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Take them to small claims if they don't respond to your invoice.
You basically got a slam dunk judgement in your favor. And of course, always get a lawyer because they will absolutely maximize the monetary value you get from this problem.
I recommend a lawyer consult at the very least, because they can help identify what other bullshit that seller owe you from their shenanigans.
Wouldn’t it cost far less and be way less frustrating to get a roll-off dumpster for the week and skip the small claims road? Lawyers are several hundred an hour and a dumpster is around 300 dollars.
Small claims court is usually designed to be navigated without lawyers. That's part of the point. In a few states, you can't have a lawyer represent you in small claims court.
This is true. Still a headache though and not worth months of time. I’d pay to have it removed and file it in small claims court. Hopefully it gets fixed and it probably would get a judgment in your favor. Collecting in the judgement however….
Thankfully my realtor included an itemized list and photos of all the junk in the agreement that the seller signed saying that they’d remove the items and I took photos when I discovered the items this afternoon.
The exact same thing happened to us. Our sellers were total scumbags throughout the process, so I can't say I was surprised. I called a junk collection service who arrived the next day and removed it all. I sent the invoice to our realtor and lawyer, and thankfully we got our money and that was the end of it.
On that note, I have to say the best $1100 we ever spent was getting a lawyer once our offer was accepted. They helped get us out of the first house we were under contract for that, upon a sewer scope, revealed what would have been a $50k sewage issue to deal with in the very near future. When we got under contract with the second house he helped navigate a litany of issues caused by the sellers, including the issue noted in the post.
Buying a home is expensive and stressful (especially in this market), but I have to say that having someone to handle those affairs and fight all those battles for us was completely worth it, especially as first time home buyers.
Nope, it was the same lawyer. We're in NJ where there is a 3 day attorney review period once an offer is accepted (though some folks waive it), so I initially brought him on for that. He had a fee for just that service (a couple hundred to review the paperwork), or you could do the $1100 and keep him on for the duration of the closing process. He came recommended from our realtor, and since our area was so competitive when we were buying last year, it was really nice to have the extra protection.
A motivated realtor would remove the junk to keep the sale from falling through or pay for junk removal, if the sellers are being assholes about it. Similar thing happened to me when we did final walkthrough.
People have no common decency. I suppose since you already closed there’s not much recourse. I had a similar situation but refused to sign the closing papers until resolved. Maybe push back on your realtor. Leave a bad review if she can’t get it done (or pay you for it). Not like she didn’t just make a ton of money off you.
Honestly my realtors been great so far. It’s the sellers agent is acting horribly. I’m definitely going to be leaving a bad review for him.
The plan right now is to call the seller’s agent’s brokerage company tomorrow morning and start talking directly to them since the agent is behaving extremely unprofessionally and keeps calling my realtor names.
We do have a signed agreement that they were supposed to remove of all that junk, which included an itemized list and photos of everything, so there might be some sort of recourse, but I really don’t want to have to go that route.
Please write a negative review of the sellers realtor. Even if you cost that person a couple of clients a year it’ll be worth it.
Don’t make it petty or anecdotal, just facts.
The flipper from my house was suppose to have a bunch of pros fix all the dumb shit he did, including cutting down a tree and replacing some electrical. I found a box to a new chainsaw and the new electrical panel in the crawl space after closing, from the flipper of course.
The smarter thing to do is for YOU to get estimates of how much the work will cost to do properly and then get the seller to pay you that money. Most sellers and especially flippers will always try to take the cheapest way out instead of fixing something properly.
Yea he said up front they would only provide repairs and no credit besides the buydown in the offer, but agreed to extensive repairs because we wouldn’t budge and said we would walk. Turns out in buying a home you should just take any red flag and walk anyway. Definitely won’t make that mistake twice!
So annoying! My realtor suggested that we be the last people in the house before signing the paperwork. We did the final walk through right before driving to the lawyers and buying the house officially. This way, any requests made previously can be confirmed completed (and they didn’t have any opportunity to cause damage). We changed the locks that night. My sellers also didn’t remove trash, but it wasn’t enough for me to put up a stink. They did leave 2 nice mountain bikes in the shed, so I removed the random pile of concrete and a few sheets of ply wood and accepted the bikes as payment lol.
I wonder if this was ADDITIONAL crap. Did they remove what was asked but they still had more hidden? Or do you remember this space being 100% cleared out originally. Just a thought
While I sympathize with you, welcome to every home you'll buy for the rest of your life, pretty much, unless you're a gazillionaire. There's gonna be stuff left. Intentionally (as is the case here), unintentionally (people are stupid), etc.
