento local, knew Laurel’s reputation, and encouraged P to take the offer. P said she needed some time to think on it.
Time passed. We followed up to see how she was doing. She said she needed a little more time to decide. Then, she stopped responding to us altogether.
We wished her the best and stopped reaching out, figuring she wasn’t interested.
Then, one year later, we finally heard from P again.
Here’s what happened in that silent year.
After getting an offer from us, she sold the home to a wholesaler who gave her a slightly higher offer. That wholesaler then sold the contract to another investor who would actually do the work to renovate the house.
But, on the day she was set to sign the paperwork, they pulled a really shady move: they demanded $40K off the price they’d previously agreed to or they’d cancel the whole deal then and there. This put their real offer far below our offer, but, with the foreclosure looming on the horizon, it was already too late to turn back and P just wanted the nightmare to be over… So, she signed the contract.
This tactic is called “retrading,” and it’s unfortunately become a common occurrence in cash homebuying circles. That’s why it’s so important that, if you get an offer for your home, you know that offer is guaranteed and won’t change later.
P walked away with a lot less than she had hoped, but, unfortunately, the nightmare didn’t end there.
The new owners of the home, the 3rd party doing the renovations, found some issues on the property that hadn’t been disclosed to them by that wholesaler, and the contract made P entirely liable for any misrepresentations of the home. The new owners sued P for $40K to cover repairs and that wholesaler walked away unscathed.
Worse yet, P’s brother then claimed that she didn’t act in the trust’s best interest, due to the last-minute price reduction, and threatened to sue P for even more money.
Our hearts sank hearing this story. What a mess.
We immediately offered to refer her to an attorney that might be able to help, but, ultimately, she called just to let us know what happened and ask if we had ever experienced anything like this.
No. We haven’t.
We never would have given her an offer we couldn’t guarantee or knowingly misrepresented the extent of the home’s damages. We haven’t experienced this before because we would never dream of acting so cruelly to another human being. It goes against everything we stand for.
Yet, the unfortunate reality is that some companies really only have one goal: to make money by any means possible. Even if that means exploiting someone in a desperate situation, taking advantage of people who have no other choices, just to get a little richer.
That’s why integrity is one of our core values at Laurel Buys Houses, and why we ensure every member of our team treats everyone with respect, honesty, and compassion. It isn’t about money, it’s about helping people and serving our local community. At the end of the day, we want to be able to sleep at night with the knowledge that we made a positive difference in the lives of others.
We couldn’t help P this time, but we’d like to help you. If you or someone you know is thinking about selling their home in the Sacramento area, give us a call: (916) 476-2381.
Check out my recent podcast with Investor Fuel to learn more about how we serve our Sacramento community with integrity and compassion: How Laurel Sagen Built a 100+ House Flipping Business With Integrity and Seller Care.