Question: We recently purchased a house that had been repossessed by the bank.

When we made our offer, our agent advised us not to get a home inspection since it was just an additional cost to us and the bank would not fix anything anyway.

In hindsight, we realize we should have had an inspection because the roof leaks and we get standing water around the foundation during wet weather. Do we have recourse or did we just make a huge mistake in not getting an inspection?

Answer: Let me begin with a message for everyone who may consider buying a home: Any agent who advises a client not to have a home inspection, regardless of the circumstances of the transaction, is doing the client a major disservice. (This applies to newly built homes too.)

Advising a client to forgo a home inspection is irresponsible.

The purpose of a home inspection is not to prepare a repair list for the seller. Your agent’s reasoning, therefore, was irrelevant.

A home inspection is meant to inform you of the condition of the home you are buying. A home inspector does not merely report on conditions that the seller might repair, but also on conditions that you might have to repair or on safety violations that could have life-threatening consequences.

Whether you have recourse is a legal question that can be answered by a real estate attorney. In the meantime, have an after-purchase home inspection to learn what additional defects await discovery. Find a highly experienced inspector with a reputation for comprehensive thoroughness.

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Sellers’ story just doesn’t hold water

Question: We bought our home six months ago and had it professionally inspected. At that time, there were no apparent problems with the swimming pool. But two weeks after moving in, we could tell that the pool was losing water.

Sure enough, a leak detection company discovered leakage in the underground piping, a condition that no home inspector could have discovered.

The sellers reimbursed the $200 leak detection fee but refused to pay for repairs. They claim no knowledge of any previous leakage, but this does not seem plausible to us. Do we have any recourse?

Answer: It does seem highly unlikely that the pool level only began to recede when you took possession of the property. The sellers, it would seem, must have known the pool was losing water, because periodic refilling would have been necessary to provide a full pool at the close of escrow.

Depending upon the cost of repairs, you might try Small Claims Court. In preparing your case, you should ask the neighbors if they were aware of any problems with the pool.

You might also try calling all the pool maintenance companies listed in your phonebook to see if any have worked on your pool and if their records show that this problem was diagnosed.

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Screws grounded — but most aren’t

Question: In previous articles, you have discussed the problem of ungrounded outlets in old houses.

In my home, the screws that hold the cover plates on the outlets turned out to be grounded. Is this the case in all older homes?

Answer: The screw at the center of the outlet plate is only grounded if the wiring system in the home includes a ground wire to each outlet box or if the wiring is contained in metal conduit. In many older homes, no such ground wires or conduits are provided.
Source:

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/printedition/la-re-inspect20may20,1,4363621.column?ctrack=1&cset=true