What’s the worst/most expensive thing you’ve discovered was wrong after closing?

[Anonymous]

Nothing really because we had an extensive inspection. That said even with inspections you find little pesky things that bug you. For us we have a really annoying water hammer issue, everytime we turn the water on first thing in the morning all of the plumbing knocks - it's quite loud. Need to get that fixed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

In my case the condo was poor quality and the walls were paper thin. I could hear everything my downstairs neighbors said. If it were a townhouse I would not even have a downstairs neighbor. It was a 2 level condo that looks at first glance like a townhouse. So mostly the problem was poor quality. Not merely the fact that it was a condo. But it was misrepresented because it was conspicuously labeled as a townhouse on all their documents and advertisements prior to closing. In my opinion a condo should cost less than a townhouse. The word condo would have been a turn off to me in my search for a townhouse. So their misrepresentation fooled me.

Um, how did you not realize it was a condo when you visited and saw that the building had more stories than your unit had and multiple front doors? This sounds like a you problem.

Don’t be an ass first of all.

It was a 2 story building. Again. Don’t be you.

[Anonymous]

Window exteriors were crap. The brand new windows were rotting within a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a better method for just knowing what you’re getting. The current system encourages deception and fraud. There’s no other area, except used cars, where there’s so much dishonesty and misrepresentation around knowing they true value of what you are paying for. I hate it.

Right. I spend more time being able to vet pretty much anything else I purchase, including jeans.

[Anonymous]

Sellers said the basement was dry. A year later we had a huge snowstorm, and when that started to melt DH and I spent 5 hours down there scooping up water so it wouldn't travel throughout the basement. We put in a French drain after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sellers said the basement was dry. A year later we had a huge snowstorm, and when that started to melt DH and I spent 5 hours down there scooping up water so it wouldn't travel throughout the basement. We put in a French drain after that.

If it took a year for the basement to get wet, it may well have always been dry before that. Before we got our wet basement fixed, it leaked every time there was heavy rain.

[Anonymous]

Mold

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

In my case the condo was poor quality and the walls were paper thin. I could hear everything my downstairs neighbors said. If it were a townhouse I would not even have a downstairs neighbor. It was a 2 level condo that looks at first glance like a townhouse. So mostly the problem was poor quality. Not merely the fact that it was a condo. But it was misrepresented because it was conspicuously labeled as a townhouse on all their documents and advertisements prior to closing. In my opinion a condo should cost less than a townhouse. The word condo would have been a turn off to me in my search for a townhouse. So their misrepresentation fooled me.

Um, how did you not realize it was a condo when you visited and saw that the building had more stories than your unit had and multiple front doors? This sounds like a you problem.

Don’t be an ass first of all.

It was a 2 story building. Again. Don’t be you.

I still don’t understand how you didn’t notice this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

And this is why every time someone says to just hire a real estate attorney, I laugh.

First, in a condo you don't own the land beneath you. In a townhome/HOA, you do. What this means for who maintains the common space and yard is definitely in the docs but owning land vs not owning the land is a pretty significant difference.

Second, in a condo you get "walls-in" insurance. In an HOA you have to insure the whole structure. Walls-in will only cover your contents and a per diem if you are displaced. However, it will not help your mental state when the insurance companies dick around with each other trying to decide who pays what. I've had clients displaced out of condos for 6 months when there was a flood and the insurance companies took their sweet time getting back to everyone.

Third, condos only require firewalls between every 4th tier typically. That means, if you're in one of those stick built garden style complexes and your neighbor torches the place with their cigarette, your home goes up in flames too. In a townhome, there are required firewalls between each unit.

There are other differences but I would say that not understanding you bought a condo over a fee simple townhome is a failure of many people in your transaction. I'm sorry. I do not do business like that. But I know morons who do.

xoxo,
Agent X

[Anonymous]

House was fine, but the trees were rotten. Not cheap to remove 100-yr-old trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

And this is why every time someone says to just hire a real estate attorney, I laugh.

First, in a condo you don't own the land beneath you. In a townhome/HOA, you do. What this means for who maintains the common space and yard is definitely in the docs but owning land vs not owning the land is a pretty significant difference.

Second, in a condo you get "walls-in" insurance. In an HOA you have to insure the whole structure. Walls-in will only cover your contents and a per diem if you are displaced. However, it will not help your mental state when the insurance companies dick around with each other trying to decide who pays what. I've had clients displaced out of condos for 6 months when there was a flood and the insurance companies took their sweet time getting back to everyone.

Third, condos only require firewalls between every 4th tier typically. That means, if you're in one of those stick built garden style complexes and your neighbor torches the place with their cigarette, your home goes up in flames too. In a townhome, there are required firewalls between each unit.

There are other differences but I would say that not understanding you bought a condo over a fee simple townhome is a failure of many people in your transaction. I'm sorry. I do not do business like that. But I know morons who do.

xoxo,
Agent X

Yeah, I'm going with the lawyer here. I'm glad they taught you the term fee simple in your 40 hour real estate agent course. You're a typical arrogant agent with far too little education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

Do you live in a State or Commonwealth where you are required to have a contingency for review of condominium documents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

A condominium is a form of ownership and is very different from a fee simple property that is part of a Homeowners Association. Please have an actual lawyer explain the difference to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I bought a townhouse but it was a condo. They only used the word condo in the legal paperwork. Of course it’s obvious to me now.

I’m a transactional real estate attorney. I used the draft condo and hoa association docs. An HOA is legally a condominium turned sideways. They are effectively indistinguishable. What do you think is different about the two?

Is there a difference in what the master insurance policy covers? I know our condo townhouse the exterior structure is covered by the master and our personal policy is studs in. Is that how it is for an HOA?

No, in a Homeowner's Association, the fee simple owner is responsible for the entire structure up to the middle of any party wall diving the housing units. They are responsible for their homeowner's insurance, and the HOA generally has insurance on common areas.

[Anonymous]

My boss bought a lovely house and worked to refresh it, redid kitchen etc. She finally decided to replace the original washer dryer from the 1970s. And they discovered that for years it had been dumping the washer water into the crawl space and had undermined the slab foundation. When they pulled up the downstair carpet they discovered a crack in the slab and it was starting to give way.

It was horrible, crazy costs for engineers, permits, hydraulic concrete to repair slab.

I am now obsessive about tracing pipe outputs.