Is this a scam? - Page 2

Martin Q. Blank

3:15p, 4/17/24

halfastros81 said:
Because I paid the title company to purchase the warranty. It's on the closing statement

Then the warranty was purchased. Unless you're suggesting the title company has been holding $400 since closing and not telling anyone?

halfastros81

3:23p, 4/17/24

In reply to Deats99

All of which is why I asked was this some sort of ploy by the buyer to get a little extra operating cash and he never really wanted a warranty? I don't know if it was or not but I can't think of any other reason he would decline the warranty. My suspicion is he's done it before and other sellers just released the funds to him. The other little illegal tricks he and his realtor did before we were even under contract were a part of my thought process. Those included:

1) He advertised the home for rent before it was even under contract much less already closed on. Pretty sure that's fraud. The photo's he used on his online rent ad were the photos from our sale listing to boot. You can't list or show a house for rent that you don't own, or at least not without the owners permission.

2) he used a different realtor for the rental listing than he did for the purchase which is fine but the purchasing realtor asked us for the code to the key box - not the har electronic key box but another key box we had. This was under the guise of doing an inspection that she couldn't be there for. We gave it to her which was a mistake. We believe she gave it to the buyer and his renting agent . That allowed them to show the house for rent without visits being registered /recorded by HAR and without our knowledge . This started before the house was under contract and continued after it was under contract. We didn't find out about it until after the house was under contract and pretty close to the closing date. We got a call from someone that had seen the rental
Listing. They were confused if the house was for sale or for rent. They got our number off the for sale sign and my wife was the listing agent. that's how we discovered that they were trying to rent it out before they owned it. We found the rental listing online and then realized it had started before the house was even under contract.

halfastros81

3:35p, 4/17/24

In reply to Martin Q. Blank

That's exactly correct. The title company was holding the funds for the warranty purchase . Maybe under instruction from the buyer or his agent …. I dunno?

Medaggie

3:57p, 4/17/24

$400 is a fraction of the home price. Knowing why or what his/her intentions are is a small matter.

I would just tell title, to send him/her the money if they want. If not allowed, then send you the money or have them buy the policy. Its not worth the time to even think about it.

Martin Q. Blank

4:14p, 4/17/24

In reply to halfastros81

halfastros81 said:
That's exactly correct. The title company was holding the funds for the warranty purchase . Maybe under instruction from the buyer or his agent …. I dunno?

I don't think that's possible. If anyone is scamming someone it's the title company.

Tell the buyer you suspect he's scamming you and that if he wants the $400, he needs to have the title company buy a warranty for him to immediately cancel. Yes it's a hassle, but we're talking about the cost of a set of walmart tires here!

halfastros81

5:03p, 4/17/24

In reply to Martin Q. Blank

Title company may be involved …. I dunno? I'm just going to get my realtor to keep asking for
My check and get her broker more involved if I don't get one. Other than that I've got no other action plan since I really have nothing to lose. If I remember to do so I'll report the results on this topic thread.

Turns out it was $475 so you can throw in the WalMart spare tire into the mix

halfastros81

6:50p, 4/17/24

In reply to Martin Q. Blank

It's not possible that someone at the title company works with a realtor and buyer and does special stuff for them? Sounds naive to me but I'll be the first to admit I know squat about how title companies work.

20ag07

10:29p, 4/17/24

If your wife is the realtor, doesn't she know all of this?

Seems weird to be running to TexAgs about $475 on a transaction a realtor should know how to handle.

fire09

10:36p, 4/17/24

You agreed to provide warranty, which has an established and agreed cash value, as a concession in the sale. That money isn't yours to keep because the buyer chose to convert that value from a home warranty back to cash. I'm confused why you are confused about this. You didn't have to agree to the warranty, you chose to. How he converts or recognizes this value which you agreed in writing to provide him is no concern of yours. Your closing document governs this. Him turning down the warranty with the expectation that a fair cash value would be substituted as a replacement shouldn't deny him the right to that concession all together unless specifically stated as such in the closing docs.

