Autumn Asks: Could It Have Been Any Worse???

And the answer is flat out no.

Three inspections of the house. Three bombshells.

Lets start with the easy ones first.

Pest inspection.  Can you say termites? In two areas? And its not a new colony. But hey, that really is one of those things. It can be fixed. We did not find weak areas.  But you are looking at 2k to treat.

Then there was the septic inspection. First, the tank really was too close to the house. Poor guy had a time finding it as it didn't have a ring with a cap above ground. Lots of digging. Plus there were clean-outs in 3 places. Does that mean three tanks?? No. It didn't.

So, the tank is originally built for a house with two bathrooms. Now it has five. Plus kitchen and laundry. Tank is way too small for this. (The house has not actually been lived in since the renovations started so it has never handled that kind of traffic yet.)

Now, the tank liquid level was also way too low. Was is leaking? Not sure. So we had to open all the faucets in the house to fill up the tank before the guy could even test it to see if the lines were working.

And I found a valve that was shut off in the master bath. What does that mean to you? To me it means there is a problem. So yes, yes I did yank that sucker on. And it appeared to be that the cold water handle in the master shower was stripped and could not be turned all the way off so it was shut off to keep it from dripping.

Anyways - long story short the tank was working. But it was not going to handle all the additional bathrooms. I asked for a ballpark figure on what it would cost to put in a new system (the current one is not up to code but it is grandfathered in). Price tag was about 10k.

Now, we have the actual home inspection.

It failed everything.

Electrical was not proper type of sockets all over and almost nothing was grounded. Lots of half installed or broken sockets. No GFCI in the kitchen even.

Roof - no flashings around several things. There were two water stains in the ceilings that I had him check for moisture - but they were dry.  Also, most of the sofets were missing and there was exposed stuff that should not have been out in the elements.

Outside walls - improper installed siding all over. Raw corners. Gaps. The replaced windows were not sealed. Bricks missing.

Heating/Air and water tank. Scary out of code and jerry-rigged. SCARY. They wouldn't even turn them on it was so scary (obviously they were off). Upstairs thermostat didn't work so we couldn't check that system.

Plumbing? Low water flow in several areas. The stripped handle in one shower. And then the missing head in one shower.

And remember those stained ceilings? Well guess what happened when we ran that shower upstairs with no head? We had a waterfall downstairs. Not a little one. We flooded the place. And guess what stopped it? Why it was that one valve that was turned off. And no, this was not in the disclosure...but it was definitely a known plumbing problem.

Dishonest much???

At the waterfall we were done. We had reached a point of hilarity that was actually good for the soul. It was so bad it was funny.

And to top it off, when we turned all that water off in the house? There was a copper pipe that they had bent up and CRIMPED off. Not capped off. Well apparently all that pressure was a little much cause that sucker failed! And we had water all over another floor and it took us a while to find that hidden crimped pipe in a closet to figure out what the heck was going on.

Mr. Owner had some serious mopping up to do when he got home.

Should I feel bad?

I think not.

So, we had everyone finish all their inspections and reports even when we knew we were walking away. See, if we send those reports to the sellers agents they now have to disclose everything they found. So of course I made the formal request that all inspections be sent....and saw that they were.

One good turn deserves another. Plus I let it be know that I would GIVE anyone a copy of my inspections that was interested in them for no charge.

We are out a chunk of change. We gambled and we lost. And its okay. Something can't remain your dream home when you witness one nightmare after another. It will never be the house that got away...it will always remain the house we got away from.

We did scramble and look at a few new places that afternoon but didn't find what we were looking for.

Hubs leaves today so the hunt is off until he returns mid July. (You cannot imagine how thankful I am that he was here for the inspection.)  That ensures at least another month of trailer living -- which is not fun. But its all good. At least we are not in a hotel paying insane prices.

Maybe next time right?