I went under contract on a house on Friday and am in the inspection period. But I noticed the house is still not listed as Pending on any sites. In fact, it's now a Spotlight house on realtor.com. Is this normal? I know they can collect back-up offers, but this feels strange to me.
I like a house but there is black mold in the bathroom. My realtor came to a verbal agreement with the seller that I would pay for the mold inspection and anything cosmetic, but the seller offered to pay to have any mold removed and to do any restoration required. My realtor wrote up the offer for this, but instead of accepting, the seller had the bathroom cleaned and said that fixed the issue (there was no mold testing done). They also said the contract needed to be re-written to remove all mentions of the mold, and to state I was taking the house "as is."
Since I had agreed to pay for the mold testing and also to pay for anything cosmetic, such as cleaning, the only reason I can see for the bathroom being cleaned would be because there is indeed a significant problem and they bleached the mold to conceal it.
So is asking me to put "as is" an attempt to make me pay for the mold or to take my earnest money if I walk away? Or do they actually want me to walk away, since they know I'll do a mold inspection and they would then legally have to disclose any mold to future buyers? This is the bathroom by the children's bedrooms, so this seems morally reprehensible that they would poison children to save a few bucks.
I'm obviously not agreeing to "as is" anything. But this is the only house in six months of searching that's a good location for both family and work, so I hate to walk away.
Also, if I do walk away, is there anything I can do to let the next person know about the mold? I feel a moral obligation to warn them that they need to check for mold before letting kids use that bathroom. I have pictures of the mold, but no proof that it actually was mold. So if I left a note or mailed a letter, I assume the seller could sue me and claim I was sabotaging the sale.
Advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.