Martin Q. Blank

8:44a, 4/18/24

In reply to halfastros81

halfastros81 said:
It's not possible that someone at the title company works with a realtor and buyer and does special stuff for them? Sounds naive to me but I'll be the first to admit I know squat about how title companies work.

lol

sounds like you've made up your mind. It's clear you want to keep the money because of some grudge you have with the buyer. Or maybe you're having sellers remorse and thought you didn't get enough for the house.

But to answer your OP, no this is not a scam. And there is no grand conspiracy with the realtor, buyer and title company over $400.

JobSecurity

8:55a, 4/18/24

I feel like every time I've bought a house the sellers agreed to a certain amount ($400 or whatever) and we as the buyers got to choose a HW firm or keep the cash - that way if we picked a more expensive HW it would be on us to cover the difference. Also confused on how this could possibly be a scam

Deats99

8:59a, 4/18/24

End of story it is because it is a cash rebate to a buyer.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton

SW AG80

9:28a, 4/18/24

In reply to Medaggie

Medaggie said:
$400 is a fraction of the home price. Knowing why or what his/her intentions are is a small matter.

I would just tell title, to send him/her the money if they want. If not allowed, then send you the money or have them buy the policy. Its not worth the time to even think about it.

BINGO!
Spending any time and effort on this tells me your life is gliding along with absolutely no hiccups.
Be thankful for that.

bizag07

10:06a, 4/18/24

https://texags.com/forums/59/topics/3434229/replies/66790481

So you made at least $24K on the house, and you're trying to chase down $400 4 months later, and your realtor wife can't navigate this?

"Scam" is very low on the list of potential issues here.

Yesterday

12:32p, 4/18/24

In reply to bizag07

bizag07 said:
https://texags.com/forums/59/topics/3434229/replies/66790481

So you made at least $24K on the house, and you're trying to chase down $400 4 months later, and your realtor wife can't navigate this?

"Scam" is very low on the list of potential issues here.

Sounds like the buyer is trying to chase it down. Seller was content with the offer on the table. Seller was not.

I would tell seller to either take the home warranty or lose the $400.

Red Pear Realty

Sponsor

5:39p, 4/18/24

What Medaggie said. Also, as the seller, did you not select the title company? Usually sellers reps have relationships with good title companies so that when problems pop up, they just call and ask them to fix them. Did the buyers agent select the title company and that's why you are distrustful of them?

Sponsor Message: We Split Commissions. Full Service Agents in Austin, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Red Pear Realty

Deats99

6:03p, 4/18/24

Can no one ****ing read? The buyer declined the coverage! That is their right. There was no service issue as far as a contract went. It was satisfied. It does not entitle them to the funds that we're going to be used to pay for it. If they wanted to pull that bull****, they should have allowed the policy to be purchased and then canceled it. ****ing wow!

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton

Red Pear Realty

Sponsor

6:58p, 4/18/24

In reply to Deats99

Are you OP's wife?

Also, for the record, I think OP edited his post after a bunch of us read it and replied.

Sponsor Message: We Split Commissions. Full Service Agents in Austin, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Red Pear Realty

Diggity

7:55p, 4/18/24

In reply to Deats99

Relax

Deats99

8:01p, 4/18/24

Some of these posts are why some people think realtors are idiots and don't deserve to get paid. I am hoping to not perpetuate the perception. Mainly I've just been bored between showings today. Lol

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton

20ag07

8:21p, 4/18/24

In reply to Deats99

Quote:
Some of these posts are why some people think realtors are idiots and don't deserve to get paid.

People think realtors are often idiots, bc there are many like the OP's wife, who allegedly is one, couldn't answer his question, nor work that out with the title company herself, so he had to run to TexAgs to try to get answers.

