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Four months ago my wife and I purchased a home from a for sell by owner in Cedar Rapids, IA. We used Coldwell Banker to represent use on the sell. We wanted someone to represent us, Just to be on the safe side. The seller agreed to our price and agreed to pay 3.5% to our agent. The seller filled out a coldwell Banker disclosure. They did not did not disclose any info on any previous damage to the house. After living there for a few months we started to smell a musty smell. We thought it was just the basement and thought nothing was wrong. Later on we decided to redo the ceilings. After scraping the texture off the ceilings we noticed alot of repaired spots on the ceilings. As well as previous water damage. I cut a hole in one of the spots to further investigate. Their was a sock stuffed in the hole and a couch cushion over the hole. There was alot of black spots all over the dry wall. I then called an inspector to come over and take mold samples and look over things. He noticed right away that the roof was shot as well as the siding. Where the roof meet the upstairs wall there was alot of silicon where the two had meet. Someone had tried to fix the leak. He found alot of other things wrong with the house that our previous inspector missed. The mold test results came back showing we had a high level of mold. We can no longer stay in the house. The house needs to be gutted inside and out. We contacted the previous owners and they denied knowing anthing about it. We contacted the real estate agent from the previous seller that they bought it from. He told us that he remembered them and they tried to come back on them for some water damage. They were having problems with water leaking from the upstairs wall where it meet the roof. Thats where all of our problems are. So they lied to us and didn't disclose any of the previous damage. The neighbors also told us about them having problems with water leaking thru the siding and roof. We don't know what to do and where to start. We gave $145,000 for the house and we don't want to put another $50,000 in repairs. We feel that it isn't our falt. Our Real Estate company isn't doing anything for us. What should we do.
Sorry, I'm afraid you are out of luck on this one short of a lawsuit. The options I see are:
- Sue the previous owners for lying on the seller dislcosure. But first - what exactly did they lie about on the disclosure. Was is the exact wording of the thing they didn't disclose? The seller disclosure in Arizona was very detailed. Here in Washington, not so much.
- Sue the home inspector that inspected the house for not noticing damage. But home inspectors are not required to know about hidden issues like socks in the ceiling/wall.
- See if your homeowners insurance will pay the claim. This is your easiest option if they will pay it.
Now wait a minute before you call your lawyers. Lawyers in my area run $200 an hour. Drywallers run $10 an hour. So I can hire 20 hours of drywall work for 1 hour of attorney work.
I won't even try to estimate the number of hours it would take for an attorney to solve this one.
In the meantime, you have no choice but to get it fixed. It is YOUR house. So whether or not you are able to get money back by suing anyone, you should still go ahead and get the house repaired.
I'm so sorry that you find yourselves in this type of situation. It sounds like you attempted to do all the right things, and are left disappointed and holding the bag.
While you don't want to put any more money into the house, not doing so will reduce your homes value even more. Walking away will hurt your credit and you would lose any money that you have in the house.
I'm not one to normally suggest litigation, but it may be your only way to get any assistance in paying for the cost of repairs. However if the sellers don't have the resources then even if you win the suit you may not be able to collect. It appears that you have neighbors and a prior realtor that could support your claim that this was an existing problem that should have been disclosed. It also sounds that they may have done work to hide the problem.
Do seek the advice of an attorney. At the very least look to solve the source of the water leak and make sure to keep the humidity levels down in the house. Mold needs moisture to survive.
Also report your inspector to any type of state board you have. Your inspector should have caught that.
The OP says that the mold was not noticed (other than a slight musty order that the poster thought was normal for basements) until they ripped out the sheetrock as part of a minor remodel. Home inspectors don't normally rip open walls to check the inside - they only look for visible damage. So unless something was visible from the outside without demolition, the inspector would not be responsible to notice it.
Location: Halfway between Number 4 Privet Drive and Forks, WA
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I would contact an attorney.
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