Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The "perfect" patio . . .

June 14 ... Lorri and Lisa ask Roz Neiman of Howard Hanna Real Estate -- who is supposed to be representing them as their agent -- to doublecheck on the backyard patio for them, to make sure it's in good shape, especially because -- as Roz knew from prior houses they'd looked at -- this was a big concern for Lisa, especially, because her mother had recently had disabling back surgery and had continued movement difficulties.  Lorri's mother was also elderly and had fallen and broken bones recently, so they wanted to make sure it would be safe for both of their elderly mothers to walk across without tripping, and they thought they had remembered seeing some loose tiles at the last visit.

June 17 ... Mark Exler informs Roz Neiman that he has ordered a new patio for 211 Hunt Road and queries whether Lorri and Lisa would like to have it put in -- at their expense! After final negotiations on June 19, Roz claims to have stated to Exler, “The girls feel very strongly they ought to have the patio installed as a condition of the sale.”

June 20 ... Mark Exler accepts Lorri's and Lisa's offer on the house. Having heard nothing more about the patio since Roz’s report of her forceful advocacy on their behalf, Lorri and Lisa assumed that the patio was included in the final sales agreement. This same sales agreement was not received by Lorri and Lisa until well after the fact, however; instead of being sent to them, Roz sent it to the mortgage broker... who just happened to be a longtime friend and client of Mark Exler.

July 1 ... Lisa and Lorri learn, after the fact -- i.e., after their offer was accepted -- that the patio is in fact not a part of the sales agreement as Roz had led them to believe. The next day, they walk across the patio with Roz Neiman and her husband Sandy Neiman, reminding Roz of her "perfect patio" comments as they step on one loose, broken tile after another, making for a very tense situation. Neither of them is very pleased with the comments being made, and neither does a very good job of hiding it, though Roz naturally makes a greater effort.

July 28 ... Three Rivers Inspection determined that the patio is almost completely dislodged from its moorings and is urgently in need of replacement with tiles actually intended for outdoor use -- as opposed to the cheap, interior tiles that the Exlers used.  

And once again, Lisa and Lorri learn that the house they've been suckered into buying by Howard Hanna's "top agent" and her friends and clients Mark Exler and his wife Robin Exler (co-owner of the Squirrel Hill Flower Shop) is not the house they thought they were buying.

Another Potemkin Village -- hey, thanks, Roz!

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