Naples Florida Real Estate: I'm Sure There's Somebody He Can Sue...

It's just not going to be me, my clients or you on that deal.  I received a call a few months ago from a colleague who sounded distraught when she started speaking.  Her first statement:  My buyer wants a copy of your marketing material on that house we sold (which took place several months ago).  Kind of an odd request but as my mind wandered back to the deal and the elements of the transaction, I must say I wasn't surprised.   I said, "alright...what's going on", preparing for what I knew would be an interesting story. 

Apparently all of the wood floors had buckled.  When a contractor came out to determine what had happened, he proclaimed the flooring had been installed improperly.  The problem at hand was that the wood floors had been installed before my clients had purchased the property.  They had purchased the property back when times were rolling, they then completed more updating and put it back on the market and sold it to the current owner. 

When my clients purchased the property the wood flooring and kitchen had already been remodeled so fortunately for them, they did not have to incur the expense of those major items.  They brought the rest of the house up to a consistent aesthetic value and voila! 

Somehow the buyer had decided that "somebody" had falsely represented the property and was sure that we had described the house as either "completely" remodeled or something of that nature and was sure he could work up a successful case of misrepresentation.

While on the phone with Ms. Breathless she went on to describe this was one of three potential legal issues she was dealing with and that she couldn't understand what was going on.  As she chattered I pulled up all of my marketing information.  The alarm of the situation actually had me second guessing my own choice of words...silly...as I look back now. 

I let her finish her story and then brought her up to speed on my end. Here's what I said:

On all of my marketing material the house is described as "beautifully remodeled".  The wood floors were in for at least a year as that is approximately how long my clients had owned the property.  Work was being completed on the house the entire year.  I was in and out of there if not weekly at least every two weeks checking on progress etc.  What I suspect happened is somebody locked the house up and turned OFF the air conditioner before they left leaving the opportunity for humidity to permeate the house thus swelling the wood floors and causing them to buckle.  By the way this is common.  If you own property in Naples, Florida know you should always leave your air conditioner on. (You can push it up to 78-80 degrees but it should always stay on to prevent mold etc.)

I'm sorry somebody turned off his air conditioner.  I'm sorry his wood floors buckled.  Now being the shark of a business man I know he is as I remember well what occurred through negotiations...specifically the part when he told me to kill myself.  He's obviously looking for a target to attack.  Please tell him to get back in his Rolodex.  I'm sure there's somebody he can sue today...it's just not going to be me, my clients or you regarding this transaction.

 

There is a certain luxury when we don't even tip toe around the truth.  Stretching it a little or perhaps embellishing attributes of a property is not wise.  I have been known to be a little too strict on this matter and that doesn't bother me either.  Therefore I don't worry about what can come back to haunt me because there isn't anything.  I guess that's why I never understood why we needed to know what the penalties were if we broke the law.  I don't need to know how much the fine is or what other repercussions there are on something I would never do. If we could teach real estate school by telling our new agents, these are the things you can do, these are the things you can't and spend the rest of the time teaching the skills needed to be great real estate agents....we'd all be more productive.