Nate Armbruster
Selling a home can be a stressful process. Every part of it from packing your things, to passing the inspection can be a headache.
Especially if you’re dealing with an “investor” offering over the asking price like the one in this epic story posted by u/dodohead974 in Reddit’s popular Malicious Compliance subreddit.
If you’re not familiar, Malicious Compliance is conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request. That’s exactly what this seller did for the “investor” interested in buying their house.
I’ll let the story speak for itself. Here’s what the Original Poster (OP) had to say:
“Investor wants to buy my house way over market value? Sure, no problem!”
So I’ll start by saying that this story is not mine; it is about my parent’s next-door neighbor of 20 years.
Background: my parents and their neighbor bought homes in an up-and-coming part of Florida 20 years ago…talking 1/2 acre lots with 2500 square foot homes for like $130,000. our neighbor’s home was a little smaller than my parents, with no pool, and over the 20 years, the only thing done to the house was a new roof. nothing else had been changed; everything was still the original – appliances, paint, ac unit, cabinets, tile, and carpet. I wish I could say she took care of it and never needed to change things, but that wasn’t the case….or the neighbor’s house looks 20 years old.
well she is a widow and the house is huge for just her, so she decided to sell and take advantage of the market. She listed it for $400,000. despite her never having put a penny into it, the house goes into a bidding war, and the top bidder is an investor from California. she offers to pay $30,000 over asking, pay the closing costs, and can do it the same day.
cue malicious compliance.
the investor woman had two stipulations: our neighbor takes the house off the market immediately, and she turns over the key to her management company with the cash for the home held in escrow until the key was turned over and our neighbor’s side of the paperwork done. now our neighbor was upfront with this woman and the state of the home and asked if she wanted to have her management company come look at it first.
the woman says “no, I’m renting the house and it doesn’t need to be painted. just pull it off the market!” this woman essentially bought the home for about $450,000 when it was all said and done.
so our neighbor immediately goes to the management company office with her realtor, signs her paperwork, hands over the key, and gets the check for the home.
a few days later…our neighbor gets a call from an investor lady. she is irate! the house is in disarray. in needs a paint job asap. new appliances and flooring at the least. she demands that our neighbor paint the house…she won’t take ownership of the home until that is done. to which our neighbor responds to her,” it’s not my home anymore. it was signed over to you and the check was handed to me and cleared. that house is no longer my problem. enjoy!”
this story all came about because yesterday my parents called our old neighbor: there was a for sale sign on the house again and we were confused. our old neighbor promptly showed up and told us the story and we are all laughing hysterically because the woman has it listed for $430,000 – which anyone with eyes to tour it would never pay, and even if she did get it…she’d still be losing a fuck ton of money.
who doesn’t love a story when greedy investors trying to inflate the market lose and lose big?
Commenters responded, applauding the way the OP handled this situation, while many shared similar stories:
