Real Estate Agent Gold

I love our real estate agent.

If you’ve read any of my blog you know we’ve discovered major water damage in the house we are in contract to buy.  Well, it’s been an entire week since the seller was informed of the damage (she lives out of state) and she agreed to have it fixed properly.  Our real estate agent suggested we all go to the house yesterday to see what kind of progress has been made.  Not only did she show up on time (always great when that happens) but she brought her contractor husband to give us a fresh pair of eyes.  It’s really amazing to find an agent who goes the extra mile!

We showed up at the house with a digital moisture meter, a simple $30 device that can be used to measure the moisture content of building materials.  First thing we saw?  No effort was made to address the water damage inside the house.  In fact, it was worse than when we first saw it!  I had driven by the house earlier in the week and seen some men on the roof, but apparently they were just hanging out up there because when my husband and our agent’s husband went up in the attic, they found another gap in the roof.  Lifting the insulation they found mold and soaking wet beams.  After some investigation, our real estate agent found out that the seller wasn’t even using a professional company, just some family friends to do the repairs.  Nice.

Needless to say we went from being 98% sure we weren’t going to be buying the house to being 208% sure.  Did our real estate agent try to gloss over the situation?  Did she try to talk us into continuing with the purchase knowing we were just weeks from closing?  No way!  She was fantastic, totally backed our decision 100% and let us know she would have us out of the contract by Tuesday.  “Let’s get a list together” she said… property search here we come!

When you find a real estate agent who isn’t just phoning it in, someone who takes the time to make sure you find the right house, it’s like finding gold.  We’re lucky to have someone working so hard on our side!!

Water Water Everywhere Part 2

After a weekend of rain, we finally heard back from the seller regarding the severe water damage in the house we are wanting to buy (you can read about the unfortunate discovery here).  Supposedly she is having people come in to repair the damage including putting up new sheet rock.  The issue I have with this is that if she is using the same people who supposedly fixed the flashing around the chimney, then no thanks!  Part of the reason there was water damage is that the flashing around the chimney was done poorly.  I am very suspicious at this point that there was water damage previously and it was just painted over.  I mean, these gaps in the roof didn’t just happen overnight and it wasn’t the first rain we’ve had all year.  I have so many doubts now.  What if they didn’t dry the damaged area enough?  What if they just put new sheet rock up and didn’t dry anything out?  What if the water has infiltrated placed we can’t even see and mold starts to grow?  At the end of the day, we just don’t have the time or money to make sure this house is safe enough to bring our children into.

We’ve agreed to go to the house on Saturday to see the work they’ve done, but my husband and I have pretty much decided to back out of the deal at this point.  Our real estate agent has assured us that we are still within our rights to back out of the deal and not have any penalty.  The only money we will have lost is the $325 home inspection we paid for (and p.s. did the guy not look hard enough for water damage?  Or were we not asking the right questions?  Or was it just not in a place he could reasonably see it?).  You can bet at our next home inspection we will be asking the tough questions about water damage!

So here we are a month and a half into our first home purchase and we are back at square two.  I say that because although we are looking for a house again, we have had the opportunity to really get our finances worked out.  The next time we make an offer, we won’t be wondering how much we qualify for or if our credit can stand up to the lending process.  We’re also much wiser now.  We’re not afraid to ask questions or make requests.  I’m so thankful again that this happened before we closed and moved in to the house!

Helpful Links

-Find out about installing chimney flashing

-Read about water damage here

Water Water Everywhere

If you keep up with the news you know that the East Coast recently had some pretty serious rain.  After the storm passed I suggested to my husband that we go check out the house we’re buying and check it for water damage.  Every other time we’ve been at the house it’s been sunny and warm.  It was a good thing I suggested it, because we were in for a nasty surprise.

After our home inspection, we had asked that the flashing around the chimneys be repaired.  It’s essential to have good flashing done right to help keep moisture from infiltrating the roof.  Unfortunately it was either not done or not done right and we were dismayed to find a big water stain in the master bedroom right next to the chimney.  There was also one on the ceiling of the room right below the master, again, right next to the chimney.  Walking through each room we also discovered a soaking wet corner of the livingroom ceiling with water that had dripped halfway down the wall ruining the paint.  We aren’t quite sure where that came from… overfull gutters that couldn’t handle the downpour?  Leak in the roof?  Leak in the bathroom above the livingroom?  We’re just not sure.  There was also some major bowing of the ceiling in the kitchen and although it’s not wet, I’m sure it wasn’t doing that before the storm.

Our home inspection didn’t show any obvious signs of water damage, but it’s a good bet that if water damage is there now, it was there before, possibly just painted over.  Water damage is a serious red flag and our other concern is the dreaded mold.  Every day that passes without the proper repairs being done

We’re in this weird limbo where we want to protect our potential investment but there’s not really anything we can do because it’s not actually our house.  The most we can do is have our real estate agent talk to the seller and ask her to repair the damage.  She lives out of state and meanwhile, it’s raining again today.

With this house being at the very top of our price point, we don’t have a whole lot of money in our budget for major repairs.  With this property we will already be looking forward to replacing the furnace and the a/c unit before too long, not to mention the added expense of maintaining the in-ground pool.  We adore this house, but are we willing to be house-poor?

With deep breaths and clear heads, we’re waiting to hear from the seller before we make our final decision.  We’re willing to walk away from our dream house if that house comes with it’s own dark rain cloud.