bobward.com
Below is my experience from our recent settlement ...
Below is my experience from our recent settlement with Bob Ward (BW). I have raised the issue with the BBB and BW is still not offering to do anything to help us. Therefore, I have decided to share my experience in hopes that no one else has an experience similar to mine.
We signed the contract with on our new home on with the following options being added: french doors on the office; tile in the upstairs bathroom and laundry room; and a finished den in the basement. This was agreed to, and signed off on, by all parties. Our settlement was scheduled for 18 May, a date on which everyone was informed --- including Residential Title, the title company that Bob Ward required me to use as a condition for accepting the seller's assistance.
On Thursday, the day before our settlement, we received a phone call from our lender, Robert, who informed us that we could not go to settlement the following day because of delays caused by Bob Ward. Because the home was not completed as scheduled when he went out the first time, the appraiser went to the home for the second time on Tuesday, 15 May, and the carpet was not yet completed in the basement den. Also, and different from his first appraisal, there was a piece of drywall that was missing in the basement. The appraiser informed my lender that he could not sign off on the final inspection until those two items were completed. He told Robert that he'd need to come back out to reassess the repairs (for a third time) and couldn't do it until after 3 pm on Thursday, 17 May 2018. This timing would make it impossible to settle at our scheduled time of 1:00 the next day. Despite repeated calls to Bob Ward, no one resolved the issue and even, at one point, hung up on my lender.
Closing this late did not allow time for the moving company we hired to unload our stuff at the new house in time for the jobs they had scheduled on Friday night and Saturday morning. So, I had to pay the moving company an additional $1,700 because they had to now unload my stuff to use the truck for their already-scheduled Friday night and Saturday morning jobs and for an additional night of storage - something I obviously wouldn't have had to do if we could have closed on our home at the originally agreed upon time. In addition to that, I was charged $250 for each of the times that the appraiser had to come out because Bob Ward hadn't completed the home in accordance with the original terms of the contract, (over $500). All of this cost my family over $2,200, not including the inconvenience for both my family and the family who allowed us to stay Friday night in their home, despite pet allergies.
I emailed Bob Ward on Monday, 22 May 2018, with the details listed above. The representative apologized for my experience and promised to look into the issue for me with his management team. When he never returned with a decision, I emailed again on Friday, 25 May, and was informed that the Bob Ward management team did not agree to pay for our moving expenses, even those relating to Bob Ward's failure to perform in accordance with the contract.
BW's response to the BBB suggested that all off the above was normal and part of doing business. They cited one of the hundreds of papers we signed and showed us that they wrote "estimate" on the papers to obviate them of any responsibility if they didn't finish the home in time for settlement.
Obviously, since we signed the document, we can no longer pursue legal action. However, while I understand that we signed the papers claiming that closing dates were just "estimates," I wonder at what point an "estimate" can be counted on as "confirmed." I would think it would be sooner than the day before settlement. Maybe though, it's when you're sitting at the settlement table? Maybe when the ink on the last signature has dried? Or maybe, when all the checks clear. Who knows but I will reiterate this, buyer beware.
