Hello everybody! I find myself in a little trouble. Hopefully, someone will be able to provide advice on how to best tackle this; I would greatly appreciate it. 

I recently purchased my first house hack in Texas. The final walkthrough was October 17th, thinking we would close a few days later, the house was complete at that time. The lender dragged on the approval process, and I ended up signing closing documents on November 12 during a remote closing. My agent was not present. There were 26 days between the final walkthrough and closing. My agent didn't think of having another walkthrough. She says we didn't have one because I didn't ask for one. (My lack of experience was the reason why I wanted an agent in the first place.) The Title Company received part of my funds via wire transfer around 4-5pm on November 12 and the other part was a cashier's check I provided to the escrow officer during closing. My agent gave me the code to the lockbox at the property so I would pick up the keys after work myself on November 13 after asking for them a day prior.  That's when I realized the AC unit was gone. I contacted her, she contacted the seller. I filed the police report. (I now know the final walkthrough is done a day prior or even the day of closing.) 

The seller offered to pay most of the cost of the unit and installation with the condition of having me pay $1,250. My agent and her broker say there's nothing they can do to help me. I do not want to pay $1,250 for an AC unit I already paid for once when I bought the home. 

As of today, I plan to file a complaint with the Texas Real Estate Commission against my agent and probably file a lawsuit against the seller. 

I would really appreciate your opinion on how to fix the mess I got myself into. 

Thank you!

@Miriam De Haro   I always did my final walk through with clients on the way to closing for exactly this reason.

If I was representing a buyer and came across a situation like this, I'd demand a holdback of funds sufficient to remedy the situation or I'd refuse to close.

Too late for that now. You can take a swing at the agent's E&O policy. I do think the agent should have recommended another walk through immediately before closing but I don't know if that rises to the level of negligence that would trigger a payout from his E&O.

You can also see if the seller had insurance that would cover the loss.  Or maybe yours would, assuming you had a policy in place that would cover it.

You can also go to small claims and sue the agent.  I've done it twice and at least in Massachusetts, it was really simple.

As far as suing the seller, you can try it but I expect his defense to be "she had every opportunity to do a walk through on the day of closing" and/or "The buyer cannot prove that the AC was stolen during my ownership of the property".  I'm not a lawyer, but my bet is that either of those lines of defense would work.

BTW, as a matter of law (again, in Mass, but I'd bet it's nationwide) all terms of the P&S are considered settled at closing. So even if the P&S specifically stated that there would be a working AC, once closing has taken place, that clause is unenforceable unless there was some sort of side contract signed that would survive closing.

Good luck!

@Miriam De Haro When you closed, you essentially acknowledged fulfillment of the owner's contractual obligation. I see no way your agent E&O policy would cover this.

BTW, you did get a New AC for $1250.  Most sellers would just say too bad, I don’t know when it was stolen (before or after close).  Unless you can show it was stolen Afyer closing, your insurance won’t pay and the seller will probably have the same problem with their insurance.

I think you lose any action/suit against anyone.

I'm sorry this happened to you.  It's not uncommon, especially on flips it seems like...and some foreclosures and sometimes new builds for AC units and appliances.  When was the AC stolen?  Before or after closing?

What I think is crazy is these things seem to happen on closing day in many cases....so even if you go right before closing when you return to move in the items are gone.  I've seen it on multi-million dollar homes in Highland Park, cheap houses in the hood and everything and everywhere in between.

Was it stolen from outside the house or inside the house?

If it was outside the house, did you walk around the outside or drive by before closing even without your agent?

Have you discussed with the lender?  That's crazy to me they're a month late in closing.  Maybe it is their fault, but not sure you can do anything to recover any loss from them.

You could try to file on your insurance I guess, but you may want to check your deductible first to see if they will cover anything.

take the sellers offer.. no one is going to litigate for an  air conditioner cost of litigation exceeds the value of the AC.

It sucks I know.. it has happened to all of us in the industry.. and in C class or areas were you see them caged there is a reason for that..
I have had new construction broke into and all appliances stolen again it sucks.

@Bruce Lynn  

Hi Bruce,

 Unfortunately, nobody knows when the AC unit was stolen. It was after the final walkthrough and before I got the keys. I got the keys one day after closing. I owned the house for one day out of the 27 days it could have been stolen. Yes, I have heard this situation is very common and yet the experienced people in the transaction didn’t have my best interests in mind.

No, unfortunately, I did not drive by the property right before closing—lesson learned. And, the lender said the delay was due to all the backlog they had. 

Yes it sucks and lessons learned. Take the seller's offer.

I would take the deal . It could have happened 15 minutes after you signed the closing docs. Its close to your deductable even if you claim it . Now be careful , once its replaced it could be stolen again 

Looks like you're the proud new owner of a $1,250 Air conditioner! Take the offer and run. Lawsuit won't do much and it really isn't negligent of the agent here either. There is nothing requiring an agent to even perform a final walk through. So an E&O claim on an agent not doing a second walk through probably isn't going to go far. 

Suing them won't go to far. It would be wise to take the deal since the deal is close. 

It is important to always have a walkthrough to avoid situations like this. 

$1,250 is a fair offer...and the house is worth more with a new unit (in theory at least).  Maybe offer $1,000 and call it a day but you don't want this offer to go away.  No need for Vinny Gambini.

Welcome to home ownership. Things get stolen. File an insurance claim, thats what its for. 

I think your attitude is totally wrong. What did the seller do to warrant a lawsuit? If you were the seller would you think you did anything wrong? Why does your agent need to advise you that you should look at something that is vacant and unwatched before you spend a lot of money on it?

