my county building inspector is colluding with my buyer's agent!

my county building inspector is colluding with my buyer's agent!

Member since 2019 · 13 posts · 1 vote

 I am under contract for a flip house, happened fast, in 3 days, and I was still waiting to get a few final inspections . as bad luck would have it, the buyer's home inspector thought something was wrong with the footers and foundation so he called a structural engineer to look at it too. ok fine, but the bad luck is that the structural engineer had questions and called the County building department and happened to get to speak with the guy who was literally going out the door to do my final building inspection.

To me, the County inspector should have just said that he was about to do the inspection, and would not be able to discuss anything until he had submitted his report. Instead it seems like they had a big ol talk, and the structural engineer got all this negative information into the inspectors head , who now feels like he had better be careful because he's being watched by a smart guy. and he brings up some insanity about the soil and the fill- this house was already there when i bought it!
and then the county inspector calls this engineer from MY HOME , this engineer, mind you, WHO IS WORKING FOR MY BUYER, and discusses my home inspection with him! are you freaking kidding me! this is completely inappropriate if not a violation of my privacy rights.

then the BUYER's AGENT called the county inspector and he tells the agent that he is very concerned about some things. WTF?

Meanwhile I am just learning about all this because the buyer's agent sent me the letter from the structural engineer, saying all this in writing. 

So I dont know whats gonna happen but I am afraid that the State inspector , who would have probably passed me easily, is now going to FAIL me and require that i do things that were told him by the BUYERS INSPECTOR!!, Then i will need to pay for a reinspection, and do all these changes before I can even SELL MY HOUSE> so instead of a negotiation of what I will or won't do in my sales contract, or possibly lower the price for the buyer to do things, I'm gonna probably HAVE to do all these things BEFORE I can even sell my house

Can you tell I want to SCREAM! This CANNOT be legal, can it? Is there any expectation of privacy here in this case of talking to my Buyer's agents/inspectors BEFORE doing their final inspection? and then still talking to the BUYER's agent DURING and AFTER the inspection? it's blowing my mind and I am scared it will blow this contract and cost me thousands of dollars.
Has this ever happened to anyone else?  I'm debating calling the inspector to make my case, but not sure that would help.

thank you for any input.

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  • Investor · Midwest · Member since 2019 · 335 posts · 226 votes
    5y

    @Lisa Ferris while I've never had this happen before there are a few things you can do:

    1. Wait for the county inspector to give his report. Although the buyer's inspector pointed some things out the county inspector still has to follow the regs. If you think his decision was influenced ask to see the specific regulations he is using to justify a repair or his decision to fail the property.

    2. If the county inspector says you have to fix certain things in order to pass then make the adjustments. You don't want to sell the house w/ potential liability issues. Plus you can't predict if he would have passed it w/o any input from the buyer's inspector.

    3. Once the county inspector provides his report depending on the repairs a. renegotiate the price if the buyer wants cosmetic stuff fixed. b. walk away from the contract, fix the issues then re-list it. I'm sure easier said than done but its possible. 

  • Member since 2019 · 13 posts · 1 vote
    5y

    thank you. I just feel like it's apparent that he is being influenced by this engineer since he literally called him WHILE DOING my inspection, according to the engineer. The county had obviously not cared about the soil or fill since the house was already there when i bought it. (the engineer is asking if there was a fill/compaction report) that makes me the most nervous because how do i even fix that?  
    I'm out of cash! so that's a big issue. if the buyer's wanted me to fix something, I could just work it out in the contract, but I can't do that , I don't think(?) if it can't pass my OFFICIAL INSPECTION until I do something. At least that is what I'm thinking. thanks again. I still think it's highly inappropriate.

  • Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    5y

    You know it is what it is and it should not matter who is talking with whom - it comes down to facts. If there is no issue, you are good and if there is a problem you are going to fix it, right?

    While I understand your dilemma, you are the professional flipper here and most likely the new homeowner has neither the skills nor the funds to deal with an issue you swept under the rug. Your buyer trusts that you have done a goof job and you will stand by your work.

  • Member since 2019 · 13 posts · 1 vote
    5y

    How did i sweep something under the rug?  I am doing a rehab, not building a new house.   I am fine to do reasonably fixes, not be responsible OFFICIALLY for inspections that were  or were nnot done 4 years ago BEFORE I bought the house. Why would I have assumed the county didnt know what they were doing when they allowed this house to be built. Get real. thanks for assuming I'm an ***.

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