Dear Former Homeowners

[Twoboos]

Thanks so much for putting band-aids on everything wrong with the house, so it could get through the Home Inspection with only about 1/2 of the problem items identified - and those were basically small ticket items.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "We've never seen anything like THAT before!" and "Who did this repair, it's not done the right way!" and "THAT shouldn't be happening!" over the last 12 months.

I realize you were going through a hard time when you sold, marriage over, 4 kids, two dogs, big house and pool to maintain (or NOT). But I hope Karma remembers. Maybe your new house is treating you the same way.

The latest: Leak in the attic furnace, which has probably been there since installed, so interior is rusted out, and needs to be replaced. Furnace is 6 years old and that type never should have been installed in the attic in the first place, according to the hvac people. Of course we learned about the leak when the ceiling below became water logged and fell apart. Lovely.

Sincerely,
Current Homeowners

AND PS to the home inspector: You did a lousy job.

[kaharris83]

Sorry. I know that feeling well. Fortunately in our case nothing has been too drastic, but yeah the contractors who remodeled for the previous elderly homeowner after her husband died so she could sell the house more than took advantage of her. My DH is quite handy so a lot of what they did he's undone and redone correctly. But yeah you'd think a home inspector could catch some of these things that are really done incorrectly. Otherwise what's the point? Like ours pointed out the knob on the washing machine was broken and stupid little things like that.

[mik8]

But yeah you'd think a home inspector could catch some of these things that are really done incorrectly. Otherwise what's the point?

Exactly! We had an issue with our house too barely a year after we moved in. It was something that should obviously have been caught by the home inspector.

[urbanmommy]

So sorry you're going through this. We had similar issues with our home that we bought 3 years ago -biggest was that we were told basement didn't leak and it did and there was clear evidence that we were told the inspector should have caught. There were a few more minor things that we discovered prior to learning about our leaky basement that should have been discovered in the home inspection. We complained to our inspector and he paid for those repairs and ended up returning his fee for our inspection. It was peanuts compared to what we paid to fix our basement but at least it was something.

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2

[arivecchi]

That is so aggravating. I am sorry! I am running into these issues with my house as well and we have only been there since mid-May.

This reminds me - SIL and BIL are in the process of selling their house. The house is about 5 years old and does not really have any real issues at this point. Apparently, the inspector could not find much because his report mentioned in the list of needed improvements - remove lint in the dryer. Really?! I would have been so annoyed if my inspector pointed out something that inane! Focus on the big stuff mr. inspector!

[Puddy73]

I think we bought a house from the same people. My favorite: they extended the deck along the back of the house by pouring concrete over a portion of the septic tank. Of course we didn't discover this until we were having septic issues and had to dig the darn thing up. I hope you have found the last surprise!

[elliput]

I live in a rental house (landlord is original owner and did live here) and found things along those lines which were actually from the original construction. Like no junction boxes for light bars in the bathrooms. Only half of the bathroom walls (the area around the tub) was primed before wall paper was hung. The hole in the counter top for the kitchen sink was cut incorrectly. Crazy, sloppy things which should have been caught immediately.

[crl]

We just bought a house (well, we are under contract and haven't closed yet.). Our inspector started with, "the things that could kill you.". (Thankfully just three electrical issues.)

Catherine

[Twoboos]

I think we bought a house from the same people. My favorite: they extended the deck along the back of the house by pouring concrete over a portion of the septic tank. Of course we didn't discover this until we were having septic issues and had to dig the darn thing up. I hope you have found the last surprise!

OK, you win! Septic issues are the worst!

arivecchi, I was thinking of you as the ceiling started to crumble, "The BBB is having bad ceilings lately." :rotflmao:

[hellokitty]

Ugh, we had similar issues. The idiots who were the prior owners probably did more damage than repairs to the house and the inspector dropped the ball. Nine yrs later we have finally mostly caught up with all the dumb crap that is wrong with this house.

[glbb35]

So sorry you are dealing with this. We feel the exact same way with the old owners of this house. We are past most of the issues now but you scratch your heading thinking, "what the heck were they thinking?" often. Like when they repaired the water connection to the shower by welding a plastic pipe between to metal ones. Stupid, just stupid. My only hope it is the moved into a home where someone did the same thing. Karma!!!

B

DS 03, 06, twins 09, 7/11

[wellyes]

I think you are right, karma wins. I have been so annoyed at my husband for his methodical work ethic fixing up this place, which is very much a transition home. But in life, it is best to not be a dick.

We had one lousy home inspector. We trusted out buyers agent to get us a good one, but he was on THEIR side now ours - just wanted the sale! Water damage and structural issues up the wazoo. about $35,000 worth, and that is the cost doing much of it ourselves. Homebuyers, hire you own independent inspector every time!!

[ladysoapmaker]

I hear you on "want the h*ll were they thinking" when it comes to old homeowner repairs. We has to replace the sump pump (and drainage pipe) the first year we were in the house as the old homeowner used corrugated pipe to drain it and planted ivy and bushes over top of the pipe. THe drainage pipe had to be sawed apart to remove it because of how thick the roots were in it.

And the over head lights in the room I am tryign to use as a craft room keep going out and I've replaced them. I think I'm going to have to get an electrician in as it looks like the wire was done wrong.

Good luck to you and hopefully you'll get things fix quickly.

Jen

[mom3boys]

So sorry you are dealing with this. We had the exact same issue with our house we live in currently. Shoddy fixes and a lousy inspector who missed a LOT. One thing the inspector did notice was that we needed a new junction box. Homeowners said they would install it before we moved in. They didn't install it. They also removed all the light fixtures in the house and replaced them with the cheapest crap fixtures they could find before we closed (the contract indicated light fixtures were included, I guess that meant any old fixture, not the fixtures that we went under contract with). And they took an original pocket door from the house (100 year old house) with them. Who takes a DOOR?

A year or two after we bought the house, maybe a little more, I went down to the basement to get luggage so we could pack up to go to my parents for Thanksgiving. I noticed it was really cold in the basement, which has full windows on 1 side since we live on a cliff. I looked to that side and realized that a window had fallen out of the house. Literally, where the window was there was now just a big open space. You'd think an inspector might have noticed a loose window!! Needless to say, we spent a lot of money fixing all this.

We are under contract on another house and got the most thorough inspector we could find. However, the house needs work and was priced accordingly, so we're still not sure what to ask for from the sellers. Right now I am just hoping it doesn't flood.