So, I can finally talk about this. We’ve sold the Texas house!
Yes, after going through all the crap with Blake Hawkins and the trouble of getting the house listed, we finally have a buyer. A couple wants to get the house because their daughter will be moving in with them. Her lease is up at the end of the month so they need to close before then. We’ve been going back and forth with them over repairs and other considerations but now everything is resolved, the contract is signed, and money will be exchanging hands.
I’ve explained before how Blake Hawkins tried to scam us out of the house. After doing a “bait and switch”, telling us he’d buy the house for one price, then turning around and trying to buy it for nearly $90,000 less, he did one final move to cause trouble. He ended up using the Attorney-in-Fact privileges in the contract the wife signed to put an addendum on our deed. In a nutshell, it said that no matter who sold the house, or when, money would be going to Freedom Hawk Equity, LLC from the sale.
We were fortunate enough to have the money to get a lawyer to fight this. As soon as Blake Hawkins was informed of the lawsuit, he immediately settled. Unfortunately, our lawyer dropped the case at that point instead of pursuing him to get damages. We know that Hawkins is doing this to lots of other people, and many of them don’t have the resources to get a lawyer to fight him. He keeps getting away with it. We were hoping to cause some disruption to his business and possibly put him out of business, but our lawyer didn’t carry it that far.
After the lawsuit was settled, we were finally able to try to sell the house again. We had one buyer who really wanted to buy the house, because his family was growing and the house is just down the street from a school. Unfortunately with the shenanigans that Hawkins pulled the house was devalued below the price we wanted to sell at. We couldn’t arrive at a mutually agreeable price with the buyer.
We then got a realtor by networking. A friend of ours from a business networking group put us in touch with a realtor, who has really been hustling trying to get the house sold. We had to have some work done getting the house cleaned after moving out. My step-daughter and her husband were invaluable in this department, as was the lady who helped us with the estate sale last Spring. There were also some repairs that were needed.
As a result of the house being listed on the market, the buyer of course had a home inspection done. The inspection report indicated that the HVAC system would need to be replaced. We have two units (one for upstairs, one for down) and replacing them was going to cost $12,000 to $15,000 each. We’ve had an AC guy who has done any and all repairs to the AC system since 2004. He knows that system backward and forward. He went to check things out for us. Let’s just say that the original report was exagerated. Yes, some repairs were needed but they came out to around $3,000. Big difference.
There were also a few minor issues with the roof. We have a roof guy that has been working on the house for nearly a decade. He was able to come out and get the problems solved.
Anyway, we are finally able to drop this anchor and be free of it. Because of Hawkins causing so much trouble, we’ve had to pay an additional almost ten months of utilities, insurance and property taxes. Now that the house is sold, we can drop those expenses. That will make getting the new house in order a little easier.
Always read the fine print and make sure you understand what you’re signing, my Hordeling. Oh, and Blake Hawkins is still an asshat.
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Congratulations!