I was driving to a closing when the phone rang. It was the buyer’s agent.
“We are at the walkthrough and there is water on the floor in the storage room. My client is not going to close until this is resolved.”
It’s a good thing my car has a steering wheel. I headed to the property in Cottage Grove. These were past clients from closer to home who begged me to come to Cottage Grove after they had a bad experience with someone else. Now my clients were moved out of state, traveling back from Iowa, for a closing that was shaky.
At the house, I observed a small puddle behind where a freezer had been, undiscovered until the freezer had been moved and it had rained adequately. A finished family room was inches away. The buyers’ home inspector returned to offer his explanation. Guessing the house would probably need new windows and siding. A foundation contractor said he would need a backhoe to dig out half of the front landscaping, to expose and replace about 10ft of the foundation to cure the issue. By now, I was assuming this deal was dead and I would have a listing back on the market. I needed to uncover the real source of the problem. On a hunch, I strategically removed the vapor barrier and insulation high on the wall above the puddle. I then called everyone back into the house to see and consider my hypothesis. When the house was built, the basement floor was poured after the house was framed. Three blocks were broken to access the basement with the chute of the cement truck. The crude patch had a crack allowing a slow leak. With a gallon of waterproofing tar, a #2 shovel, and a little effort, the leak could be fixed.
The buyer and seller agreed to a cash adjustment, and we closed later the same day. It was the first time I invited a client to have a drink after a closing.
Thanks Wayne and Dawn