Victim attitude doesn’t get you far. Got to own this one. Next time you spend 100k on something go see it at least 48 hours before buying it. $1200 is cheap for a lesson. That old ac probably wasn’t brand new anyway.

Sorry that probably sounds harsh, but victim mentality will get you nothing but bitterness.

@Miriam De Haro

This situation sucks and $1250 is a hard pill to swallow, however I do not see eye to eye with you on how to resolve this.

I think the seller (better referred to as previous owner being that you closed and this is a done deal) is bending over backwards to offer to take care of replacing and installing the new unit for $1250. Put yourself in the sellers shoes, and then the agents. I dont see what either party did or didnt do as wrong. It seems you learned a lot and dodged a bigger bullet at the same time.

If insurance doesnt cover this, pay the $1250 and keep the warranty paperwork for the new unit. Use a new agent in the future if you must, and always stop by the property on your way to the closing.

@Miriam De Haro

The sellers offer was very generous because they have no legal obligation to provide anything.

It was your responsibility to do a final walk through on the day of closing.

Any lawsuit or legal action by you wouldn’t go in your favor.

I am really sorry this happened to you.

Unfortunately the world is full of scumbags who steal stuff from hardworking individuals.

@Miriam De Haro

Sorry for this inconvience, but where I live a brand new AC install you're looking around 2-3k with the coil still installed. You're getting a new AC unit for $1250, ****** thing happened but honestly that new AC is gonna last you for years to come.

@Miriam De Haro It’s nobody’s fault. Take the offer, and buy a cage so it doesn’t happen again.

@Miriam De Haro

Sorry that happened to you, it’s frustrating for sure. I’ll say $1250 is better than the alternative had that been stolen just a few days after you bought the home.

Or let’s say had your lender closed on time you would be out the cost of an entire AC unit. It sounds like the seller extended the closing so you could get financing (which is always frustrating for a seller). And because they extended the closing for you it prolonged their inherit risk of holding a vacant house. And it sounds like ultimately they are paying a heavier price knowing it will cost much more then $1250 plus they had mortgage and utility cost to hold the property through the extension.

Your agent should be advising you on walk throughs prior to closing, so you may need a new agent but I wouldn’t go filing anything as overall you ended up on the better side of the coin on this deal.

Best of luck!!

Originally posted by @Miriam De Haro :

Hello everybody! I find myself in a little trouble. Hopefully, someone will be able to provide advice on how to best tackle this; I would greatly appreciate it. 

I recently purchased my first house hack in Texas. The final walkthrough was October 17th, thinking we would close a few days later, the house was complete at that time. The lender dragged on the approval process, and I ended up signing closing documents on November 12 during a remote closing. My agent was not present. There were 26 days between the final walkthrough and closing. My agent didn't think of having another walkthrough. She says we didn't have one because I didn't ask for one. (My lack of experience was the reason why I wanted an agent in the first place.) The Title Company received part of my funds via wire transfer around 4-5pm on November 12 and the other part was a cashier's check I provided to the escrow officer during closing. My agent gave me the code to the lockbox at the property so I would pick up the keys after work myself on November 13 after asking for them a day prior.  That's when I realized the AC unit was gone. I contacted her, she contacted the seller. I filed the police report. (I now know the final walkthrough is done a day prior or even the day of closing.) 

The seller offered to pay most of the cost of the unit and installation with the condition of having me pay $1,250. My agent and her broker say there's nothing they can do to help me. I do not want to pay $1,250 for an AC unit I already paid for once when I bought the home. 

As of today, I plan to file a complaint with the Texas Real Estate Commission against my agent and probably file a lawsuit against the seller. 

I would really appreciate your opinion on how to fix the mess I got myself into. 

Thank you!

 Did your agent or the seller steal the AC unit? What's it got to do with them? You ran into some back luck. Welcome to being a business owner. Won't be the last time. Suck it up.

This is a contract interpretation question and the contract has not been provided. lol

What exactly does the contract say about the condition of the property to be delivered at settlement? What provisions of the contract expressly survive the settlement?

Sorry for your bad luck. It is not uncommon to not have another walkthrough prior to closing on the contract as the agreement states that the property should be in
the same condition as the walk through. Usually after the walkthrough, its weeks before you complete and take possession so that is not uncommon either.

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with your realtors, this is between you and the seller. I've had similar situations where I ended up getting an apartment which hadn't been cleaned well after their moveout (which was one of the conditions on the agreement) and the realtor said to be honest it could've been worse if they left a ton of stuff behind as its not really worth a lawsuit over... the realtor did offer to complain to the other realtor about this to see if they'd do anything but most of the time the sellers don't care or will send a small e-transfer as compensation.

Your only option is to pursue a lawsuit or accept the offer. His offer doesn't sound too bad as they could've easily washed their hands of the situation and said too bad its not our fault either.

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs :
take the sellers offer.. no one is going to litigate for an  air conditioner cost of litigation exceeds the value of the AC.

It sucks I know.. it has happened to all of us in the industry.. and in C class or areas were you see them caged there is a reason for that..
I have had new construction broke into and all appliances stolen again it sucks.

I agree. A friend in Norfolk VA had the same issue earlier this year prior to taking keys on a rental. He chalked it up to being a rookie in this game.

@Miriam De Haro I am not sure you can resolve, but realtor should have done final walk through day before or same day as close. I am sorry you cant trust people better

To those suggesting she pursue a lawsuit, who exactly would she sue and for what?  Not only doesn't she know WHO stole it, she doesn't even know WHEN it was stolen.  Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.  (Plus, I actually think the seller's offer was more than fair given what we know about this situation.)

I've lost an AC unit twice during the same rehab. Stings. Take the $1250 cuz it's as good as it will get. Live and learn.