Short sale not yet accepted, but now leaky rook.
We put an offer in an a bankruptcy short sale, so the bankruptcy trustee needs to accept the offer (which he did, and is the one I made a thread about previously with the $5k release fee) AND the bank needs to accept the offer as a short sale.
Originally, they "accepted" someone else's offer, but they backed out because supposedly didn't want to live in that area. Anyways, we decided to go ahead and stick with our offer and the listing agent a few days in told our agent that the offer was accepted. We were excited that it seemed pretty quick for a short sale. Anyways, of course I call to set up an inspection.
The utilities are not on and the meter was in the basement because the house was winterized. In order to turn on the utilities for the one day for the inspection, we needed to get the city inspector to come out and ok it. So, fast forward a few days from hearing our offer was "accepted" and my realtor and handyman go to the property (had rained a few days prior) and see water that had leaked into the master bedroom and the ceiling was wet and the carpet as well.
Then, the listing agent calls our agent and says she was mistaken that it is not actually accepted, but just the trustee has accepted, still waiting on the bank. We had already paid the $50 for the city to come in and inspect to be able to turn on the utilities, so we decided to go ahead with that (no further charge for anything). They looked in the bedroom and the carpet was still damp, but no further water damage.
So, time to make a decision. What do we do? We don't have a formally accepted offer by all parties. There was no leak when we first saw the place and the second showing either. Then, the third time they checked after the listing agent said it was accepted they see the water damage. Fourth time in and there is no further damage. What would you do?
In our estimates, of course we didn't include for a leaky roof repair because there wasn't an issue at the time. I know these things can draw on forever, and will be at least 30 days until closing at that. So, that's a long time for the place to sit vacant, no utilities and no remediation let alone fixing it (sale is "as-is" of course).
Our options:
1. Walk away? Can we do this if the trustee already accepted but the bank did not? If we could get in quickly and fix it, we would be fine. It's the further unknown damage (supposed to rain all week) that is the issue.
2. Stay with it as is. I don't really want to do this one either because I don't know how much that will cost to fix and any further damage, aka mold, that might happen while we are waiting for acceptance or waiting on closing.
3. Change offer price? Can we do this? Just pull our first offer and submit lower one? I'd like to do this option, but how much would a roof replacement cost? This leaking is where an addition butts up against the older part of the home. But is only in one spot of the room. (additon is a dining room and bedroom with half bath). I'm thinking at least drop offer by $5k maybe even $10k to account for the unknowns.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated!