What were you thinking?!? - Oh, wait, you weren't thinking...

Here are some stories -literally from the real estate trenches-that will leave you scratching your head, asking "What were they thinking?!?"

In my experience, one of the more challenging hurdles is the septic inspection.    Buyers often must discover the hard way that some homeowners simply weren't thinking.

There was the home owner who regraded the slope in their yard - but in the process, covered their fiberglass septic tank with six+ feet of soil.    The weight of the soil collapsed the tank, but no one knew until the buyer had to pay a lot more than usual to dig away a small mountain of dirt to uncover the tank for inspection.    Then the seller had to pay to replace the tank, and the escrow took longer than normal.

Today at a septic inspection we discovered someone had built concrete stairs over the tank!  The digging required to expose the tank lids took several more hours than usual, and my buyer is now considering how to re-route the stairs from the driveway to the home.

While we were absorbing this news, the pumper offered the best story yet.    He went to a job site to pump out a septic tank, but no one knew the tank location.    He used a tool that flushes down the toilet and ends up at the tank, emitting a signal so the tank can be located.    A homeowner had build a master bedroom addition on top of the tank. They had to open up the floor for the tank to be pumped through the house.    (YUCK)    Later, they had to deactivate that tank and relocate a new tank...most likeley an expensive mistake.

Santa Cruz Mountains home buyers - hire an agent who is willing to be there by your side through some interesting challenges, because you're likely to face a few bumps in the road when buying mountain property.   For timely relevant updates, subscribe to my facebook page.   For example, I recently posted on that the County is ramping up some changes to the kinds of repairs they will allow, particularly for sloped lots.    Translation - more expensive systems will likely be required.  

Santa Cruz Mountains homeowners - please think about the location of your septic system before you make a change to your property.     Don't know/remember where it is?   Call me!