the wasserblawg

R emember to make a walk-through checklist  By Michael H. Wasserman In real estate, one would think a final pre-closing walk through is pretty straightforward: Is the house still standing? Check  Are the sellers belongings removed? Check  Are the shower heads and appliances still in place? Check Check  Are there new holes in the walls or broken windows? Check Check Yet our law firm sees SO MUCH 11th hour drama Locked storage rooms that could not examined  Crawlspaces that were not cleaned out  Broken washing machines  Backed up plumbing  Missing mailbox keys We saw all of these—and more—last year. These pain points inflame the furies of already stressed out clients. Let me suggest that we haven't been taking walk throughs seriously enough. Buyers call me with post-closing and at-closing problems that could have been avoided. They are never happy calls. Some end better than others. I’m increasingly in favor of having the final walk thru the day before closi