Buying your first home is a huge and exciting accomplishment, right?? Okay yes, but did I expect to sue someone over my first property? Definitely not. I purchased a condo in July of 2016, a few months before my 23rd birthday. The inspection process was simple, the closing process was easy, and I was only moving 0.8 miles from where my current apartment was. Should be a piece of cake!

Before we get to the actual icing on the cake (ahem, the things I learned from suing someone), you gotta know what the cake is made of. We’re gonna start from the beginning and work through every ingredient so you know exactly how this cake came about. If you are really just an icing kinda person, scroll right on past all the tea to the list at the bottom. 

Side Note: Photos of lawsuits and legal battles aren’t fun. Instead, the sequence of photos will include some of the before/during/after pics we had over the course of owning the condo!

Learning About the Issue

My husband (then boyfriend) and I spent the first two weeks before I moved in scraping off the 1980’s popcorn ceilings and tearing up nasty cat-pee soaked carpets and pink tile floors. It was exhausting. Honestly, I think I still cough up ceiling dust sometimes. By the end of those two weeks, we were pumped and ready for my dad to come visit to help us install the beautiful new flooring!

The first day of laying the flooring, a neighbor came and knocked on the door. He introduced himself, and asked how we ended up resolving the “porch issue”. Um…what porch issue? I was thoroughly confused. He’s a general contractor and went on to explain how we had a structural issue with our sunroom (something he knew because apparently the seller told “everyone in our circle about it”). Essentially, when our first floor porch was converted into a sunroom, it was shitty work. Therefore, the upstairs porch was slowly sinking into our sunroom. Great… I tend to be the “overly optimistic” type. I was not super concerned by our new revelation. I figured it would be a few hundred dollars and we’d be done with it soon. HA HA HA. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

After speaking with more neighbors around us, we got a hold of a stream of emails between the original owner, Kay, her agent Randy (not their real names), and the HOA. Basically, the previous owner Kay was WELL aware there was a structural issue and even asked the HOA to fix it. After she was informed it wasn’t their responsibility to fix, she lied about it on the disclosure documents (which is illegal) and sold it to an unknowing buyer, me! To make matters worse, Her agent Randy was also aware of the issue, and did nothing, implicating himself. Not only was Randy copied on emails about the issue, Kay had a buyer before me backout of the sale because their inspector caught the issue and they couldn’t come to an agreement.

Unfortunately for us, the only thing that came up in our inspection related to the porch was that the sliding doors were super stiff. We requested in our Amendment to Address Concerns that Kay repair the doors, to which she said she’d “see what her contractor could do”. Turns out, she didn’t do anything because the reason the doors we’re hard to slide was because they were being crushed by the sagging porch above. 

Steps We Took to Avoid Legal Action

Okay so NOW that we have all the details, seems pretty clear cut right? She lied, her agent knew about it, the HOA knew about it, and we have proof. She should just pay the $10,000 to fix it, or at least split the cost with us, yeah? Well, if you haven’t gotten the hint yet, it wasn’t that simple. 

Here’s a list of some of the steps we took to attempt to get this resolved before we hired a lawyer and filed a formal lawsuit:

• Paid a Structural Engineer to inspect the porch, confirm there was an issue, and write up a report about what needed to be done to fix it (his letter alone cost $300)
• Had two licensed contractors come out to provide estimates on the cost to fix it (the lower quote ended up being $10,050)
• Contacted the company we used for an inspection to see if they had any liability or could at LEAST refund me the $350 I paid for the inspection since it clearly didn’t do me any good. They said since they don’t typically evaluate the structure for condos because that’s usually covered by the HOA, they weren’t liable for anything. Awesomeeeee.
• The brokerage I used (the one my husband works for) negotiated on my behalf with the brokerage Randy works for. My husband’s brokerage said if one of their agents had messed up like this, they would’ve just paid to fix it to make it go away. Randy’s brokerage refused to pay anything
• Randy’s brokerage’s insurance said this wasn’t something covered by their policy
• Randy refused to pay anything, or even be open to negotiations
• We filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee through the Board of Realtors. We had an in-person hearing where both Randy and I argued our cases. Two months later, the Ethics Committee ruled that while Randy probably should have disclosed the issue, since Kay didn’t actually have a Structural Engineer come out to “confirm” there was a structural problem, Randy wasn’t required to disclose what his seller was “speculating about” HA okay. That makes TOTAL sense. Thankfully, our attorney said that wasn’t how legal matters work, since the Ethics Committee is really there to protect real estate agents, not buyers.
• We tried to file a civil complaint. But, since the condo was in a different county than Kay’s current address, Randy’s home address, and Randy’s brokerage, we were unable to file a civil complaint through the county.
• Once we had exhausted all other options, we finally contacted a real estate attorney.

