Even months after settling into my new home, I’m still dealing with the fallout of having purchased a property marketed and represented by Home Sweet Heidi. I hope that sharing my experience helps others avoid the pitfalls that I unwittingly stumbled into. The listing for 640 St. Vincent emphasized two features that shaped my decision to submit a winning bid: a carpeted, cooled outbuilding marketed as ideal for a home office, and a fenced yard presented as safe for children and pets. These features were given almost equal weight to the house in the advertising, and they were the reasons I offered above asking price. Based on the advertising and the seller’s disclosure, which did not raise any red flags, I also committed a high due diligence fee. I was overjoyed when my bid for the home was accepted. I couldn’t stop smiling, imagining my separate home office and beautiful property. However, my happiness was short-lived. The inspection revealed something very different from what was advertised. The outbuilding was not a ready-to-use office, but an aging shed with a leaking roof, mold contamination, and non-functioning outlets along one side. The cooling unit, which had been unplugged during the showing, released mold-filled air. Although I saw one damaged tree during the showing, the inspection revealed that an undisclosed lightning strike had killed two huge pine trees and impacted other enormous pines. Bad went to worse when the seller’s side only offered hundreds to help offset over 20K of estimated costs to repair the property, costs that included costly mold remuneration in the crawlspace. Even though the sellers came up a tiny bit, it was only after I agreed to remove a negative review of Home Sweet Heidi. My fantastic real estate agent did everything that she could, but ultimately, 90% of the considerable costs to make the shed usable and the yard safe, as advertised, would be mine. Rather than trying to bring the two sides together to make the deal, it seemed to me that Kelli did everything to inflate tensions. She complemented my agent on her composure, but this should have been a given from both sides. Looking back, the financial and emotional strain was immense. I love my home, but I don’t have a separate home office, and won’t, until I save the money to rehabilitate the shed. The vision advertised by Home Sweet Heidi turned out to be nothing but a mirage. If you are considering a property marketed by Home Sweet Heidi, please proceed with extreme caution. I wish that I had.

Suzanne E