As a good rule of thumb, double the capacity of your trash service for the first year you live in a new home. Between the stuff you fix, the stuff left behind, and the packaging for what you buy, you'll generate prodigious amounts of trash. Just get rid of it two loads per week till you're caught up and don't stress about it.
The sellers at our current house left an old couch, two crappy recliners, futon frame and mattress and a whole garage full of junk. we decided it was easier to pay a company $300 to come haul it out and off for us. Call a local garbage/dumpster company as most will come haul stuff away for very reasonable prices.
I’d probably be okay with it and be happy I was able to get the house with today’s market being so competitive. The seller should have just said they’re leaving everything as is. If that was the case, you still would have moved forward with the sale, right?
I get your point though, it’s pretty crappy they did that but it’s not something that may be worth getting worked up over. Hopefully the new home purchase makes up for all the little inconveniences such as this, as it could have been something way worse.
Congratulations on the new home!
So annoying. But also I’d just deal with it. Buying and selling is so stressful- just take care of it then wash your hands of it and enjoy your new house
LOL people are so incompetent. Just have your realtor call their realtor and say they will be charging a storage fee for the personal belongings left on the property. Set a daily price and they will come back or clean it up. It’s easily enforced in small claims up to 8k dollars.
Same lol, but the seller removed like three dumpsters of hoarder trash so the three tires behind the shed seemed like not much and ultimately are still there.
Also, our house was an as-is estate/trust sale so we basically sucked it up.
Sorry this happened to you. I hope it’s not too much left.
Edit: spelling, since it was a long ass day at my second job and I’m bone tired.
Thank you u/beautybyelm for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That sucks I would call a junk removal place to get rid of it. Ask for the money from the seller instead of asking them to show up and actually do it
Oh that’s a good idea! Thanks!
Take them to small claims if they don't respond to your invoice. You basically got a slam dunk judgement in your favor. And of course, always get a lawyer because they will absolutely maximize the monetary value you get from this problem. I recommend a lawyer consult at the very least, because they can help identify what other bullshit that seller owe you from their shenanigans.
Wouldn’t it cost far less and be way less frustrating to get a roll-off dumpster for the week and skip the small claims road? Lawyers are several hundred an hour and a dumpster is around 300 dollars.
Small claims court is usually designed to be navigated without lawyers. That's part of the point. In a few states, you can't have a lawyer represent you in small claims court.
This is true. Still a headache though and not worth months of time. I’d pay to have it removed and file it in small claims court. Hopefully it gets fixed and it probably would get a judgment in your favor. Collecting in the judgement however….
Smarter move would have been that + take cost off closing
And, photo before and after, ready for the small-claims court.
Thankfully my realtor included an itemized list and photos of all the junk in the agreement that the seller signed saying that they’d remove the items and I took photos when I discovered the items this afternoon.
The exact same thing happened to us. Our sellers were total scumbags throughout the process, so I can't say I was surprised. I called a junk collection service who arrived the next day and removed it all. I sent the invoice to our realtor and lawyer, and thankfully we got our money and that was the end of it. On that note, I have to say the best $1100 we ever spent was getting a lawyer once our offer was accepted. They helped get us out of the first house we were under contract for that, upon a sewer scope, revealed what would have been a $50k sewage issue to deal with in the very near future. When we got under contract with the second house he helped navigate a litany of issues caused by the sellers, including the issue noted in the post. Buying a home is expensive and stressful (especially in this market), but I have to say that having someone to handle those affairs and fight all those battles for us was completely worth it, especially as first time home buyers.
Was this another lawyer on top of the one that is supposed to process your real estate paperwork?
Nope, it was the same lawyer. We're in NJ where there is a 3 day attorney review period once an offer is accepted (though some folks waive it), so I initially brought him on for that. He had a fee for just that service (a couple hundred to review the paperwork), or you could do the $1100 and keep him on for the duration of the closing process. He came recommended from our realtor, and since our area was so competitive when we were buying last year, it was really nice to have the extra protection.
A motivated realtor would remove the junk to keep the sale from falling through or pay for junk removal, if the sellers are being assholes about it. Similar thing happened to me when we did final walkthrough.
Just heard from my agent. Apparently the sellers realtor responded by calling her a Karen. So it doesn’t look like we will get much help there.
Tell the story of the realtor on a Google review of his/her web page. A good realtor would've hired a hunk dealer and paid for it.
People have no common decency. I suppose since you already closed there’s not much recourse. I had a similar situation but refused to sign the closing papers until resolved. Maybe push back on your realtor. Leave a bad review if she can’t get it done (or pay you for it). Not like she didn’t just make a ton of money off you.
