A couple of months ago, I did a home inspection for a very nice family. From the very beginning I knew there was something special and important about them. The way the kids were not exactly happy about this house. To the way they dressed and the vehicles they drove compared to the house they wanted to move into, and move in quickly. All of these clues set off a bell in my head, a bell that was confirmed a few days later by the Realtor who thanked me for saving his clients. Apparently they got caught in this market and could no longer afford their current house. To avoid a foreclosure, they needed to find a new, less expensive home and sell their current house.
Anyways, when I drove up to the house I quickly noticed the brand new roof. I was like “cool, the seller fixed things up so this should not be too hard.” I was right about the roof, it was not even three months old, but I was wrong about the rest.
The house itself had a few minor areas that needed attention, but actually for the age of the house, it was in great condition. On a different inspection I did several months ago, I fell through the roof because a section of roof sheathing was missing, so I changed my pattern and now I go into the attic first to make sure it is actually there. Well in this house, there was gypsum board stapled on all the rafters, covering up the roof from the interior. This made me nervous, was something being covered up? When I checked the plumbing vents passing through the attic, I noticed there was sunlight coming through. OK this can’t be good.
Well I finished the attic, grabbed my ladder and climbed up to take a look. But before I got onto the roof, I took a peek under the shingles. The first thing I noticed, there was no starting row of shingles. The second thing I noticed was the sheathing crumbling when I touched it. I climbed down and checked in several more places around the house and found yet more rotten wood. I wrote this all up and strongly encouraged a professional roofer to inspect it.
The next day I got a call from the seller’s agent. I was informed the roof was inspected by a city inspector and he saw no problems. I scratched my head and asked if she had seen the photo’s I had taken and she said no. I told her I stand by my inspection. She prodded me some more asking me how I could say the entire roof was rotten. I quickly pointed out, I reported all visible wood showed signs of rot, I could not see the majority of the roof because if was covered up on both sides which is why I strongly encouraged a roofer to take a look. Well she wasn’t happy but she said she would talk to the buyer and try and get it done. Apparently it took her quite a bit to convince the seller to do this. He wanted to pass on these buyers and find new ones.
When the roofer got there he was completely floored. He kept asking what company did this horrible job. Not only was I correct in my report about the wood I could see, but the roofer removed the gypsum board and checked several spots on the roof. The shingles were nailed incorrectly, the flashing was all wrong and the roof consisted of mostly rotten wood. After many questions and much prodding, the seller admitted that he and his brother did the roofing job and had been lying about a professional company doing it.
When the prospective buyer found out, he quickly ended the deal. If he was lying about this, what else could he be lying about? One week later, the prospective buyer called me to inspect another house. Today he and his family are now in a house they can call home.
One thing I found very delightful, during the final walk through (The buyer asked me to be present and I gladly did) the seller’s agent from the house with the poor roof showed up and gave them a house warming gift (not sure what is was as it was wrapped) and apologized again for the previous house. That Realtor won lots of points with me that day. I never asked her what happened to that house either as it seemed a sore spot for her.
Since then I have received one referral from the buyer and done a few inspections for both the buyer’s agent and the original seller’s agent.
The worst part about this story, last week I did an inspection on a house with almost exactly the same conditions. I just hope it turns out as well, we shall see.
John E. Coker
Family Home Inspection LLC
www.familyhomeinspection.com
john@familyhomeinspection.com
(757) 202-3282
;)
;)
