LINDY STAFFORD

The home was listed at 180k. We liked it, but the market was depressed, so we offered 160k. We were in a hurry to move, but Lindy, the list agent, could not be bothered on a weekend so we had to extend our offer's deadline. On Monday, she told our agent that the offer was "much too low" before even presenting it to her client. The seller immediately countered at 170k. We came to terms at 167k. The inspection uncovered several defects: Windows painted shut, Ungrounded outlets, Termite damage, Asbestos coated pipe, and a 20+ year old HVAC system. We asked for 10k to repair these items. Lindy again told us we were being unreasonable. (Isn't that the seller's decision?) Unbelievably, the seller countered at $500! Foolishly, we settled on $2500 in repair costs. The real kicker here is related to the seller's disclosure. In it, the seller had checked the "I don't know" box under Air Conditioner status. We asked Lindy and the seller at the closing if the A/C worked. They responded that yes, it worked fine. My inspector, BK Home Inspections, did not check the A/C because it was January, and he claimed he couldn't turn it on. We figured, oh well, we had an HMS home warranty as an insurance policy. Fast forward to May, when it's time to use the A/C... I realized that the A/C breaker was tripped. When I reset, it tripped the whole house. My electrician told me that the compressor motor was frozen, and that caused the power surge. Also the A/C disconnect had been bypassed, i.e. hot wired. So my next call went to the HMS home warranty people. They sent out their preferred HVAC vendor to take a look. This guy tells me that there is no Freon in the system. So it couldn't have worked in the last few years. And the inspector should have been able to check for Freon. So HMS denies my claim, because it was a pre-existing condition from before I bought the home (never buying another HMS warranty). In the end, I had to shell out $10k for a complete new HVAC system. Before buying the house, I knew that the old system would need to be replaced, but I hoped that it would at least run for a few years. My major complaint is that the listing agent and/or the seller lied about the A/C unit being functional. When I emailed them about this, they just chose not to respond. Some type of apology or assistance would have resulted in a much nicer Angie's List report.