We bought out house 7 years ago and during the inspection it was discovered that one corner of the house had some rotting floor boards near the sill plates. (That area of the home is below a slight hill from the next house.) We told them to repair the work or we were'n't buying - that was re-written into our offer. They repaired the work, we were given receipts of the work (from places we had heard of) and we went on. The repairs were in the area of $1500.

Since we know that a move is in our future, &nearby neighbors with the same style homes have had crawlspace inspection problems after getting offers, we decided to have it inspected and deal with work now. We didn't expect too much.

WRONG! $3300 worth of work and guess what it's almost ALL for? The original problem at the corner of the house! The inspector said the repairs there are "laughable" and whoever paid for that work got ripped off. Now we're getting ripped off because we're paying for work that we thought was done when we bought the house. It's so frustrating. I'm not sure if we'll be able to do anything more to the inside of the house because of this, and we do have some things to do inside as well, although nothing terrible.

Very frustrating, not to mention expensive. Sometimes owning a home seems like such a pain.

By Trina~moderator on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 08:49 am:

Oh no! Yes, this is the downside of home ownership.

By Tonya on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 08:52 am:

Eve nthough it was 7 years ago if you still have your receipts and paperwork showing what was suppose to be done can you go back on the company that did the work the first time? That is something I would look into. If this company now is says the work was bad get a 2nd opinion and see what your options might be.

Good luck.

By Fraggle on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 09:08 am:

We had the same kind of thing happen to us, very poor workmanship on two areas we had asked to be repaired and of course we didn't find out until years after. Next time we buy a house we will just ask for a reduction in the price for the amount of the repair and just take care of it after we move in.

By Reds9298 on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 02:27 pm:

We will have anything re-inspected the next time for sure.

Taking the $ off the price of the house isn't really going to get you anything. That's what, $15/month off your payment? Hardly enough to save for a big repair.

By Pamt on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 03:12 pm:

How frustrating!. GRRR1 I would be mad too!

By Fraggle on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 03:21 pm:

Actually, the seller can put the money taken off the price of the house into an escrow account that you can access after the house is purchased, but only to cover the cost of those repairs. We had to do this with one of the repairs since it could not be completed in time for the sale of the home. If the cost of the repair is less than the amount in the escrow account, then that money goes back to the seller. You just have to be very careful about how it is written into the contract.

By Happynerdmom on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 03:34 pm:

I would be VERY frustrated, too!

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 04:02 pm:

It is unlikely that you could sue. Most states have a statute of limitations (a law that sets the time period within which you can sue someone) and it varies from 1 to 6 years - I have never heard of a longer statute of limitations.

By Reds9298 on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 08:37 pm:

Thanks for clarifying Fraggle, and it's something to keep in mind in the future!

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, September 23, 2006 - 07:29 am:

Fraggle is right. When I bought my house I demanded the seller escrow funds for a repair, and for removal of some trash that was behind the garage and hadn't been removed when I inspected on the morning of settlement. Both jobs were paid for from the escrow.