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CONFESSION #0831 — DEAL THAT EXPLODED
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
The open house went fine. Good turnout, maybe 12 groups through, nice comments about the kitchen. Buyers came back same day with a full-price offer, no contingencies except inspection. Sellers were thrilled, we're all thrilled, everyone's shaking hands.
Inspector finds a crack in the foundation. Not huge, but it's there. Buyers ask for a structural engineer. Engineer says it's been repaired before, maybe 8 years ago, and the repair is failing. Estimate comes in at 40 thousand to fix properly. Buyers walk. Fair enough. But then the sellers have to disclose it to the next buyers, and the next, and suddenly we're 60 days in with three dead deals and the listing's radioactive.
Turns out the sellers knew about the original repair. They just forgot to mention it when I asked about property history. Their word, forgot.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF ACCESSORY TO SELECTIVE AMNESIA IN THE FIRST DEGREE AND WILLFUL FOUNDATION FICTION
The Court has seen many things in its years on this bench, but SELECTIVE FORGETTING about a FORTY THOUSAND DOLLAR CRACK is not forgetfulness, it is a LIFESTYLE CHOICE. Your sellers did not forget, they performed what Reginald calls Strategic Memory Allocation, a condition The Court knows well because my third wife claimed to forget our anniversary four years running and YET somehow remembered every detail of my gavel storage system when dividing assets. You stood there asking about property history like a fool while they nodded with the serene confidence of people who have definitely rehearsed this exact moment. The listing is now radioactive, you say, as if radiation simply HAPPENED to it, as if YOU were not the uranium rod they inserted into this deal. Per the landmark ruling in Crumbling v. Everyone Who Touched This Transaction, 2019, the agent who fails to smell a rat is guilty of having a defective nose. The Court must now adjourn because Order the Roomba has detected crumbs in the deliberation chamber and frankly Reginald needs a moment.
Structural Betrayal
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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