I’d like to mention that by the time we hired our attorney, Jason (also not his real name), it was almost 2 years later. We’d been dealing with this for TWO years. TWO FREAKING YEARS. It’d been so long that I’d made new friends, gotten engaged, chopped off all my hair, gotten in shape, switched jobs, & was in the process of planning, saving, and paying for our wedding. If you’ve gotten married and had to save up for it, you know it’s not easy to just find $10,000 laying around.

How The HOA Ended up A Defendant in My Lawsuit

Shortly after we found Jason, our neighbors upstairs decided they wanted to sell their unit. Unfortunately, since their porch was collapsing into our sunroom, they couldn’t reasonably sell until it was repaired. Instead of telling us they wanted to move, they contacted the HOA and sent them our structural engineer’s report (something we had previously shared with them to keep them in the loop).

Now, this is where things got really f’d up. The HOA, who had been aware of the issue before we even purchased the property, sent me a letter saying they were imposing a $25 per day fine until the porch was repaired. Ahhhh, I see how it is. Don’t fine the woman who lied about it, just fine me now that someone else is complaining. If the HOA had imposed those same fines on Kay when they originally found out about it yearssssss ago, we would’ve either found out about it before closing through the HOA documents, or she would’ve been required to repair the porch to avoid the fines (i.e. she wouldn’t have been able to lie about it). Interesting approach HOA…

Finally Hiring An Attorney

So, one month before our wedding, we pulled together a way to pay for the porch and sent countless documents to our attorney, Jason. As most legal matters go, things moved slowwwww. Jason was AMAZING and did his best to exhaust all other options before moving forward with a formal legal complaint. He sent letters. He tried negotiating with the brokerage. Negotiating with the brokerage insurance. Negotiating with Randy. Unfortunately, they were just as stubborn as before. At least this time we were spending our time getting married, traveling to Thailand, and adjusting to newly married life while he negotiated on our behalf. But after 6 months, Jason advised us it was time for SHIT TO GET REAL.

In March of 2019 we filed formal lawsuits against Kay, Randy, and the HOA. Yes, we were suing the HOA of the neighborhood we were currently living in. Can’t say that’s the most comfortable situation to be in. But, the whole point of suing the HOA was to get rid of the fines and show that what they were doing was completely absurd. Thankfully, we were able to drop the HOA as a defendant early on (after they waived all our fines of course).

The Eventual Lawsuit Settlement

But, as we all know, there are no real winners once lawyers get involved. After MONTHS and MONTHS of more legal filings and document requests, we finally reached settlements with Kay and Randy in December of 2019. Here’s how our end of the lawsuit landed:

– $12,500 legal fees to Jason

+ $4,500 paid by Kay

+ $4,000 paid by Randy                             

– $4,000 net

+ $6,000 credit since Jason felt bad for us

+ $2,000 overall from legal battle

So yeah. If Jason hadn’t taken pity on us, and waived $6,000 (!!!!!) of our legal fees we would’ve ended up losing another $4,000 (on top of the costs to actually repair the porch!). Jason said our case had been great training for his new legal assistant and he wanted us to be able to walk away with a little money from the whole thing. So after all that, we ended up netting + $2,000 from the entire process.

Let’s think about that. After 3.5 years of negotiations, Kay and Randy together paid $8,500 in settlement payments and who even knows how much in legal fees. Once you factor in the costs to fix the porch, we still ended up at an $8,000 loss over the whole ordeal. If either one of them had just been open to negotiations from the beginning, all of us could’ve saved legal fees and split the repairs costs. Personally, I think they thought they could take advantage of a young, female, first-time home-buyer. SORRY NOT SORRY.

Was it All Worth It?

We may have only made $2,000 off the whole legal process, which on it’s own definitely wasn’t worth it for the effort it took. But, you know what was worth it? Knowing Kay and Randy had to deal with it too. Stressing over it, spending time combing through documents, worrying about it for years, paying legal fees, paying settlements, etc. Maybe that’s petty of me? Honestly though, at this point I don’t even care. Randy is still lurking in the shadows of Atlanta real estate though, so if you’re in the market to sell or buy, lemme know so I can tell you who to definitely stay away from.

