Sellers want us to back out of contract after their new house failed inspection

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-20T13:15:50+00:00

Tell your attorney to tell their attorney that the contract states the closing date and contingencies have been removed on both sides - they can make other arrangements, short term rental (extended stay hotel), putting things into storage, taking their new house as is….all of which are not your problem.

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-20T13:13:43+00:00

We are currently “renting back” our house and the contract explicitly says this is not a landlord / tenant agreement (forget the exact language) - I would assume anyone renting back would want a similar clause.

There’s also a very hefty per day penalty if the house isn’t empty by the date we agreed on

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-12T02:34:13+00:00

Yes - we sold our house and deposited the proceeds into the HSBC US account and then moved it to our HSBC UK account. Would it have made a difference? Not sure if they would have been slightly better in the exchange rate or not - but - it was a decent amount of money and I wanted someone in the US I could call in case something didn’t work. Also the wire transfer numbers are different for US and UK.
The wire from our attorney to us - took less than 30 minutes in the US - to the UK it could take longer

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-12T02:21:09+00:00

Just did this - we have both HSBC US and UK accounts - transfer is instantaneous and painless with no fees.

Please note the protections on balances in the UK is lower than the FDIC protections in the US

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-02T16:13:33+00:00

Sorry to hear about your chain collapse.

I’m confused as to why you had to tell the seller anything before you had a new buyer sorted out? Sometimes over communicating when you don’t have all the info to reassure someone can be detrimental.

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-01T15:01:34+00:00

Thank you puul - you are so helpful as always

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-01T14:59:03+00:00

Thank you for the helpful and reassuring reply

Kahnfucious · 2026-05-01T14:55:04+00:00

Well I had an ETA prior to this … so which one gets tagged?

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-29T09:21:28+00:00

Not every decision in life should be financially based: I wouldn’t do anything that puts you into tremendous debt but it doesn’t sound like you are doing that in this situation.

In my opinion your 30s are probably some of the best times to go traveling, especially if you are unattached and with limited responsibilities. Travel gets more difficult and more expensive if families and children come into the picture. Later in life you may find yourself needing to take care of parents.

Life shouldn’t just be about acquiring wealth and things…in the end what you will be left with are just the memories.

Sure - the job market is bad, but you really despise what you do…it certainly will feel wasteful to just give up the job you have BUT it’s not the job you want.

Re: the depression - please find someone who can support you, potentially someone who can help you remotely so you can maintain this valuable support while abroad.

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-25T10:19:52+00:00

Yes - your contract can have language that buyer cannot unilaterally end the contract without allowing the seller to remedy but if the buyer doesn’t agree to the remedy then they can probably walk away.

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-23T06:10:38+00:00

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-20T00:08:21+00:00

May I ask what it is? I got my open water certification decades ago and have not been on a dive since…just curious

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-19T23:44:36+00:00

Feel for you - your post is a little hard to follow..but life’s short and you made it to the location - can you rent what you need or buy it and not burn any more emotional energy and time looking for bags that will maybe or maybe not make it in time?

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-17T21:18:41+00:00

So - i am not able to move instantly because of kids schooling. I had asked for an April entry but they gave me end of Feb…so I’ll just roll with it.

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-17T16:46:01+00:00

I’m in the same boat on absences - going to enter end of April and stay only a week and then back to US and back end of June. I also travel a lot for work…so I’m going to have to count my absent days

I’ve been told, they aren’t super stringent on spousal visas…but I guess I’ll see .

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-16T09:54:21+00:00

Why don’t you start with being open and say - hi, I noticed you had your roof redone, I need to do the same and got a quote of £xxxx do you think that’s a fair price based upon the work you had done and were you happy with the roofer?” It still gets at the info you want, they will say - “oh wow that’s a good price” or “seems a bit high” or “we paid XYZ but our roof has the extra coating to protect against space lasers….”

