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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some really awful DIY wiring from the previous owners, hidden behind drywall. Didn't show up until we tore that wall down to renovate. I'm just grateful the house didn't burn down by then!

Did they not tell you there was DIY wiring?

[Anonymous]

Not me but a neighbor on Long Island when I lived there bought a home in 2015 and got a notice in 2018 it needs to be demolished or raised 8 feet in the air.

Turns out in Sandy in 2012 home was considered over 50 percent damaged in Superstorm Sandy and lost its CO. However, town backlogged due to thousands of damaged homes and paper form filled out by inspectors while power out in Sandy not keypunched till 2018 which got him the letter.

Happened to like a dozen people my old town.

[Anonymous]

NV new home Delaware beaches.

Drywall installed improperly
Plumbing in Kitchen installed backward. Flood

Bathroom upstairs plumbing was not hooked up flood
Ground in bathrooms installed incorrectly
Thermostats installed incorrectly
Air conditioning unit not only installed incorrectly fire hazard recalled before installation
Crawl space flooded
All cabinets installed incorrectly
Grading caused flooding inside the house

Built in 2019

Never again NV homes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NV new home Delaware beaches.

Drywall installed improperly
Plumbing in Kitchen installed backward. Flood

Bathroom upstairs plumbing was not hooked up flood
Ground in bathrooms installed incorrectly
Thermostats installed incorrectly
Air conditioning unit not only installed incorrectly fire hazard recalled before installation
Crawl space flooded
All cabinets installed incorrectly
Grading caused flooding inside the house

Built in 2019

Never again NV homes

I hope you have/had recourse

[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?

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.

Au contraire my small minded friend. Advanced degree over here. Tired of working for the man and decided to run my own gig.

The lawyer is totally wrong. But please go buy your next house with him/her and let me hear how they can argue that condos and townhome hoa’s are “basically the same.”

But the lawyer is not totally wrong. As another poster noted, functionally there can be little difference between an HOA and a COA. As they noted, HOAs can be just as restrictive as a COA, and while the ownership structure is different, at the end of the day it's functionally the same. It's cool that you have enough superficial knowledge to say that the legal structure is different, but you clearly lack the depth of the knowledge to understand the lawyer's point that functionally they aren't all that distinguishable.

And yeah, if it wasn't for the real estate agent cartel, I'd be more than happy to not hire an agent like you for my next purchase. Your lack of critical thinking and analytical skills really justify you earning multiple percentage points on a sale.

[Anonymous]

Some of these are just the cost of home ownership -

Mice
Trees
Water Heater

[Anonymous]

We bought a new house with an unfinished basement. After a couple of months we had a heavy rain and the basement flooded due to a high water table. The builder came and installed a sump pump after the fact. It worked great until we had a power failure and flooded again. We moved after three years.

[Anonymous]

We bought a new house with an unfinished basement. After a couple of months we had a heavy rain and the basement flooded due to a high water table. The builder came and installed a sump pump after the fact. It worked great until we had a power failure and flooded again. We moved after three years.

This is why people buy generators or Tesla power walls.

[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.

I dont understand how that is possible. Condo resale documents are required to be disclosed as is the condo fee, what the fee covers etc.

[Anonymous]

Realtor advertised 2 parking spaces and there was only 1 plus guest spots for everyone to use, but not enough that there are 2 for each townhouse.

My realtor dodged me on the issue and refused to address with the other realtor.

[Anonymous]

Failed septic. House was listed as being on public sewer when it wasn’t. Our realtor didn’t say a thing about the neighborhood being on septic or that I should consider doing a drain line inspection. The home owner moved out of the home before listing it and prior to that pulled permits but never did the work on the septic or closed out the permits. It was 25k to fix the septic that began leaking in the yard a week after moving in. The neighbors knew and complained when the previously home owner owned the house and thought they had it fixed. They didn’t- just sold it on to someone else.

[Anonymous]

Shifting foundation. Had to have engineers lift the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Failed septic. House was listed as being on public sewer when it wasn’t. Our realtor didn’t say a thing about the neighborhood being on septic or that I should consider doing a drain line inspection. The home owner moved out of the home before listing it and prior to that pulled permits but never did the work on the septic or closed out the permits. It was 25k to fix the septic that began leaking in the yard a week after moving in. The neighbors knew and complained when the previously home owner owned the house and thought they had it fixed. They didn’t- just sold it on to someone else.

That should be disclosed in the listing, the disclosures and then confirmed by a home inspector. Even if a whole neighborhood is septic or public sewer you still have to confirm. Around here I've seen situations where a whole neighborhood is on sewer except for a pipestem driveway that's on septic. I've also seen where one house can be on septic and all the surrounding houses are on public sewer. You can't take any of this for granted. Confirm confirm confirm.

[Anonymous]

We discovered prior to closing, water pouring in through the roof and the basement simulataneously. We did not close, as a result.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely anything in my zipcode has a starting price at 2500 (and up). the location premium is annoying and even smaller things add up very fast on an old house.