Depressing Home Inspection

[Mark Smith]

I haven't been in the REI game too long, so please hold the "you should have seen that during your showing" comments. The purpose of this post is mostly because I want to vent to the BP community, but general thoughts and comments are appreciated.

I own a two unit house that I purchased solely for investment, and my fiance and I are now looking for a multifamily for us to live in.  We found a house we love, made an offer, got it accepted, and this past Friday we had the inspection.  Full disclosure, this house is a flip.

During the showing we noticed there was a little water in the basement, but the sump pump wasn't running as the power had been shut off on the first floor.  By the time of the inspection the sellers had ran an extension cord to the sump pump and that water was now gone.  The furnace and water tanks had some rust toward the bottom of the units...a decent amount of rust.  I thought it was just because the air was so moist from the little bit of water that was sitting near the sump pump.  Nope!  The inspector noticed that there was a definitive water line all the way around the basement and on everything down there, about 14" off the floor, so there was about 14" of standing water down there at one time.  So the furnace and water tanks have been compromised; they estimate $6-7k for replacement.  They also recommended we have a basement company come in and really seal up the basement, and this would include digging around the house to install pipes to help water flow away from the house; $10-15k.

They also found a small amount of mold in the basement, and a good amount of mold in the attic; approximately $4,500 to remove.

To top it all off, they noticed that there had been a fire in the basement; the subfloor above is black/charred.  They said it is strictly cosmetic and that the necessary repairs had been made, but I had to start laughing when they said that just because it was one thing after another.

So at the end of the day we are looking at $20k-$27k.  We have to ask the seller if they are willing to do anything since the bank will not lend on a house in this condition.  At this point we are expecting to lose this house, which really bums us out, but of course we are happy that we had the inspection done.  We're guessing that the sellers will let the contract expire, do the repairs as cheaply as possible, then attempt to sell the house for more to try to recoup some of the repair costs, even though these repairs don't actually increase the value of the house (assuming they originally priced the house unaware of all of these things).

What. A. Bummer.

[Jon Holdman]

Sounds like the rehabber dealt with cosmetic issues but not some more fundamental issues.   That would leave me concerned as to how well they did the cosmetic work.   I would examine the permits and be sure the right permits were pulled for the work done.

I would be present when they and the inspector meet and would be sure the right work is done.  You don't want them to twist the inspectors arm into accepting an poor fix.  For that matter, if you can swing it, I would simply ask for a discount on the price by the amount of the work and do it after closing.

I will say we had a flood and had four feet of water in our basement.  Lots of stuff was replaced, but not the water heater.  It was examined by a plumber, left to dry out a couple of days and has been fine for four years.

People sometimes wonder why basement footage is worth so little.  This is why.