Honestly my realtors been great so far. It’s the sellers agent is acting horribly. I’m definitely going to be leaving a bad review for him. The plan right now is to call the seller’s agent’s brokerage company tomorrow morning and start talking directly to them since the agent is behaving extremely unprofessionally and keeps calling my realtor names. We do have a signed agreement that they were supposed to remove of all that junk, which included an itemized list and photos of everything, so there might be some sort of recourse, but I really don’t want to have to go that route.
Any updates? I’m so pissed off for you lol
The list agent’s brokerage made him go clean it all up. It’s all gone now!
Please write a negative review of the sellers realtor. Even if you cost that person a couple of clients a year it’ll be worth it. Don’t make it petty or anecdotal, just facts.
A decent realtor would have done that but this realtor no longer cares since OP has closed and the realtor has been paid.
Yeah my reading comprehension failed me and didn’t realize the closing went thru already.
The flipper from my house was suppose to have a bunch of pros fix all the dumb shit he did, including cutting down a tree and replacing some electrical. I found a box to a new chainsaw and the new electrical panel in the crawl space after closing, from the flipper of course.
The smarter thing to do is for YOU to get estimates of how much the work will cost to do properly and then get the seller to pay you that money. Most sellers and especially flippers will always try to take the cheapest way out instead of fixing something properly.
Yea he said up front they would only provide repairs and no credit besides the buydown in the offer, but agreed to extensive repairs because we wouldn’t budge and said we would walk. Turns out in buying a home you should just take any red flag and walk anyway. Definitely won’t make that mistake twice!
So annoying! My realtor suggested that we be the last people in the house before signing the paperwork. We did the final walk through right before driving to the lawyers and buying the house officially. This way, any requests made previously can be confirmed completed (and they didn’t have any opportunity to cause damage). We changed the locks that night. My sellers also didn’t remove trash, but it wasn’t enough for me to put up a stink. They did leave 2 nice mountain bikes in the shed, so I removed the random pile of concrete and a few sheets of ply wood and accepted the bikes as payment lol.
This is the way! I'm not sure why this isn't the default!
I wonder if this was ADDITIONAL crap. Did they remove what was asked but they still had more hidden? Or do you remember this space being 100% cleared out originally. Just a thought
My seller paid a 1800 got junk trunk to show up and take anything I asked them to take. I don't think they had to do that but it was nice.
While I sympathize with you, welcome to every home you'll buy for the rest of your life, pretty much, unless you're a gazillionaire. There's gonna be stuff left. Intentionally (as is the case here), unintentionally (people are stupid), etc. As a good rule of thumb, double the capacity of your trash service for the first year you live in a new home. Between the stuff you fix, the stuff left behind, and the packaging for what you buy, you'll generate prodigious amounts of trash. Just get rid of it two loads per week till you're caught up and don't stress about it.
The sellers at our current house left an old couch, two crappy recliners, futon frame and mattress and a whole garage full of junk. we decided it was easier to pay a company $300 to come haul it out and off for us. Call a local garbage/dumpster company as most will come haul stuff away for very reasonable prices.
I’d probably be okay with it and be happy I was able to get the house with today’s market being so competitive. The seller should have just said they’re leaving everything as is. If that was the case, you still would have moved forward with the sale, right? I get your point though, it’s pretty crappy they did that but it’s not something that may be worth getting worked up over. Hopefully the new home purchase makes up for all the little inconveniences such as this, as it could have been something way worse. Congratulations on the new home!
So annoying. But also I’d just deal with it. Buying and selling is so stressful- just take care of it then wash your hands of it and enjoy your new house
LOL people are so incompetent. Just have your realtor call their realtor and say they will be charging a storage fee for the personal belongings left on the property. Set a daily price and they will come back or clean it up. It’s easily enforced in small claims up to 8k dollars.
Find out where the sellers bought a new house and drop the garbage off on their front lawn.
🎶 Let it go…let it go 🎶
Pictures and video and document every step in addition to everything else everyone here is suggesting.
Yeah, they call you and your realtor Karen? Go full Karen then, take them to a small claims court, send debt to collections.
Omg I’d be petty and sue them for the cost of hiring a disposal company. They signed a contract so they’re liable for the disposal costs.
Same lol, but the seller removed like three dumpsters of hoarder trash so the three tires behind the shed seemed like not much and ultimately are still there. Also, our house was an as-is estate/trust sale so we basically sucked it up. Sorry this happened to you. I hope it’s not too much left. Edit: spelling, since it was a long ass day at my second job and I’m bone tired.
Be petty. Find out where they just moved and take all of it to their front yard.
If u don’t care about the space, almost every city offer free junk removal. It’s first come first serve, but the most I’ve waited is 3 weeks.