https://www.cheknews.ca/passing-on-home-inspection-turns-into-nightmare-for-nanaimo-family-466110/
** Passingon home inspection turns into nightmare for Nanaimo family**
Posted By: [FONT=“Times New Roman”]Skye Ryan](https://www.cheknews.ca/author/sryan/)[/FONT]on:July01, 2018In: [FONT=“Times New Roman”]News](https://www.cheknews.ca/category/news/), Top Stories[/FONT]
WATCH: A Nanaimo woman issharing her family’s living nightmare in hopes of saving another first-timebuyer from their fate.
The hotter than ever realestate market is making it more and more common for buyers to waive conditionsand forego home inspections.
** Skye Ryan reports.**
Wendy Ettinger and her son Matthew Noel’s dream home has turned into theirnightmare.
“It looked immaculate on the outside.They made it look that way,” said Mathew Noel. “It said beautiful brand new 1-year-old,fully authorized home.”
“It’s just sad,” said Wendy Ettinger.“This house is ruining our lives.”
These first time home buyers boughtin 2016, amid this still burning hot housing market.
With multiple offers on the table forthe house, they decided to offer over its $440,000 asking price and waive thehome inspection, on advice they say their real estate agent gave them.
“There was another offer and what weshould do is maybe raise the price and drop the inspection,” said Ettinger.
What this family says they didn’tknow then was how long their so-called “new build” had been sitting incomplete.
It turns out that construction began on it allthe way back in 2009 when the recession shuttered so many projects.
“Oh we were just shocked right away,”said Ettinger. “We had no idea.”
The family’s investigator, JamesCraig, said he’s learned that over the years the house filled with water, whichlikely led to the mold evidenced in reports they’ve now paid for.
Mold that makes it impossible forMatthew Noel to live in the home now.
“The whole house is filled withpenicillin and stachybotrys which are both toxic molds,” said Noel.“Life-threatening molds and I can’t breathe in there.”
So even the interview with CHEK tookplace outside.
President of the Vancouver IslandReal Estate Board Don McClintock says this case is why inspections are socrucial, and why buyers shouldn’t be tempted to pass on them.
Without any conditions then they haveunconditionally purchased the home,” said McClintock. “They have no furtherrecourse.”
Wendy Ettinger and her son have beentold it will cost as much as $100,000 to repair their new home. They’ve nowhired a lawyer to take their case against the home’s builder and real estateagent to court.