Anger feels good.
I used to run a lot. I ran a marathon. To be fair, I ran two half marathons but that adds up to one full marathon. Despite all this running, I never experienced a “runner’s high”. A “runner’s high” is supposedly a short-lasting, deeply euphoric state following intense exercise. Anger is a lot like this. After the upsetting experience, we get the warmth and tingly feeling of righteous indignation. I’ve recently been on a week-long bender. Tripping off “How they tried to screw us” and finally resting where every teller of an argument recap concludes, “But we showed them.”
I understand that we often tend to embellish these stories where we get to be righteously indignant. We see ourselves as the main character of the world. We make them up in the same circumstances in which people come up with conspiracy theories: ignorance and powerlessness. Like conspiracy theories, we assume the world is more well planned and organized than it really is. Our stories tend to seek out a malevolent intentionality to what is more likely simple ineptitude or neglect. Most people are just too self-absorbed, well-meaning, and lazy to bother orchestrating grand schemes just to slight or insult us. It’s more often a boring, complicated story of wrong assumptions, miscommunication, or bad days. People trying, and mostly failing, to do the right thing, hurting each other not because that’s their intention but because it’s impossible to avoid. Obviously, some part of us loves to feel as if we were wronged because we were right. Outrage is like a lot of other things that feel good but, over time, devour us from the inside out.
I say all of the intro to say, I understand. I understand the tendency to perceive myself as the protagonist. The reason I want you to know that I know the potential fallacy is so you can rest assured the following recollection and review is accurate and as unbiased as possible. I also have an air tight security system in my story telling: my wife. Niki looks for the best in everyone. She is generous with her assumptions, often to a fault. She is the first to give a second or third chance for redemption and often looks internally to see if something she did or said caused the other person to act poorly. She is amazing. She agrees the antagonists in the following story were wrong and objectively bad people. This is exceptionally rare. Now, onto the review.
First Impressions: 5 Stars out of 5
Buying a house is stressful. It is a pressure cooker riding a roller coaster. First of all, the market was crazy. If you are house hunting at the moment and are not moving from a house where you have equity built, do yourself a favor and avoid looking at what the house you’re looking at cost 3 years ago. On the bright side, at least interest rates are also high. If you are putting homes in a spreadsheet to analyze, conventional wisdom is borderline useless in your analysis. If a house looks good on Zillow, there is an 80% chance it is disgusting in person. Point is, it’s a frustrating process. We looked for houses for a while. My wife was generous enough to let me pursue a house investment dream for about 6 months before the full on home search began. We toured multiple houses, had many discussions, became discouraged, but kept going. Then, we get a message from our realtor, “I have an agent friend who is renovating a house on ****** in e ridge. It will have a new kitchen and baths but only has 1.5 bath. It will be under $****** but not sure about the exact price. Interest??” We were definitely interested.
We set a time for a few days later to go look at it. It’s time to introduce our first new character. Here is where we meet Brett for the first time. He couldn’t have been nicer. Brett took nearly 2 hours walking through the house, which was very much under construction, and explaining all that he was going to do. He said all the right things. We talked about how ridiculous some people have gotten with pricing houses and he even encouraged us to pray about it as we discussed the local churches we attend. He told us the price he was asking. It was a great deal based on all the houses we had looked at previously. We discussed and we prayed and not too long later, we offered the price he asked and the offer was accepted. Easy as can be.
Working and Waiting Time Period: 3.5 Stars out of 5
This is where things begin to turn, but only slightly. There was a lot of time between our offer being accepted and closing. During our tour, Brett mentioned about a month of work left. However, as we stopped by the house occasionally, it appeared little work was being done. As we approached the closing date, we began to worry slightly. Then we see a Stop Work Notice in the window.
This is also the first time we meet one of our new neighbors. He was the one who sold the house to Brett as his parents owned it before passing. He shared some hesitations about Brett and the way he has gone about the work from his perspective. We took this with a few grains of salt as there is a strong emotional connection to the house. We reached out to Brett about the permit and he informed us the stop work notice was just to get an electrical permit. He stated non-electrical work would resume.
The Inspection: 0 Stars out of 5
Whiplash. This is the best way to describe our initial feelings after we sent some concerns from the inspection. There were two things in particular we were concerned about. There was a quote in the inspection stating, “The installation of the electrical panel did not look to be the work of a licensed electrician.” Please recall the previous lack of an electrical permit that had to be obtained. The other, more substantial concern was the subfloor in the primary bathroom. There was serious rot and decay under the tub and the toilet. When we raised these concerns, we received the following text from Brett. “We plan to finish the bathrooms and fix the leak in the tub. And whatever else we agreed to do in the p&s (purchase and sale). But that’s it.” He then would not accept calls from our realtor. She would text questions and he would reply with short messages stating he would only do the work that was in the purchase and sale agreement.
