We purchased a house that Michael was selling. Our experience was not stellar…read more
My wife met Michael during an open house, and they got to talking. We have not chosen a representative to represent us for the purchase process yet. When Michael heard that, he offered to represent us for the purchase. Realizing there would be a conflict of interest, we declined his offer.
SELLER AND INVESTOR
As we began to get more serious about the purchase, we soon discovered that not only was Michael representing the seller, but he mentioned that he is also part of the investment group flipping the house. At that point red flags were going up. How can an agent objectively represent a purchase in which they have an investment stake in the sale?
FLIP TIMELINE
In order to better understand our story, I have to go back a few months. In May 2015 time frame, Michael's group purchased the house from the long time owner of the Los Gatos house. They spent a couple of months updating the house before they relisted the house. The house was listed too high (July, August 2015 time frame), so they took the house off the listing and then relisted at a lower price. Our sale concluded in December 2015.
HOME IMPROVEMENT (Some)
Michael's group put in new wood flooring, redid the kitchen appliances and cabinets, and redid the bathrooms.
NOT FIXED
The house was an as-is sale, so there was definitely a "buyer beware" situation. What we discovered in the inspection phase were the following problems:
- termite issues,
- roof needed replacement,
- house was leaking and had drainage issues,
- crack in the foundation was creating moisture issue in the living room,
- chimney was cracked and unusable.
DISCLOSURE NOT CORRECT
One of the most frustrating thing about the experience is that in the disclosures, there was NO mention of:
- leak issues,
- cracked chimney,
- termite issues.
SUSPICIOUS CONTRACTORS AND REPORTS
Here is where the time line above comes into play. Remember that Michael's group purchased this house in May 2015 time frame. From our realtor, we were able to pull the disclosures from that sale. Low and behold, the report showed termite issues and a broken chimney.
When we looked at Michael's report, his termite inspector (from a company our realtor of 25+ years had never heard of), showed there was no termite issues.
Also, no listing of chimney being broken. When the chimney inspector looked at the chimney, he mentioned it appeared that someone may have recently tried to patch the cracks to mask the damage.
AND THE HITS KEEP COMING
Another Yelp review coming for the contractor that Michael used for the property. Allied Master Builders in Campbell were contracted for the upgrades.
Keep in mind we have been in this house for a little over 3 months.
Here are the problems with their work.
- WOOD FLOORING - The used the wrong glue for the wood flooring. It is damaged and bubbling up in areas, and we have to redo the flooring in a section of the living room.
- CRACK IN THE FOUNDATION - While putting in the new flooring, they did not patch the crack in the foundation where water was intruding, which is the other reason besides the wrong glue that that section of the living room needs to be patched and new flooring needs to be installed.
- SHOWER IMPROPERLY INSTALLED - The master bedroom shower was improperly installed and was leaking. This leak caused our bedroom drywall to get moldy and both the drywall and the shower need to be replaced.
- BROKEN FIXTURES AND POORLY INSTALLED - The dishwasher was not installed properly installed, so we had to remount it.
Both toilet paper dispensers, one small towel dispenser, and both towel racks are falling off or already have fallen off the walls.
MICHAEL'S RESPONSE
Let's be fair. The house was sold as an as-is sale. Had Michael done the following:
a) properly disclosed know issues such as chimney broken, roof needing repair, and termite issues, and
b) used reputable contractors and inspectors
we would not have much to complain about. When we mentioned about the issues that were not disclosed properly, Michael would say he did not remember or just made an accidentally omission on the disclosure report.
RESOLUTIONS AND NOT RESOLVED
Michael did pay for the termite work, but refused to fix or discount the cost of the chimney damage. When we complained about the work, he gave us Allied Master Builder's info. We are now trying unsuccessfully (so far) to get Allied Master Builder to fix or compensate us for the issues with their work.
BUYER BEWARE
If you are buying a house from Michael, we hope you have a better experience than we did. I would be extra cautious if you see that he used Allied Master Builder as his contractor.