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CONFESSION #0547 — SELLER WHO KEPT CHANGING THINGS
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The HOA sent a letter. About the fence. Which the seller had just installed three weeks before listing, without a permit, six inches over the property line. I told him we need to disclose this, maybe offer a credit. He said no, just paint it a different color, nobody will notice. I said that's not how property lines work. He painted it anyway. Beige to green. Then the neighbor's attorney got involved. We had a buyer at four twenty. Good offer, clean financing. They walked after the survey came back. Second buyer found out about the letter during escrow, asked for twelve thousand off. Seller refused, said the fence added value. We lost that one too. Ended up selling for three ninety-one to a cash investor who didn't care. The fence cost him eight hundred dollars to build.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF FENCE-BASED FRAUD IN THE FIRST DEGREE WITH AGGRAVATED BEIGE-TO-GREEN CONSPIRACY
The Court has seen some things in its time on this bench, but PAINTING A FENCE A DIFFERENT COLOR as though property lines are subject to aesthetic negotiation is a new low even for this docket. Let Reginald be absolutely clear here: you cannot simply repaint your way out of a survey, any more than you can repaint your way out of a marriage, and I should know because I tried that with my breakfast nook in 2017 and my wife STILL brought up the countertops. This seller lost TWENTY-NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS because he thought green paint had some kind of magical jurisdiction-altering properties, which is not how the law works, which is not how ANYTHING works, which is frankly an insult to the very concept of boundaries both literal and metaphorical. The neighbor's attorney got involved because ATTORNEYS ALWAYS GET INVOLVED when you build an eight hundred dollar fence six inches into someone else's sovereignty, this is established precedent under Zillow v. That Guy Who Thought He Was Slick, 2019. The Court finds it particularly galling that the seller claimed the fence ADDED VALUE when in fact it subtracted twenty-nine thousand dollars AND dignity AND apparently the basic human capacity for shame. Order the Roomba is currently circling the bench in what I can only describe as disappointed loops. THIS COURT IS ADJOURNED BECAUSE REGINALD NEEDS TO GO STARE AT HIS OWN PROPERTY LINE FOR A WHILE.
SCANDAL RATING: 6.4/10 Felony Fence Delusion

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