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We currently live in England and have been trying to relocate to the US for over the past year and have received a lot of good advice from this forum. We finally found what we thought was a nice house in Linton. It was listed on e-bay as a 3 bedroom house and was very reasonably priced. We called the people who were selling it and we had them send us loads of pictures and when we got to the house, it only had two bedrooms. We called the sellers about this and they said that they thought that this one room in the basement could be turned into a bedroom. The room they were speaking of is completely unfinished and full of garbage (30 black bags!). It doesn't conform with any North Dakota building regulations about a basement bedroom and the sellers don't think they've done a thing wrong. We love the town and the people and the school, but we've been ripped off with a house that was blatantly misrepresented. Does anyone have any advice other than the obvious . . . don't buy a house off of e-bay?
Thanks!
North Dakota does not have particularly strong consumer protection laws in terms of real estate; it is pretty much "caveat emptor" or "let the buyer beware." I'm not an attorney, but having explored this possibility in terms of misrepresentations in the disclosure about our own house, you could explore having the contract legally rescinded. However, like almost any legal filing, you could win or you could lose.
Did the buyer sign a property disclosure statement? I have sold homes thru a realtor and whenever you do so one of the first things is to sign paperwork about the home....number of bedrooms....workable appliances....any known defects, etc.... before listing. The buyer is signing a sheet saying that to his/her best knowledge these are the facts of the house. Now...if it can be proven he/she knowingly falsified information on this signed disclosure statement then you might have a case. Contact an attorney for info.
If there is no signed disclosure statement from the buyer and you are going off what he/she says/wrote in a non-signed statement then you are likely not going to have any recourse.
I know each state has laws that state what a room must have to be classified as a bedroom. This is especially true of a basement bedroom as some people use a room as a bedroom and may say it is a bedroom....even though legally it is not. I.E. you must have an egress window for a basement bedroom. I have also heard that it must have a closet too.
I am not in real estate business...but this is what I understand having sold and purchased 3 separate homes in my life so far.
Thanks everyone who gave constructive advice. We did contact ebay but since we didn't pay through paypal they said there wasn't anything they could do except give us the seller's contact details which we already had. It looks like it's probably going to have to be resolved legally. It's just an unfortunate situation. You put your faith and trust into people and then get taken advantage of.
As a Realtor, I always recommend that a buyer set foot in a property before purchasing. If you can't do that, then call someone else in the area to look at the property for you. You could have hired a local contractor to view the house for you, or an inspector if they have any in that neighborhood.
"You put your faith and trust into people and then get taken advantage of."
No, it is "WE put OUR faith and trust into people and then WE GOT taken advantage of."
What a story, like a fairy tale gone bad! Sorry to say, zips666, but you had no good reason to put any faith and trust into the seller's claims. You failed your basic duties to yourself by not making timely, proper inquiries about the property, or even a quick trip to inspect it.
By now, the issue should be long settled, and perhaps you resold the house through a Realtor, or had the basement finished by a contractor you did not find on eBay.
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