All Forum Posts by: Scott Scotter

The cracks were open during inspection and obvious. The engineer was amazed he missed them. Again, I should have seen them myself, but I didn't. There's obviously stupidity and negligence on my part as well, but that is why I hired a home inspector, so that I didn't have to comb through the property. 

The home inspector also missed the cut joist which was obvious when looking into the cabinet, and the bowed 2X4 above the window.

I am 100% positive that a different home inspector would have at least seen the cracks and the cut joist. I've been through two other home inspections with a different company, and those inspectors were much more thorough. 

Regardless, if the home inspector has a clause in his contract than I suppose I am out of luck on that end. Thanks again for the responses. 

Thanks for the replies. My thinking is that I could sue on the basis that he failed to disclose the movement of the bathroom in his disclosure report. It would be hard to prove that he definitely knew, but considering how severe the slope is, I would imagine that a tenant brought it to his attention. 

Hey BP. I'm wondering if you guys can give me some legal advice. 

I just purchased a house a month ago, and after moving in, I noticed that the toilet in the second floor bathroom is not level. There is a cabinet in the hallway that allows for inspection of the plumbing, and after further inspection, the joist that the shower sits on is cut to allow the drain line for the shower to fit. This is making the entire floor sag. I brought in a structural engineer yesterday, and he confirmed that this was the issue and it needs to be fixed. I will need to cut open the ceiling in the kitchen to fix the problem. The engineer said it will probably be 2-3k. 

The home inspector missed this issue, along with a bunch of other issues. He missed two large cracks in the basement, a severely bowed piece of wood above the window in the same bathroom that needs to be reinforced (probably another 2k), the washer wasn't working, etc. etc. I should have seen a bunch of these issues myself, but that is why I hired the home inspector, and he missed all of them. Needless to say I am not using that company again. 

Do I have anyone I can go after for these issues? Home owner, home inspector, etc? 

The previous homeowner moved out of the house in 2008 and has rented the house for the past 9 years. I'm sure this hurts my chances since allows him to say he wasn't aware of the issue, but the bathroom is severely slanted and very noticeable. The toiler is slanting 1 inch per 18 inches. I would assume a tenant would have brought it up. 

Also, the home inspector missing it probably hurts my chances even more, but the home inspector was extremely negligent and missed 5-6 major issues with the property. The engineer was amazed that he missed all of these things. I most likely would not have bought the house if the home inspector caught all of these issues. 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks BP!

Awesome, thank you for the responses!

Need some help please!

Duplexes are very pricey in my market, so I am debating buying a single family home as my first purchase. My plan would be to live in the house for about a year and get a couple of roommates, then buy another property and rent out the first property to new tenants. This would hopefully set me on the right path to owning multiple investment properties in the future. 

Everything I am reading online is saying that in order to be approved for a second property, I need to be able to afford both mortgages without any rental income factored in. I have a decent job, but getting approved for two mortgages without the rental income factor seems impossible. My conventional lender is telling me that I need the property rented for 8 months before it can be factored in as income. If I recall correctly, FHA requires two years landlord experience.

So, it seems my only options are to either:

1. Buy an owner occupied duplex as originally planned. This allows me to start building landlord experience right off the bat. As I said, they are very expensive in my market, and the good ones are not on the market for more than 15-20 days.

2. Buy an owner occupied single family home with a piggyback loan (no FHA) and live in it for a very short period of time. When I have tenants who are willing to sign a lease, I would move out and rent a place myself for 8 months. This would allow me to acquire landlord experience. I could then buy another house without having to cover both mortgages entirely since rental income can now be factored into the equation.

Any advice would be much appreciated!