What is one thing we have learned in the digital age? It is easy to hide behind a screen. Because of this, I asked if we could meet with Brett to discuss the issues face to face. I assumed it would be more beneficial for getting answers. He acted as if it was a baffling request. When we pushed the issue, he said, “I’m not sure why they are wanting to talk. We have spent way too much money on this project and can’t spend a dime more.” Please note our purchase price was $139,000 more than the price they paid for the house. I can guarantee they didn’t spend anywhere close to $100,000. Am I expected to say, “Great point! I’d rather you make an extra $3,000 or so than get a house, that was negotiated in good faith, that is safe for my family.” I then realized something, I didn’t put in the purchase and sale agreement not to put a revolving door as the front door. This added a new concern. I guess we should have written a purchase and sale novel and put exactly what was expected.
Monday comes. This is the final day of the resolution period. We are set to meet at Noon. He then says he no longer is available. This is around 9 AM. At 9:10 our realtor asks if he is at the house. He says he is and will be there until 9:30 AM. I leave work immediately.
The Confrontation: 1.5 Stars out of 5
I spend the 15 minute drive praying for God to do a work in my heart so I will be a positive reflection of Him rather than the angry fury I wanted to unleash. Brett seems much more receptive to talk now that we are face to face. He walks me through the house and shows me the things he is still going to do. He tells me about the mirrors he will put in the bathrooms. He discusses finishing painting some areas. He shows me a few other things he also did not end up doing. We get to discussing the bathroom subfloor. He holds firm to his story of not knowing about it, this time adding “until about a week ago.” Please note this information was not shared with us. He tries to underplay it. I mention the inspection report and the pictures that were included.
We stand face to face, man to man. He no longer has a screen to hide behind. What will he do? He will introduce a new character/scapegoat. Meet Corey. According to Brett, Corey is the primary investor. He is the one who makes all financial decisions. Apparently, this is supposed to make me believe there is nothing to be done about the safety concerns. I told Brett, in no uncertain terms, to me, Corey making an extra two or three thousand dollars is not worth it to me to allow my family to potentially fall through the floor. Believe it or not, when you make an investment, you aren’t always guaranteed to make all the money you want to make. This is not an investment for me, this is my family’s home. Brett has indicated he thinks it probably would cost about $3,000 to fix the bathroom. Our realtor later reminds him it would have cost significantly less had they fixed it originally before trying to cover it up under new flooring.
I tell Brett that this is a make or break issue for me. The subfloor must be fixed and I must be provided proof that the electrical work was done by a licensed electrician. It is after saying this sentence out loud to him that something clicks in my brain: that is exactly what they want. Niki and I had been discussing how great of a deal we got on the house. Brett and Corey must have been discussing something similar. Along the way, they must have realized, why sell a house for $139,000 more than they paid for it when they can force this couple out and relist it for $159,000 more than they paid for it?
I mean, at the end of the day, who cares if a young family gets their first home for the price you asked when you can force them out and make more money. I did mention to Brett that, as we put in our notice with our apartment based on the fact we were under contract, we would be without a place to live on June 3rd if we backed out. He and Corey must have thought, “that may be the case, but $20,000 extra still spends the same whether you and your wife have a home or not.”
Back to the discussion Brett and I were having. I asked him how much we would need to add to the price of the house for them to fix the bathroom. Now is a good time to note he had said more than once he thought it would cost around $3,000-$4,000 to fix it. Tune in to the next part of the review to find out the answer.
The Resolution Period: 0 Stars out of 5
I leave the house unsettled. Brett was not as definitively defiant in person as he was over text. He even said something along the lines of, “If I was your real estate agent, I would say this was concerning too.” I leave the house unsettled; around 10:30 AM. We have until 11:59 PM to make a decision. I’m supposed to go back to work now and do my job while waiting to find out how much these people who are actively trying to push me out are going to charge to fix something they should have fixed to begin with. Meanwhile we are trying to figure out if canceling our intent to vacate our apartment is an option. We also have to wait on the appraiser to see if offering over the originally agreed upon price is even something we can do. But at least we have about 12 hours to get all that information and make the minor decision of buying a home.
Brett texts our realtor. Now it’s time for a little game: Price Is Right. Brett has said multiple times it would cost around $3,000-$4,000 to fix the bathroom. How much did Corey say we need to add to the price of the house for them to fix the safety issue they tried to cover up?
Do you have your guesses in? The correct answer is $13,000. No, I did not accidentally add a “1” to the front of the real price. Brett said that Corey said it would be an extra $13,000 and “He isn’t willing to budge on that. He also said that he did not want to extend the resolution period. If the buyers are worried about earnest money we wouldn’t try to keep it or anything even if they decide tomorrow.” Let’s break this down, shall we?
