Did not get full home inspection

What is the name of your state? Ohio

In July of this year, my wife and I purchased a home. Our contract with the realtor stated we were to receive a full home inspection. We discovered a few weeks after the closing that the realtor had ordered a structural inspection only. This inspection was of the house foundation and nothing else. In August, we found that parts of the roof on the house and garage were rotted from water damage caused by an incorrectly installed drip edge. A full home inspection should have caught this problem before we bought the home. Now we are faced with a $4400 repair bill to replace the bad roof and shingles. When we approached the realtor with this problem she immediately tried to blame my wife, saying that she had authorized her to use the structural inspector. This authorization supposedly took place during a phone conversation between my wife and the realtor and there is nothing in writing to back it up. We also spoke briefly with the seller, his attitude was, it’s your problem now. Which leads me to believe he knew about the roof condition and did not disclose it? Do we have any legal recourse? Is the realtor or seller liable? Can we sue the seller or realtor to recover the cost of the new roof? In hindsight, I realize we should not have trusted the realtor to handle the home inspection. I just hope it is not a $4400 mistake.

It sounds like your realtor acted on your wife's instruction. I don't believe that this had to be in writing between your realtor and yourselves. Caveat Emptor.....buyer beware !! Always get a home inspection whether the home is 30 years old or if it's a new construction. You, as the buyer, knew that you were to have the home inspection. You can't blame this on your realtor. There is something you're not saying. When a structural inspection was done on the home, did you not receive this information ? Did you not know that when and what day the inspection was to take place....as this is common in real estate contracts (to be done by) !! And, of course, the seller is going to say "sorry...you're problem now" . Whether or not he knew about the problem; if he did know, he should have disclosed. Did you sign a property disclosure or a property disclaimer ? Either way.....the disclosure says that the owner is stating that to his current actual knowledge. Sounds like no one is responsible except yourself. Again, your realtor acted on the instruction of your wife. If your wife failed to tell you, then shame on her !!! Sorry !!!

First let me say thanks for the reply and your advice on the situation. I have to very strongly disagree with your comments about my wife. She did not authorize the realtor to do anything. I heard the phone conversation and there is nothing my wife is hiding from me. I do agree that we should have questioned the inspector’s report as it had only foundation information on it. We should also have been present when the inspection was done. That was ignorance on our part, as we did not know that it was standard procedure for the buyer to attend the inspection. We trusted the selling realtor because she is an 81-year-old lady who claimed to be honest, as the day is long. Obviously, there was a misunderstanding about what type of inspection was to be done but the contract did clearly state full house inspection. Again, our fault for not making sure it was done right. What I really can’t understand in the whole situation is the seller. He lived in the house 18 years and was employed in construction. It seems to me he should have known there was a problem with the roof. He did sign a disclosure that said to his knowledge there were no problems with the house. We have also recently found more problems with the house that I am sure he had to know about. I guess the bottom line is we are screwed and our inexperience at house buying is going to cost us big bucks.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by RAH

First let me say thanks for the reply and your advice on the situation. I have to very strongly disagree with your comments about my wife. She did not authorize the realtor to do anything. I heard the phone conversation and there is nothing my wife is hiding from me. I do agree that we should have questioned the inspector’s report as it had only foundation information on it. We should also have been present when the inspection was done. That was ignorance on our part, as we did not know that it was standard procedure for the buyer to attend the inspection. We trusted the selling realtor because she is an 81-year-old lady who claimed to be honest, as the day is long. Obviously, there was a misunderstanding about what type of inspection was to be done but the contract did clearly state full house inspection. Again, our fault for not making sure it was done right. What I really can’t understand in the whole situation is the seller. He lived in the house 18 years and was employed in construction. It seems to me he should have known there was a problem with the roof. He did sign a disclosure that said to his knowledge there were no problems with the house. We have also recently found more problems with the house that I am sure he had to know about. I guess the bottom line is we are screwed and our inexperience at house buying is going to cost us big bucks.

**A: I suggest at this point that you do hire a home inspector to do a whole house inspection. And have a meeting with the principal broker. Your Realtor should retire already.

We followed your advice and hired a home inspector. His inspection found many problems but the most interesting was his assessment of our basement walls and foundation. He found major problems with the block walls. Cracks big enough in one wall to put a large screw drive through to the handle. His assessment of the walls and foundation was totally opposite of the report we received from the realtor’s structural engineer. The engineer’s report consisted of approximately 3 sentences and basically stated that the walls and foundation were fine. We are now wondering if this structural inspection that the realtor ordered for us actually happened. Now we have a total of 3 issues regarding this realtors conduct. The total home inspection that was not done, non-disclosure by the seller about the roof and the so-called structural inspection that may have not actually taken place. We contacted the principal broker several days ago and are still waiting for a response. We have also lodged a complaint with the Ohio Department of Commerce and contacted an attorney.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by RAH

We followed your advice and hired a home inspector. His inspection found many problems but the most interesting was his assessment of our basement walls and foundation. He found major problems with the block walls. Cracks big enough in one wall to put a large screw drive through to the handle. His assessment of the walls and foundation was totally opposite of the report we received from the realtor’s structural engineer. The engineer’s report consisted of approximately 3 sentences and basically stated that the walls and foundation were fine. We are now wondering if this structural inspection that the realtor ordered for us actually happened. Now we have a total of 3 issues regarding this realtors conduct. The total home inspection that was not done, non-disclosure by the seller about the roof and the so-called structural inspection that may have not actually taken place. We contacted the principal broker several days ago and are still waiting for a response. We have also lodged a complaint with the Ohio Department of Commerce and contacted an attorney.

**A: ok, can you hire an engineer to inspect the basement? And talk to the first engineer.

Our next step was finding another structural engineer to advise us on repair options for the basement walls. If I contact the original engineer, the realtor hired what should I ask him? Is this something I should wait and let my attorney handle?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by RAH

Our next step was finding another structural engineer to advise us on repair options for the basement walls. If I contact the original engineer, the realtor hired what should I ask him? Is this something I should wait and let my attorney handle?

**A: yes, let your attorney advise you.