Actually here, since you don't actually own the house yet, I believe the agent would be required to be with you.

And here, again, it is customary to have a walk through immediately before the closing to make sure that the current owner is actually out, and there is no time for anything else to happen between the walkthrough and the closing. I know someone who bought a house sold as part of the divorce and one of the sellers went into the house and removed all the interior door hardware the morning of the closing.

These practices may vary by location, but I would not be comfortable doing a walkthrough alone without someone from the agency.

Don’t expect the agent to have knowledge of if things were repaired correctly, agents are there with you because they are monitoring you while you are in another persons house (even though you plan to buy, it ain’t yours yet). And yes, as above, final walkthroughs should be done on the way to closing, as it’s your last chance to visually inspect what you’re about to buy. I’d start complaining about your agent this very second.

I purchased my last house 30 years ago; I was living in Chicago and the house is on Long Island, so all the legal work was done remotely. My closing was scheduled on a Monday and we drove up with our rental truck Monday morning, did the walk through, and then went to the closing. The previous owners were completely out, and I didn't see any problems. Maybe we were just lucky, but as I understand it, no hardware (or anything else attached) can be removed prior to the closing.

but as I understand it, no hardware (or anything else attached) can be removed prior to the closing.

Yes, of course not...the wife stole it all because she was angry at the husband and wanted to complicate the closing. The new owners didn't make a big deal out of it, because they wanted the house.

Contact her broker now. Tell them all of this, past and present. You are being unnecessarily shy. It’s your money-you are the broker’s client. The “agent” is working under the broker’s license technically. The broker needs to know today.

I think you can complain about the agent, but unless the agent does something clearly unethical I would not expect much to happen.

I have always had a great agent, but the buyer's agent for one of my houses is well-known in my area for skating close to the edge of ethics and did in fact have her license suspended at one point and I know a number of agents who will subsequently not voluntarily promote her (shrinking number of) residential listings to their clients.

She had a phrase inserted into the documents that was vague but so cleverly written that it essentially changed one of the agreements of the transaction. My agent was very upset and their attorney said it was very carefully written to somewhat obscure its meaning and since it changed our agreement well, he wasn't going to go onto the record saying it was unethical, but that I was an intelligent person and I was not coming to an incorrect conclusion.

However they would not make an ethics complaint and they discouraged me from making a fuss since it all worked out. I don't think buyers or sellers can directly make an ethics complaint because people would try it all the time just because they thought their agent should have gotten them $1000 more or something. I could be wrong about that but I think it's very difficult for a client to make any sort of complaint that has teeth.

I would complain NOW, too. And request that the broker schedule and complete the final walk-through immediately before the closing. That last walk-through is your final chance to make sure everything is in order before you sign on the dotted line, and you absolutely do not want the agent to flake out on you for that walk-through. You MUST have that final walk-through. The likelihood of a horror story happening is remote, but it does happen -- holes punched in walls, window coverings gone, cement down drains, etc etc. You just never know, and it is YOUR MONEY.

Complain to the brokerage and schedule a real *FINAL WALKTHROUGH* Wednesday morning. I'd ask the office manager to assign someone to accompany you.

I agree with chisue's comment.

I also agree that the realtor wouldn't know if the right fix had been done if you need someone to tell you that then you need to hire someone to come with you to verify that. However the realtor should know what to do if something isn't fixed properly and how to get that taken care of before closing if that is the case.

I would insist that someone OTHER than your current agent be the one to attend the final walk through with you. There is no excuse for her less than professional behavior.

I’m sorry you are going though all this, especially for your first home. Just want to reiterate that your final walkthrough should be immediately before closing. When we did the walkthrough for our second home, we discovered that the sellers hadn’t moved! They weren’t bad people, just got some idea that they had 30 days. We let our lawyer know and he (and their lawyer) read them the riot act, reminding them our insurance was now covering the home. We gave them three days to move, and they did. Luckily, we weren’t planning on moving in right away, and it was all local. Good luck, and hopefully this will all be a “story” in the future.