chirp

this is my first post and i've got a baby on my lap so i'll keep it succinct.

we were under contract for a house when the water line broke and no one saw it for 4 days.

the owner called in Servicemaster to repair the damage. the leak started in the kitchen, saturated the floor and flooded the basement under 2ft of clean water.

they ripped out the finished basement (ALL) drywall, kitchen floor and cabinets.

they did not replace the sub-flooring in the kitchen.

a lot of people are telling us to walk away. we have not hired an inspection agent yet.

anyone here have opinions. i can answer more questions if you got 'em.

tia!!

majakdragon

Depends on what the floor covering in the kitchen was. The subfloor may have been protected if it was linoleum sheeting,and the water found holes such as where the pipes entered the kitchen. Water running for this long of a time is not good. From the basement, you should be able to see if the subfloor was soaked. You really need some type of proof that the subfloor was not damaged. If you cannot get the proof, and a guarantee in writing, I would walk.

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chirp

i thought it was tile, my husband said that when we were there it looked like linoleum sheeting to him because there was a very distinct line through the floor. i took his word for it.

so, even if the kitchen floor seemed SOAKED it might not have gone through?

inspectorD

Walk.
To many issues will pop up later, that foundation needs to dry out for a long time before anything is rebuilt in the basement.
The rest of the home is also still full of water from migration throughout the home.
From my experiences, folks always find more things than they can see. And no Inspector will find everything which is hidden.

Floods which are only around for 4 days ruin homes, they usually need to be gutted due to mold issues later on. No two problems are the same, it could be fine or it could go really bad. Since you do not own it, my opinion is to keep looking.

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ciera

Walk, and see if you can get your ham money back. I should think you can since there was such a large problem, so it's no longer the house you bid on.

BTW...hire an inspector before you put in a bid. It's not a hot market, so it's not likely you're going to lose the house. That way, you don't have to negotiate about any problems found during the inspection.

chirp

our lawyer is our mother and is working for free. YAY!
she made sure that we got our good faith deposit back. she declared the contract null and void the minute i told her about this.

now she's helping us make sure that the house will be in shape IF we get it. we ARE totally prepared to walk away...we are even looking at other houses.

but this house was just so great for us. less than 2 miles to husband's work, right down the street from the city park and zoo, in the best neighborhood in town. IN OUR PRICE RANGE. lol. and so so much more that it seems stupid to walk away if they are going to fix it all, and well.

we already have an inspector lined up. perhaps if we walk from this house we can make a deal with him to look at any future homes. i mean, we really can't afford to just hire an inspector for houses that we may not get under contract. we could lose half our deposit doing that. although i see your point, i just don't think it's a wise decision for us.

i tried craiglisting barter services for an inspector or knowledgeable person to help us in the home-buying process...no one took the bait.

ciera

We only hired the inspector after we were pretty sure that we would put in a bid and that it would be accepted. We knew no one else had placed a big recently, and the house had been on the market for a while. We gave a pretty low bid, and they didn't accept it, but they did counter offer.

The inspector's report makes it easier to bid though. We listed all the major things wrong with the house and wrote a letter explaining that these were the reasons we were bidding so low. Around here, it's about 300 to get the inspection, so it's worth it when you can then bid down the house by 10K.

Given the amount of problems it has now, bid for a LOT less. You might even find a contractor to come out and give you an estimate for repairs so that you have an idea for how much less.

Honestly, I wouldn't have them fix it. They have no reason to do a quality job, and you're the one who will be stuck with the results. Either have them discount the price greatly and do it yourself, or walk away. I know it's hard to walk away from a good place, but patience pays off in this game. If you really are willing to walk, they might drop the price by a lot. Good luck!

chirp

we're fha...no way they'd let us by the house with that damage.

i dunno. this is all so crazy.

ciera

Darn. That does cause a problem then. If you do go forward, maybe you can work something out with the sellers so you can oversee the work (and select the new cabinets, etc.)?

I think that's a perfectly normal feeling when buying a house. Even crazier when you sign your name next to that number.

kayliekitchen

get your money back and walk away:-)