Update to Difficult Homebuyers

[Bonita]

<sigh> And the saga continues...

I sent our realtor the email I posted here yesterday afternoon, and she came back stating that the buyer's agent approached her buyers about the contractor being their brother-in-law. Apparently they admitted that he was their brother-in-law, but they didn't see anything wrong with it since he's a reputable contractor in the area (According to Angie's List we aren't even in his service area). Pffft!

Our realtor suggested that maybe we consider a "median" price from the quotes (which includes theirs) that we received since that seems "fair" :-P I wrote her back and reiterated that we were interested in hiring Contractor A for $425, or that in lieu of hiring Contractor A we would give the buyers $425 and they could do as they please. Of course, they still didn't have the quote (I asked for it on Sunday morning) because their contractor is so busy on a big job. :-P

Just a little bit ago our realtor sent us an email containing their quote, and said:

Here is the written quote from their contractor. It looks like they have taken the price down....let me know if you would like to proceed with this one as I have no way of enforcing them to sign an addendum that says they will not bother you any further with other means............ I would still be willing to send you $200 which would mean you would pay a total of $425, which is what you were willing to pay Contractor A...let me know.

Is this a good option?

The only thing that makes me unsure about their quote is that it states:
1. Paint 4 walls of shed.
2. Assemble, install, prime and paint shed door.
Paint color: match siding color.
-per sellers all door hardware and lumber on site in shed and therefore not needed for work to be completed.
*Assumes their is not issue with materials and no materials to construct doors are needed.

Contractor to provide all painting materials.

I don't like the "Assumes their is not issue with materials and no materials to construct doors are needed." part.

It also states at the bottom of the proposal "Brother-in-law, owner, will supervise every aspect of your project" - I don't know if I'm being irrational or not, but I kind of would like to know who exactly is going to be performing the work. The homeowner told us the day of closing that he used to do remodeling work on the side over the weekends, so I want to make sure that the homeowner isn't going to DIY and the brother-in-law will "supervise" the project :-P

Should we go ahead with what our realtor has offered?

[kaylie]

I would not. You agreed to have the work completed and it didn't sound like there was any language saying the buyer had any say in who completed it. You're being fair offering the $425. I would tell them they can either take that or take me to small claims.

[ktzmoh]

I'd write back correcting the grammar just to be snarky.

sorry, I know this is a huge headache for you. Can you modify that last statement to say something like this: "-per sellers all door hardware and lumber on site in shed and therefore not needed for work to be completed. If both contractor and seller deem that the materials are insufficient or defective, replacement materials will be purchased by the provider of sellers choice" Just to let them know that if they make a stink about anything not being to their taste, you are prepared to push back?

[tarheels]

Omg, I'm so irritated for you. (Angry emoticon - I'm on my phone )

You said you had multiple offers, right? Are you willing to let these buyers go and put the house back up for sale? I can't remember where you are in the transaction with a contract. Seriously, that's the level of pissed off I'd be. As in, good bye, we're not doing business with you. $425, take it or leave it - you want the house, I'm not dealing with you anymore, and I'm certainly not going to dick anymore over a couple hundred dollars.

[demandypants]

how annoying! we had a couple annoyances after the inspection when we sold that we just sucked up and delt with because we wanted to freaking move on with our lives and I wasn't going to lose the house I wanted to be in over a few hundred dollars. But I felt slightly taken advantage of. So depending on your situation, sometimes it is worth the lack of stress to just let them win this battle so you can move past it and onto the next adventure.
If selling now is less of an issue- stand your ground.

[sarahbear]

Ugh, I'd seriously say, nevermind, I'm going to come back a nd finish it myself. And then do it. Screw them!

[AmyRI]

I would not. I think you should stand your ground. Let them try to take you to small claims if they want. They don't have a leg to stand on.

[stephm0188]

No, I would not agree to that. Nope. They pick contractor A for $425 the way you initially planned to, or $425 to finish it themselves. The end.

[new2this]

I maintain my position. You've closed on the house. You're following your contract. Just because they want to change the terms doesn't mean you have to follow along. I wouldn't budge with this. I feel like there's something more going on here. Like BIL is going to screw up or find missing materials or something. The fact that the price is now lower than what they verbally quoted you just makes me feel more uneasy about the whole situation. If they wanted to have the work done themselves they should have asked for that. When we bought our house there was some work that we wanted to do ourselves - we didn't ask the sellers to fix it because we wanted to oversee the work. That's what they should have done. This is sketchy.

"Dear ___,
As we have stated before, we are unwilling to change the terms of the contract regarding the shed. We are obligated to hire a third party to finish the shed. We have chosen ____ company to do so. Since we do not have access to the property we need the buyers to assist in scheduling a time for the work to be completed. Alternatively, we are still willing to give them a check for $425 if they would like to use the contractor of their choice, however, if they choose to do so they must sign an addendum stating they are releasing us from further obligations to the shed. Otherwise we will move forward with ____ company. We appreciate you offering to cover $200 of the cost to the buyers but it does not change our position on altering the contract at this point. Please let me know the buyers decision by X date."