We have sold our house and moving to Ohio looked behind tank to start moving out junk and the painted wall behind the tank are masses of severely bub

[Bubba002]

we have sold our house, moving saturday today clearing out the junk I looked behind the tank and found my painted wall severely bubbled up. The wall is dry. New buyers are anxious to call their lawyer. What do we need to do quickly?

 

[Biff0rz]

Sand/paint or if drywall cut it out, patch, mud, paint.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Either the paint is compromised or (assuming drywall), the drywall is compromised. Worse case is that you'll need to replace some drywall.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Most likely you need to replace the drywall and repaint.

 

[John08007]

I do ton of remodeling, drywall work. I agree that the drywall or paint is compromised. Is the surface soft? It's tough because the new buyers have already seen it because you probably could have gotten away with scraping the texture surface off and skim coating with compound then painting.

Now I think you are looking at replacing the drywall and painting. Most likely the salt mist did something to the paint.

I've also been a real estate agent for the last 10+ yrs, I realize that every market is different and the laws are different in every state. Did the buyers do a hone inspection? I can't beliee it wasn't picked up in an inspection. I can't see what recourse the buyers could have if you repair the situation before closing. The only problem that you are going to run into is the paint. Unless the wall was just painted within the last few months then the new paint will not match 100% and you are going to end up painting the entire wall to the corner.

 

[Bubba002]

They did not have inspection. I just found damage this afternoon. Leaving Sunday is that enough to dry? It’s only a 7’ wall

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

At this point, just get a drywall guy to come asap and do the drywall replacement, texture and paint there. Would cost about $400 where I am.

Not worth the hastle.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Or............get a couple of estimates for worst case/best case cost and offer buyers a little more than enough to cover the cost. This allows them to do what they want with it and also shows you are not trying to hide anything.

 

[John08007]

Or............get a couple of estimates for worst case/best case cost and offer buyers a little more than enough to cover the cost. This allows them to do what they want with it and also shows you are not trying to hide anything.

This would be the idea easiest solution. The fact that the buyers already want to get lawyers involved makes me think that they would not be happy with this. They are already thinking the house is full of mold. If your agent has been around for a while and knows the buyer's agent they could run this past them and see what they feel about their buyers.

 

[ZoWhat]

Sand and mud
Sand and mud
Sand and mud
Sand and mud

 

[DaneGer21]

If the inspection was done and no mold was found, that is your defense.

Get the work done by a contractor/business for proof of work.

If that won’t make the new buyers happy then they are always more than welcome to walk away from the sale.

 

[Cell]

Threatening lawsuit over some drywall? I'd move onto the next buyer.

 

[DaneGer21]

Threatening lawsuit over some drywall? I'd move onto the next buyer.

Yep! Market is hot, at least around me. Houses don’t last 24-48hrs.

Plenty of people looking to buy!

 

[Cell]

Same. I don't think asking for repairs is even a thing right now around me because the market is so competitive. Everyone is getting over asking price with multiple bidders.

 

[Just John]

I had a similar issue in Florida, but they were trying to get out of buying it to get something else. It worked out in our favor.

Here is what happened: They signed a binding contract to buy the house. I'm not talking about the closing, I'm talking about when they agreed to buy the house , gave a deposit and singed papers saying that before it was closed on. If they did not see the problem and you had not made an attempt to hide it, that's their fault. They backed out.
A judge told us to go to an arbitrator, which we did. They lost their deposit and the real estate companies involved immediately sued them for the commission they lost out on. We actually made thousands in the end and they screwed themselves. It was a lot of pain though.

If this happens again, I think it should not be a problem after I tell this story to the buyer.

side note: Contracts often have a clause that they can back out if the inspection finds something wrong, but they did not have an inspection. In this situation, what if they say that now they want an inspection, even though they said they wouldn't before signing. I don't know. If they can, the inspection will find minimal damage there and confirm nothing serious has happened. Or a contractor will tell them the same when he fixes it. I guarantee their agent would attempt to talk them out of backing out or suing and talk them into just accepting a repair or some money to cover it. She has tens of thousands riding on this deal - their agent wants them to buy it as much as you do. Maybe more.

 

[X-37B]

If they did no inspection then its on them.
This what happens when you try and save a few bucks as it can end up costing considerably more.
They can ask to have it repaired through their realtor but you are not obligated to repair it.

Its probably simpler to just have someone repair it and be done with it though.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Threatening lawsuit over some drywall? I'd move onto the next buyer.

Agreed. Hot sellers market.

NEXT..

 

[DaneGer21]

On a side note, @Bubbas , I welcome you to Ohio. Although I don’t know your future location; I like it here, born and raised!

 

[agame2021]

I don’t see what they could do with a lawyer. First off if the home inspector didn’t catch it and they saw the house. They agreed to buy it as is….. if the papers are signed they don’t have a chance in a court to hold you to anything! This is funny! Sounds to me like they are just trying to grasp at straws and get a discount or a lump of cash. Greedy greedy greedy.
It shouldn’t be a hard fix unless it got deeper than just the paint and drywall. Easy fix especially with YouTube at your disposal. I have done just a little bit of dry wall and honestly if I can do it you shouldn’t have a problem! Because I am no handy man lol

 

[mindme]

we have sold our house, moving saturday today clearing out the junk I looked behind the tank and found my painted wall severely bubbled up. The wall is dry. New buyers are anxious to call their lawyer. What do we need to do quickly?

I flip houses part time in Florida, and all contacts are different. I'm also not a lawyer nor would call myself an expert on the topic.

But is there something specifically in the contract that says they can do this? Because a contract is legally binding and unless they have put some language in it about inspections, there isn't much they can do.

Even with the inspections there is a time period. I think the default is 10 days in Florida, maybe 15. Although you can change it for longer. This is the time period for them to get the inspections done and also get out of the contract. They don't get to wait until the last day, not fair to the sellers.

And as far as bringing a lawyer in, they can do that at any time. Before you even sign you can have a lawyer look over things. A lawyer doesn't give them the power to change the contract, or what they are legally responsible for. If there is a deposit they've put in escrow, they are subject to lose it and you will gain it.

Unless it's new damage you've caused, and this is not, I do not see where you are liable. Any more than if a pipe under the house is leaking.

I would not fix. But as others have said, if you want to, it's not very expensive. The hardest part will be finding someone who actually shows up and isn't a month out.