Needed to Vent

[redhen]

I think it is up to the realtor if its stated in the contract...
Otherwise its not their problem.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
No, actually it isn't. All things of public record do not have to be researched by the realtor, but the buyer. You can make a contract contingent on being able to have chickens, yes, however, it is still up to the buyer to find out if that is the case. If she finds out that she cannot have them, then she has an out and can get her earnest money returned. If she didn't have that written in the contract, she can still try to back out, but may not get her deposit back. The OP did not say she made the written contract contingent on that fact. All aspects of real estate contracts must be written to be enforceable.

 

[chickened]

Cynthia is right, a realtor only presents the information. I have bought a few parcels and the realtor lied in all of them but I did my homework and knew what I was getting. The realtor lying actually was to my benefit not the seller of which they are supposed to represent.

I would look around and see if the ordinance is enforced because if it isn't then they would have to make all chicken owners get rid of thier birds.

It is still best to do your own research.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
No, actually it isn't. All things of public record do not have to be researched by the realtor, but the buyer. You can make a contract contingent on being able to have chickens, yes, however, it is still up to the buyer to find out if that is the case. The OP did not say she made the written contract contingent on that fact.

Interesting! And good to know! Greyeyes is going through this now(you know her big thread?).. and she said something about it was in her contract..Something about the sale being contingent on chickens being allowed.. etc..
So hopefully she'll be covered??

Wheres she at?

Yes, i gathered from the OP's post that she didnt make the contract contingent on being allowed farm animals...
Thats too bad. *sigh*

 

[chickened]

You can also protect your earnest money by putting in the earnest agreement that the sale is contingent on the things you want.
Quote:
No, actually it isn't. All things of public record do not have to be researched by the realtor, but the buyer. You can make a contract contingent on being able to have chickens, yes, however, it is still up to the buyer to find out if that is the case. The OP did not say she made the written contract contingent on that fact.

Interesting! And good to know! Greyeyes is going through this now(you know her big thread?).. and she said something about it was in her contract..Something about the sale being contingent on chickens being allowed.. etc..
So hopefully she'll be covered??

Wheres she at?

Yes, i gathered from the OP's post that she didnt make the contract contingent on being allowed farm animals...
Thats too bad. *sigh*

 

[Runt Of The Litter]

Quote:
agreed,sister did exactly the same thing when she rescued a badly abused and kicked out pregnant cat from the garden of her work,she used to rent a house with several other girls and the contract stated no pets but she got around it no problem.

CoopedChik,
is the acres rule set by the housing people,or is it refering to the general rule of how many acres per horse?
if refering to general rule,the standard minimum per horse is two and a half acres-though not sure what that means in reality.
are the horses existing or future residents?
perhaps coud see if someone in the area,whether a local person with some land or a riding school,or a livery yard etc woud exchange keeping the horse/s on their land in exchange for doing chores for them-such as being a stablehand?
personaly know a number of horse owners over here who get to keep their horses in livery yards for free in return for helping to look after the horses of owners who pay for full/part livery though one had to sell one of her horses as she simply coudnt afford both regardless of free board.
itd be worth asking around if board is desperately needed,as people can only say no.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
No, actually it isn't. All things of public record do not have to be researched by the realtor, but the buyer. You can make a contract contingent on being able to have chickens, yes, however, it is still up to the buyer to find out if that is the case. The OP did not say she made the written contract contingent on that fact.

Interesting! And good to know! Greyeyes is going through this now(you know her big thread?).. and she said something about it was in her contract..Something about the sale being contingent on chickens being allowed.. etc..
So hopefully she'll be covered??

Wheres she at?

Yes, i gathered from the OP's post that she didnt make the contract contingent on being allowed farm animals...
Thats too bad. *sigh*

When selling my MIL's home after her death we had a "good faith" clause written into the agreement, stating htat the purchasers would make a good faith effort to get a loan. They and their realtor started hasseling us to provide a 5 year 2nd mortgage, but that it would be paid off in a year, but that their potential lendor was unwilling to agree to a 1 year 2nd mortgage. Closing dragged and dragged, over the expected 30 days. Finally, when we discovered that the reason that "they would be able to pay off the 2nd mortgage in a year" was that they expected to win a settlement over a lawsuit. REALLY?! They also took property (furniture) from the storage room at MIL's home, expecting that it would be theirs. THere was nothing in the contract giving them any furnishings. The realtor told them it was OK. We gave him a tongue lashing and told him to "GET IT BACK!" Should have fired him on the spot--or at least as soon as it was returned.

Anyways once we realized why they could not get the loan, we cancelled the sale and requested to keep the ernest money. In our minds they knew they had no chance for a loan and were playing us along, trying to finagle us into giving them a 2nd mortgage that they could not afford. They did not make a good faith effort to secure a loan. The escrow complany, unfortunately did not agree with us and they got their money back evn though the property was off the market for two months.

 

[speckledhen]

Contingencies in a contract are for things that must be done before it can close. If it does somehow close and those contingencies have not been met, you would have to speak to a legal person about that. A contract contingent on being able to have chickens which closes due to misinformation that the buyer could have had in its correct form if he/she had done due diligence basically ends up out of the realtor's hands and into the legal department, IMO. I never had that happen in all my years as a realtor but then, I tried not to take on responsibilities that were not mine to take.

There are very specific laws the define what a realtor is responsible for and what he/she is not. All laws/ ordinances/ covenants are public record and not something that I, as a realtor, am supposed to find out and guarantee for my buyer. It's up to you, the buyer, to ask and to go to the proper sources to find those things out. Again, much misinformation is being passed around by word of mouth and even the realtor can be mislead, so take the bull by the horns and be proactive in your own home buying experience-dig for the documentation in the records you need to make your decisions. Everything that goes wrong is not the realtor's fault. I've been a buyer and a seller before and after I did my stint as a realtor so have seen this from all angles.

If someone wants to keep chickens, assumes because of the area that he can keep them, buys a house with no contingency for that in the contract, then finds out he can't have them, due to some misinformation or just not looking for the info, there's not much that can be done; you can try to cancel the contract, but of course, you will at least probably lose the earnest money.

 

[Southernbelle]

I agree about the buyer verifying everything. Our realtor is a nice, helpful woman, but I never accept third-hand info as fact. When we bought this house with 6+ acres, I called the sheriff's office to find out if we can hunt on our land. I called the zoning folks to find out if I can have farm animals and if there were restrictions. I forget who else I called, but I spent a lot of time doing my own research before closing.

 

[WingingIt]

Have you closed already or are you just under contract to close? If you are still under contract to close, you still have an option based on your inspection. Most contracts have written into them that you have a certain number of days after the inspection to cancel the contract based on what was found during inspection/research. So, in your case, you would state that you've found that the property will not work for the intended purposes and you are canceling the contract. If there are any big things found in your inspection, that's even more things to list as your reason. The sellers may not like it, but if they are the ones that misled your realtor and you can show you now know the truth, they don't have to like it. We found out during our inspection/research/survey period that the sellers had lied about how much land they owed and you BET that affected everything.

SH is right, the onus is on the buyer to verify (legally) that the bylaws/rules/right of ways/etc. are as stated and will work (or not) for you.