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Health & Fitness

Ask The Realtor

Patch blogger (and local realtor) Jennifer Daywalt answers your questions about the housing market.

My fiance and I would really like to purchase a house in the near future, but do not have the savings or credit at this time.  We both have well paying jobs, but are paying for a wedding at this time.  There is a property in town that has been on the market for sometime now, and now appears to be empty.  I was  wondering if rent to own is a possibility with something like that, and how we would go ab out approaching the home owner.

If this house you are speaking about is listed with a Realtor, the Seller
has a contract with that Agent.  You could contact any Realtor or the listing
Realtor and ask them whether or not the Seller would be willing to rent the
property. 

I don't know anything about your credit however normally the Seller, if
they are willing to rent, will run a full credit check.
 
I've enjoyed your posts on the Patch recently.  I'm looking for a neutral opinion.  We bought a house in Audubon recently.  The sellers disclosed they had cats.  They did not disclose the cats used the entire house as a bathroom.  Either the house smelled of cat urine all the time or they were cleaning up stains 100%.  No one, not the agents or inspectors, or us noticed a smell.  On the day we moved in, and my wife took a Magic Eraser to the baseboards, the smell became apparent.  Upon the advice of a friend, we purchased a black light. Cat urine glows bright white under a black light and I'm not exaggerating when I say the stains are everywhere.  In every room.  I have two small (under 7) kids and I will not allow them to play/roll around on the floors.  All floors and subfloors (which have visible stains) need to be replaced.  We are documenting everything.  Did we just buy the most unlucky house in the area?  My question is...Does the entire disclosure statement need to be updated for situations like this?

Our Realtor stated shew ouldn't walk on our carpets barefoot!  The Seller's Realtor would not accept an invite to see it with her own eyes.  We will be replacing the flooring by 8/3.  I think this is a great story that Realtors don't seem to want to touch.  If you are looking to make a statement and do more than answer easy questions, please contact me.

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I'm very sorry you feel all I do is answer easy questions.  To be quite honest with you, all questions can be complicated if you are not in the business full time as there can be many different answers depending on the exact situation.  I feel all questions answered are deserving of an answer and more importantly, they are important to the person asking them.  Yours however is not a difficult question to answer so let's get started.

The Realtors at this point can only help in one way.  That would be for the Buyer Agent to write a Letter to the Listing Agent and explain the situation.  It seems the listing agent is aware.  The Listing Agent could then go to the Sellers and explain the situation and ask them to help in a manner that you request.  That's it.  From that point forward it would be between you and the Seller.

Find out what's happening in Phoenixvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The only course of action at this point, beyond trying to find an amicable way to take care of the situation would be to hire an attorney or go to small claims court.  Most Realtors are not attorneys and as you named the two Realtors to me, I know they are not attorneys.  They cannot provide you with legal advice.  It is beyond our scope.  We, like everyone else who is not an Attorney, cannot practice law.

Therefore the only advice I can provide is above. 

Jennifer Daywalt, Realtor
RE
/MAX Results 
Realty- Collegeville, PA
Licensed in PA
Phoenixville's 
Home Town Realtor
Top Realtor 2004-2011
www.JenniferDaywalt.remax.com
Author 
of "Ask The Realtor" on www.PhoenixvillePatch.com
RE Blogger for The 
Phoenixville Patch
610-489-7355 Main - 610-999-7693 Direct


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