Regardless of the shitty way it went down, I do believe at the end of the day, things happen the way they’re supposed to happen. We learned SO much during the whole process and have a true appreciation of the pros and cons of home ownership. THANKFULLY I bought in a really booming area so by the time we sold the condo, we ended up still coming out ahead (even when you include all the costs for the porch!).

Things I Learned From Owning My First Home (icing)

Will I buy another property again? Yeah, someday. But for now I’m gonna stick to renting so I can put in a maintenance request to the office anytime any little thing goes wrong.

In the meantime, here’s 15 personal takeaways/ tid-bits of advice I have for first-time home-buyers:

1.  Figure Out WHY You’re Buying

Figure it out before you even start looking. Home ownership is a great way to build equity, but it can also be a bitch. Don’t buy just because you feel like it’s the “next step” or that you’re “supposed” to.

2. USE AN AGENT

As a first time home buyer, you need an agent. Unless you have a real estate license, you need someone who understands the nuances of the home buying process to help guide you through. It’s much better to have someone negotiate on your behalf than to do it yourself. & the seller pays for your agent anyways, so why not!

3. Buy in a Good School District

Good school districts are the last area to fall during bad economic times, and the first to rebound. Even if you don’t have/never have/never want kids, it’s a good call to make sure your parental neighbors have good schools..

4. Make a MUST HAVE List Before You Start Looking

And I mean a super serious MUST HAVE list. No I don’t mean a “wish list” I mean a MUST HAVE. This will help make sure you don’t end up regretting your decision later. (This should be a short-ish list of around 5 items including anything from commute times, number of bedrooms, pool, backyard, open floor plan, etc.)

5. Make Decisions Based on Logic

I know it’s hard, but try to keep the process as logical as possible, and as unemotional as possible. It’s okay to be excited, but don’t give up something you viewed as important to you just because another aspect of the house was “perfect”. Sometimes the trade off between the inside of the house, and the location of the house is very real. Find that balance for you and stick to it.

6. Solidify Your Decision by Seeing More Properties

See a few other properties after you decide on your new home, it will solidify your decision later on when the excitement wears off and you start getting buyer’s remorse! Trust me, I also did this with my wedding dress. Thank GOD the girl helping me made me try on 3 other dresses after I found “the one”. I never regretted my decision or felt like I found one “too fast”.

7. Get a Good Inspection

You definitely want to get a high quality inspection. I don’t care if it’s twice the price. You want to have the best of the best inspecting your home. If your inspector recommends you pay an expert to inspect something, do it (or at least negotiate to get the seller to do it)

8. Know the Sellers Disclosures Inside & Out

Read the seller’s disclosures multiple, MULTIPLE times. You should know in depth any major items (if any) that the seller disclosed

9. ASK QUESTIONS

Ask so many questions. To everyone. Your agent, your inspector, your lender, the closing attorney, the internet. Everyone. It’s better to ask lots of annoying questions and understand what’s going on then blindly trust everyone. At the end of the day, you’re the one that will be stuck with this mortgage and liability, not everyone else.

10. Be Present At Your Inspection

Go with your inspector to the property and ask about every item you can think of that may seem off, and definitely anything that was noted in the Seller’s Disclosures

11. Take Before & After Photos

Take good before photos if you plan to make changes! That’s something I didn’t do a good job of at all so the before photos I have are from the original listing when we bought it. Even if no one else ever sees them, you don’t realize how big of a difference it is until you compare photos! It’ll make you proud of your hard work

12. Figure Out What’s A DIY & What’s Not

There are things that are worth paying someone else to do, and things that aren’t. We did A LOT of stuff ourselves even if the harder projects required expert DIY help (thanks Dad!!). But, there were certain things we paid professionals to do that I’m so glad we didn’t try to mess with (i.e. wiring of new electrical work). Just because someone else did something themselves doesn’t mean you will feel comfortable doing it. And just because someone you know say’s something is too hard to do yourself, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Only you can decide what’s what.

13. Don’t Waste Money On Random Updates

Unless it’s the home you plan to live in until you die. Otherwise, if you’re gonna spend money on updates, update the kitchen and bathrooms. Those are the places you’re more likely to get your money back on one day if/when you sell.

14. Don’t Make Massive Updates Just to Sell

Price the home accordingly and let a new buyer make the updates themselves. You might think that dark green shower looks FAB but everyone might not have the same, uh, unique taste you have.

15. Don’t Get Discouraged

Understand that home ownership is a never ending process. There will always be things you want to change or fix. There’s a lot of pride in that! Just don’t feel overwhelmed by it.

More Before & After Photos (Original Listing vs. Our Listing)