vacant house with A/C running

96 degrees, heat index 102, took a peek around the corner while waiting for the agent to call back with the combo code, saw some water dripping out of the condensate drain, heard the unit running out back, :mrgreen: woohoo! Its going to be cool inside! :slight_smile: Went inside and found the house at 87, t-stat set on 80 :frowning:

10 yr old house, client showed up later and asked if the unit could just be charged up, I explained to him that it probably has a refrigerant leak and that the bank may have someone charge it up but it could leak out again so he needs to get his own HVAC guy out there to see what all is wrong.

So I find out today it has two leaks and can’t be repaired “due to the location of the leaks, can’t solder it” , “new unit needed” $$$$$

There should be a law against banks offering houses for sale they know nothing about. The sign in sheet put there by the property preservation company said the house was in “good shape”. I would guess about $3k plus the new hvac system for a total of $7k to $10k depending on who you hire to fix everything on this little gem.

That’s why you need a good “foreclosure disclaimer” warning people about the lack of disclosure and the potential consequences.

The banks aren’t doing anything wrong…they just don’t know. The agent is just being a normal used house salesman who wants a paycheck.

Bull crap! They don’t want to know!

Several of my HI Reports have been “Returned” (un-opened, alleged!)!
They go out of their way “not to know”!

By law; they do not have to disclose because they did not live in the house.

However, they are required to disclose if they actually know about something. The HI Report does this, so they avoid it at all costs.

I have had Bank RE Agents tell me in person, not to send them a copy of the report.

David, wouldn’t you do the same thing? You can’t blame them. They want to get the albatross off their neck.

They don’t want to come off the price for the required repairs.

Should their policy be “Buyer Beware” just because they can get away with it?

Yep.

Is that how You do business my “Alpha & Omega” friend?

David, when you want to sell a car, do you take it to a mechanic and tell them to go through it from top to bottom and write out a report of all the problems so you can tell the buyer everything you never knew before? OR, do you depend on the buyer to rely on his own due diligence?

Caveat emptor is an accepted philosophy of capitalism. I’m not condoning dishonesty, but you can’t blame a business for doing the minimum they need to do to sell a property.

No, but when you know you have a defective product and refuse to act on it and reject all information about it (even if a previous buyer took the car to a mechanic and came back and told them there was a problem) and try to sell it a like new blue book condition…

They do sent out an appraiser before they sell it. You know they know about this stuff but don’t do anything about it because they are protected from the law.

If I have to disclose conditions of my property, why shouldn’t they?
No one says they have to fix anything. Just let the buyer know.

Actually… I’ve seen them know and then not know.

I was at an inspection over the summer. There was a significant soil/foundation defect of the home. The buyer indicated that for a short time, the bank/seller “toyed” with the idea of fixing it.

I was by the same home some several months later

Their “fix”???

A new sellers agent!! The 3 monkeys see/tell/hear no evil. I’m sure they canned the prior listing agent to prevent them from being in a disclosure issue.

Another one.

Bottom chords of trusses “modified” by addition of a drop down stair. Also, the garage had been converted into a living area. No ventilation and a sagging roof… sagging several inches, cut/sack assumed above garage as it was hipped.

Buyers cancelled in May / Was by there a couple weeks ago. New listing agent.

I would imagine the banks can easily get “bit”. After some “sucker” moves in, eventually figures out they’ve been “had”, as a neighbor or someone else tells them:

“You know there some inspector was over there, I think his website was xxxxxxx.com. The house was listed with a couple different people too”

I wonder if that’s happened yet? Or if the pile of “as-is” papers will hold up. Don’t they have a word for specifically withholding information and mis-representing something when it’s sold?

Can’t say that “F Word”!

FRAUD :freaked-::freaked-::freaked-:

We will never see banks be liable as would be a normal seller. They have several shields in place including corporate entity. Even regular sellers can choose to not answer the questions on the disclosure form.

I hate to side with the banks even for a small portion of this discussion but they just can’t keep up with the condition of these vacant houses. Vandalism, theft, equipment breakdowns etc will occur. Even some inspection reports they get will have existing issues left out. They do send out someone via a 3rd party company for a few coins to see if major issues are obvious but these are limited to broken doors, windows, massive roof leaks and major missing parts. Its done by the same guy that mows the grass.

What they need to do is hire one of us to review inspection reports and supply their appraiser with information so that he can adjust the price of the house and make it a fair deal. The buyers deserve to gain something for their time and effort in hiring contractors to get these POS houses fixed!

The main problem is still many people trying to buy houses that they can not or are not willing to afford to repair and maintain. They think these deals are just sitting there in move in condition.

I have inspected about 5 foreclosures in the last year that did not need more than $1k to $2k in repairs, these were less than 8 years old and really great deals for the buyers that they just lucked out on. From what they told me the price was around or less than what the materials cost to build the house when new.

The great majority of the houses I inspect that need more than $5k in repairs look about the same as the ones in good shape to the untrained eye.

The private home inspection business is here to stay since we are one of the few people the public can truly trust to do anything anymore.

Every time I do a foreclosure inspection the listing agent fails to show up. They send someone else, they give me the combo and nobody shows up but the buyer or they unlock and leave! It has happened too many times to be a coincidence.
I was inspecting during an open house one Saturday and the agent continually told people “we know nothing about the history of the place.” I ask her about it later, she said she was a part timer just filling in for the listing agent! This listing agent will not even show up for her own open house!

Ed,

I notice this too. These are probably agents that “don’t want to know” … and I can’t blame them.

As far as vandalism… Bruce makes a good point.

In California, we have some new laws about R410 as well. I rec’d another phone call about a stolen R-22 condensing coil (they are in HIGH DEMAND as you can’t buy them here- so I’m told) AFTER I performed an inspection. The buyer demanded the unit be replaced … which is expensive as the Evap coil is still R22 etc.

The Banks reply “escrow cancelled”. I would have thought they would have wanted a police report and had insurance… didn’t want to bother with it. Too bad.

Joe, do you have a foreclosure disclaimer? If so, would you mind posting?