“He isn’t willing to budge on that” At this point, are we really surprised? “He also said he did not want to extend the resolution period.” Our realtor had requested extending the resolution period (decision deadline) at least 24 hours so we could get the inspection back and evaluate our options. Please also note that we tried to talk to Brett about these issues on that Friday, but he so courageously hid behind his phone and wouldn’t take calls or meet with us Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Had he not done that, we would have had more adequate time. “If the buyers are worried about earnest money we wouldn’t try to keep it or anything even if they decide tomorrow.” This is essentially saying, we would get the earnest money back that we gave when signing the contract if (in their minds “when”) we back out of the contract. So Corey is not willing to give us an extra day to find a solution to stay under contract but is willing to give us an extra day to back out.
I would like to take a quick moment to redefine our main characters. Me – Brilliant writer, first time home buyer, not afraid of confrontation, trying to provide for family. My Wife Niki – Still wonderful and deserving of more than I can ever give her, definitely not deserving of the stress and greediness she was subjected to by bad people during this process. Our Realtor – I don’t believe I have named our realtor in this story yet, but we worked with Diane Burke who is incredible. She will get a separate review here shortly. Corey – Based on the way Brett talks about him, he is the personification of greed and holds all power. Right and wrong hold absolutely no weight in his spreadsheets. $1>the value of his word. Brett – Based on how Brett seems to explain himself in relation to Corey, he likely gets a tingle down his spine whenever Corey wipes his feet on a doormat. He will severely over promise and under deliver. He will not take responsibility for his actions.
We make a decision. For you it is about a paragraph between gathering factors and making a decision. For us, it was multiple stressful hours. You know how some people say they are not good test takers due to the time constraints? Imagine that but giving all the money you have saved to people who you are certain you cannot trust their word or their work. We know there are many aspects of the house we love. The location, the yard, the big windows, the den, the price. However, stress has a way of scrambling all things together. But we do it. We make a decision. About an hour before we decide, Brett texts our realtor and says, “I guess just send us a notification (to terminate contract) when you get a chance.” We decided to stick to our original contract and hire someone ourselves to fix the bathroom. I reached out and had a contractor in a couple of days later to give an estimate of how much it would cost to replace the subfloor. Price is Right? Less than $2,000.
Final Walkthrough and Closing: 3 Stars out of 5
Our final walkthrough was scheduled for right before closing. This was due to the fact Brett was severely behind schedule. I imagine he thought we would walk and would have time to finish everything later. Here are some lowlights. He said they would hire a cleaner to clean up the major mess left by construction. Note: we had to request this. He was going to leave the mess for us to deal with until we asked for them to clean up after themselves. They said they would hire a cleaner. They clearly did not. It wasn’t filthy, but it was far from clean. Brett generously did not put mirrors in the bathroom despite saying they would and offering me the chance to pick them out back in the good ole days before we realized he was not being honest about anything. They left food in the microwave. They did not do a few things in the Purchase and Sale agreement despite being adamant that this was the document that mattered most. We requested separate rooms for closing. We were joined for closing by Diane, our realtor, and Gabe who we got our loan through. They are both fantastic and made the final experience significantly better.
First Week Home: 3 Stars out of 5
We love having a home. Our dog loves the backyard. Our friends and family were incredibly helpful in moving. That said, we have found a few surprises already. The (new) HVAC froze over due to them not changing the air filters once in the months they were doing construction and they became incredibly clogged. This has led to multiple nights of falling asleep to 80 degree temperatures in the house while we work on thawing the unit. The dishwasher was not installed properly and flooded the kitchen the first time we ran it. Some doors were primed but left unpainted. Doors were not aligned properly and deadbolts don’t work. There was no quarter round put in anywhere leaving an unfinished look around all flooring. THis is not the biggest issue, but should have been done. It is clear, they took every shortcut imaginable. We have an admittedly biased witness in our new neighbors who did not have a nice thing to say about Brett as they watched him and his team daily.
Overall Experience with Brett and Corey: 0 Stars Out of 5
Let me say this as clearly as possible: Do not buy a house from, or have any professional dealings with Brett Goins or Corey Burrell. You cannot trust their work, but much more importantly, you cannot trust their word. This will serve as a bookend on my anger. It is no longer healthy nor necessary for me to dwell on how we have been wronged. I have too many home repairs to work on in my newly renovated house. I do highly recommend working with Diane Burke. 6 stars out of 5. She has literally gone above and beyond. She advocated for us, was patient with us, and has worked to make some things right when Brett and Corey would not. She cared. If you are in the Chattanooga area, she’s who you want to have in your corner.
Does this whole thing read like the angry ramblings of a jilted ex? Maybe. Is every word true? Certainly. This concludes part 2 of our review series. If you would like anything else reviewed, shout them out in the comments. Nobody is safe from the sterilizing light of truth.
All My Love,
Seth Winton