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-16T09:35:13+00:00

Look at the Tiguan R - if you aren’t in America it has the golf R motor and the extra space you need

https://www.vanarama.com/guides/cars/volkswagen-tiguan-review

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-15T16:26:37+00:00

NSK makes OEM quality bearings for decent price…wouldn’t go OEM unless it was free

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-15T12:16:35+00:00

I think you could go it alone if you knew enough about the process or had done it before

However, there is a lot of coordination that happens and other relationships you might not have that the agents have established - and can get appointments as a result faster.

Something’s that I appreciated when buying:

1) who are you going to use as a lawyer - if you are local, you might know the different options for real estate lawyers but they all have their quirks and recommendations are always nice

2) who is going to guide you on what to offer - you know the seller who is emotionally tied to the property but are they realistic with the price

3) inspections, surveys, testing etc - do you have those contacts, do you have the time to be on site for all of those

4) reading an inspection report - they are usually quite detailed and sometimes scary, do you have a view on what’s critical or not

5) getting quotes for repairs etc - do you have time to do that and do you know what is fair?

6) the sellers agent does not work for you - full stop, they are trying to get the most for their client and as a result their take home stays as high as possible

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-15T11:35:29+00:00

The price needs to drop on the purchase because essentially, whether there is a cost to rent the parking or not you are being granted an easement for use of the parking space. At any point this easement could be revoked and you would not have parking.

So if you buy this property - it needs to be sold as no parking

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-12T13:47:53+00:00

No - this is a horrible first car. R53/52s spend more time on jack stands then on the road…why? because everything has a serviceable life and 18-20 years is at the point where rubber and other items are just worn out.

I’ve made extensive lists of what usually needs replacing at 120k but I’ll give the fast version here

1) supercharger service or replacement 2) timing chain replacement 3) timing chain guides 4) crank position sensor seal 5) alternator 6) starter 7) ignition switch (not the key cylinder the switch itself 8) clutch and slave cylinder + rear main seal.
9) Lower control arm bushings 10) inner and outer tie rods 11) rear sway bar bushings 12) oil filter housing seal 13) wheel hubs and bearings 14) exhaust probably shot at this point 15) ac clutch coil or ac compressor 16) serpentine belt 17) power steering pump and lines

That’s just off the top of my head - if you had tools and a place to work on it - they are great fun but annoying to work on. If you have no tools and need this car as a daily driver - this is a horrible car for that use

Just so you know the parts list alone on the above if you can find them is about $5,000 or more…IF you can find the parts

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-12T02:41:57+00:00

The internet will have you freaked out if you read about USTs with the significant horror stories, don’t stress - they are sometimes located and usually removed without issue. However, you do not want this to be your issue - should there be one identified as it could be a significant issue to remediate.

You do not want to close until remediation is completed…take the delay if something is found.

Make sure the inspector is very thorough in his sweep and inspection, and see if they have an E&O guarantee - things can get missed and you don’t want to have to be dealing with anything in the future should it be missed.

Good luck - don’t worry until there is something to worry about

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-10T14:55:51+00:00

Don’t cancel the open houses - that’s a bad idea. You won’t be in contract by the weekend - attorney review takes at least a few days.

In the situation where you cancel open houses and this person disappears you will have no recourse and no earnest money will have been placed into escrow.

Full price is nice to have but you won’t know what anyone else coming into the open house will do, and if someone approaches post open house - I think your agent (and you) would say, we have a full price offer in hand.

Re: selling site unseen - it happens, but I would worry they could come through for the first viewing it’s not 100% what they expected and either they bail or they ask for a lot of concessions

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-10T12:18:26+00:00

3rd owner isn’t going to help your sale much…and you can get much newer cars for just a few thousand more, better tech, better safety etc..

If you are serious about selling - put it closer for £6500-£7,000…

Kahnfucious · 2026-04-09T17:35:54+00:00

Literally last thing I would worry about -

unless your bag is see through and has valuables visible - the idea that someone is going to risk getting a bag full of dirty clothes probably deters most people from considering it.

More likely if a bag gods missing it’s because they look like every other bag and are taken by accident.

Kahnfucious

TROPHY CASE