Real Estate

RealEstate Progress will bring up the economy rapidly, but the banks need to corporate,
especially the ones that took buyout. This should be a part of the deal.

I am not sure what your question is, but your statement is far more perceptive than most I see on Y!A. The bailout itself was heavily tilted by the power, wealth, and political influence of its benefactors solely in favor of those benefactors.

The callous greed of these benefactors is evidenced in their obdurate opposition to any contribution on their part to rebuilding our economy. We helped the wrong people.

We would have acted much more prudently had we bailed out most of the people who have lost their homes to foreclosure. The banks and other speculators holding questionable mortgages would have been paid off and thereby avoided bankruptcy without the hundreds of billions we poured directly into their coffers. Millions of homeowners would still have their homes; these houses would not be flooding the market depressing the value of residential estate.

With millions of people able to keep their homes and their equity, personal spending would not have fallen as precipitously as it did. Portfolios would not have lost their value; as a result, the big banks, insurance companies, etc., would have remained solvent and would have been able to keep all (or most of) their employees. With more people able to spend money, fewer businesses would have lost their customers. With more businesses solvent, fewer people would have lot their jobs.

The bailouts accomplished very little beyond quickly restoring to a few ultra-rich speculators and to monopolistic Corporate America the wealth (and much more) that they had lost in the early part of the recession. Now these corporations sit awash in $2 trillion, which they do not invest, their promises to do so notwithstanding.

We can still salvage our economy. Since the greedy elite will not invest this immense treasure without assurance of immediate profit, we should take much of that idle capital through taxation and spend it on rebuilding and modernizing our infrastructure. Doing so would not be MAKING work; it is doing work that is long overdue. In the process, we could put millions of Americans back to work–and back to spending and restarting our economy.

My mother received a certified letter from the buyer of her home requesting money because he put in a French drain due to water coming in the basement after he purchased it. In case we go to court or mediation I would like the seller’s disclosure, inspection report and sales agreement. I have asked her realtor for it but she does not answer my emails or return my phone calls. Is there another way I can obtain these papers since my mother can not find her copies?

A nice email to the Broker on record should get you copies of the sales agreement and seller’s disclosure sheet but at this point highly unlikely you are going to get the buyers inspection report

If you where to go to trial then in discovery phase you would be legally entitled to any and all documents relevant to the suit

If the buyer is seeking serious cash, or seems on the verge of filing suit then best bet is to at least consult an experienced real estate lawyer

In general for the buyer to prevail they must not only produce admissible “proof” that you mother knew of the flooding basement, she took steps to hide this material defect , the fact the sellers disclosure sheet does not address flooding in the basement does not mean your mother knew and attempted to hide the fact

If the buyer files suit in small claims court it may be in your best interest to hire a lawyer, to move the suit to real civil, in that case unless the buyer is an experienced contractor his lay opinion on what is the problem with the basement would not be admissible “proof” in a court of law