(It's $400, that was long since gone as far as he was concerned, so why this is even a thing is nuts.)

Medaggie

9:23p, 4/18/24

Man, I own a decent amount of real estate. I don't sweat a few hundred bucks. Time is valuable and this small amount would never occupy time in my head. Who cares if the buyer is wrong or right. If he wants a few hundred bucks after a 6 figure sale, then consider it a good will tip.

Diggity

9:31p, 4/18/24

I feel like we've collectively spent far more time on this "issue" than the warranty is worth.

Crazy people

Deats99

9:38p, 4/18/24

I am done

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton

Red Pear Realty

Sponsor

9:39p, 4/18/24

In reply to Diggity

Over 2,700 unique views on this thread. If we could each pitch in just 14 cents we could get the buyer his refund. Cue the sad Sarah McLachlan music.

Sponsor Message: We Split Commissions. Full Service Agents in Austin, Bryan-College Station, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Red Pear Realty

Red Pear Luke (BCS)

Sponsor

3:14a, 4/19/24

Where the hell is Fabio when you need him in here telling everyone to just chill and relax with Fabio.

AgsMyDude

7:29a, 4/19/24

Imagine if you offered to buy your buddy a beer at Kyle. He declines. Then expects you to give him $15 cash instead.

HarleySpoon

8:23a, 4/19/24

In reply to Deats99

Deats99 said:
Some of these posts are why some people think realtors are idiots and don't deserve to get paid. I am hoping to not perpetuate the perception. Mainly I've just been bored between showings today. Lol

Nothing like a great realtor giving great legal advice to their clients.

Martin Q. Blank

9:21a, 4/19/24

In reply to AgsMyDude

AgsMyDude said:
Imagine if you offered to buy your buddy a beer at Kyle. He declines. Then expects you to give him $15 cash instead.

Imagine if you bought a car and it came with a free XBox worth $300. You decline the XBox and ask for $300 instead.

Diggity

9:35a, 4/19/24

In reply to Martin Q. Blank

Martin Q. Blank said:
AgsMyDude said:
Imagine if you offered to buy your buddy a beer at Kyle. He declines. Then expects you to give him $15 cash instead.
Imagine if you bought a car and it came with a free XBox worth $300. You decline the XBox and ask for $300 instead.

more like you return the XBox to the store and the car dealership gets upset because you didn't keep it.

Martin Q. Blank

9:55a, 4/19/24

In reply to Diggity

And makes a post on Texags asking if the buyer is trying to scam them.

Medaggie

9:59a, 4/19/24

In reply to Diggity

The house prob sold for over 400K and buyer is asking for $400 concessions.

Its more like selling a used car for 20K, offering a $20 car jumper and the buyer asked for the $20 instead. I would gladly hand him $20 instead of wasting any more time.

halfastros81

11:34a, 4/19/24

Buyer selected the title company.

Agree with most on here that say this discussion has gone far beyond anything I intended. I just wanted to know if this was something anyone had seen before or not? The amount wasn't really the point .

For those asking , I don't know Deats and my wife doesn't post here .

Deats99

1:01p, 4/19/24

In reply to Martin Q. Blank

Martin Q. Blank said:
AgsMyDude said:
Imagine if you offered to buy your buddy a beer at Kyle. He declines. Then expects you to give him $15 cash instead.
Imagine if you bought a car and it came with a free XBox worth $300. You decline the XBox and ask for $300 instead.

Imagine if you agreed to buy a house for $100k
Bank said you had to put down $20k
You end up buying house for $115k
Seller gives you $15k
You only use $10k of your money and $15k of his, seller still gets $100k. And they have committed mortgage fraud
Smaller scale but this is why cash rebates can not happen from seller to buyer

Can everyone understand that or is ok to commit federal crimes when it is only $475?

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton

20ag07

1:09p, 4/19/24

We thought you were done.

Nothing about this was mortgage fraud or a federal crime.