Yesterday I am going back and forth with a couple on two properties they are wanting to sell. I closed on a separate property from them last Friday. The home we closed on is located in University City, MO. The other two are in a less desirable neighborhood but would have excellent cashflow.
The client and his wife both have their own separate portfolios they are attempting to liquidate. I had been discussing the wife’s properties with the husband from whom I already bought a house.
The gentleman–we’ll call him Mr. Smith–sent me a breakdown of all of the work that had been done to the property, painting a very appealing picture. Recently, he:
1) Installed a new furnace
2) Installed a new air conditioner,
3) Installed new flooring in kitchen & dining room
4) Refinished the kitchen cabinets.
5) Removed a large tree in the back yard that had fallen.
Sounds great, right?
I kept scrolling down and noticed that the email was a forward.
If you ever see the dashes below, the content is from a previous message. It could be your conversation with them or a forward from someone else…. Pro tip (or a warning).
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I kept reading and noticed the previous message was actually from his wife asking him to remove the negatives and only point out the positives. He went on to insist that we would find them on inspection but would oblige her wishes. She listed off eight items that needed work, including:
“1) Needs an immediate roof repair due to branches falling on the roof, including new vents, attic fan cover on back side of house and minor gutter * soffit repair. [A roofing company] gave me an estimate of $1,200 and I am getting another estimate on this job from my contractor this week.
2) The bathroom should be redone due to the flooding.
3) The staircase to the basement probably is not to current code. It’s too steep and should be removed and redone.
4) Someone at sometime probably used a BBQ too close to the house and the siding has some smoke and heat damage.
5) The storage shed at the back of the property need to be demolished and removed”
As you can see this went from a property that was turnkey to needing several thousand dollars worth of work. Rebuilding a staircase, restoring water damage, and redoing a roof are not cheap.
If I hadn’t been careful I may not have seen these issues. Also if you’re not careful, you might make the mistake the Smith’s did and forward more intimate, spousal messages, which no one really wants to read. I can’t unsee that.
I have had mortgage companies, realtors, and even employers make this same mistake!
Excellent tip! I’m always VERY careful about any emails I send and will be even more careful when reading them.
I appreciate the feedback! When I was trying to get my mortgage to close on my personal residence I was told everything was fine. Yet I saw the signs of a forwarded message from the loan officer and her manager. Her manager said the loan would not close unless they got in touch with a company I worked for that was no longer in business! I was able to get in touch with the old HR manager and have them verify my employment. Had they not “slipped up” I may not own my home today.