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See, this makes me think that the old legalities of mutual combat and dueling should be re-instated. You should be able to call that contractor out and shoot him down in the town square.
This stands out: "My realtor also visits the house to see the problems for himself. At the time of purchase, he and the sellers had coached me into waiving the disclosures notice (which means I bought the house “as is”). I would later learn that this is one of many tactics used by predatory remodelers."
See, this makes me think that the old legalities of mutual combat and dueling should be re-instated. You should be able to call that contractor out and shoot him down in the town square.
The article states it was done by a house flipper not a contractor. Lots of these house flippers have no training in any trade and do their own work based on what home dopes and blowes tell them. That work was certainly not done by any contractors. Probably found some illegals standing outside the home depot and flipped them $100 bill for a days work.
....and do their own work based on what home dopes and blowes tell them.
This apparently was done on purpose so the skill of who was doing the work is irrelevant.
Quote:
I also remove the useless TV coax cables and obsolete telephone wires from the walls. During this process I discover that some of the coax outlet plates in the bedrooms only have a few inches of cable attached to them,
That's not incompetency.
When I read a story like this I'm so happy about the house we bought. Very outdated but everything was in reasonably good shape. Clearly someone tried to hide cracks in the plaster in the one room with a quick spackle job and paint but that's about the extent of the issues we have encountered.
This apparently was done on purpose so the skill of who was doing the work is irrelevant.
That's not incompetency.
When I read a story like this I'm so happy about the house we bought. Very outdated but everything was in reasonably good shape. Clearly someone tried to hide cracks in the plaster in the one room with a quick spackle job and paint but that's about the extent of the issues we have encountered.
I have to agree. It was done on purpose and was not just incompetency. Duct tape vents and the few inches of coax? That was a deliberate act to deceive. Shoot, I have a spec built house that I keep finding all kinds of things wrong with it but it meets minimal code (seriously, I would love at least one straight wall already!). There WAS incompetency in my situation. But in this guy's situation, that was 100% on purpose and an attempt to deceive.
I wish you'd been able to contact Holmes on Homes. I've watched his shows and he'd have loved to get his hands on your house. Maybe it would have been too much for a half-hour show but he could have made it a special one-hour show. Perhaps it's not too late to contact him. You could print out your blog and send it to him via FedEx.
I'm just stunned and my heart breaks for you. OMG. OMG. OMG.
I've read about this guy's home's issues a couple times since last fall. As a former Realtor I would always caution people against homes that have had work done where permits were not pulled. It will take a couple calls to find that out, but I feel the Realtor has an obligation to ask if permits were pulled. If the buyer is aware that permits were not pulled and they still choose to move forward with an offer (and inspection) then it's on the buyer. But most buyer's use a Realtor, in part, to help protect themselves from this kind of stuff.
If you buy a remodeled/rehabbed home, ASK ABOUT PERMITS!! And make sure they are closed out before closing. Not all work requires a permit, but a lot of it does. The flipper might still be suck with this house if people asked about permits. It's also a great idea to have your Realtor look at the MLS listing history for the property so you can try to see the extent of the work that was done. Knowledge is power, folks.
First, I have all the sympathy in the world for this person being duped, and our system should have provisions for action under such egregious work.
However, this is a perfect example of the inexperienced directing work. The home should have been vacated (a trailer on property to live in) and demo to the studs to redo everything at once. The little bit here and there is a huge negative and made it much longer than need be. While it may meet code my feeling is it will still be a hodgepodge if ever completed.
Realtors are no different than prostitutes, because they both want your money. At least when the prostitute is done you feel good. I guess it's just sad to have a buyer beware system. The work that was done required a permit, and this individual broke the law.
I've read about this guy's home's issues a couple times since last fall. As a former Realtor I would always caution people against homes that have had work done where permits were not pulled. It will take a couple calls to find that out, but I feel the Realtor has an obligation to ask if permits were pulled. If the buyer is aware that permits were not pulled and they still choose to move forward with an offer (and inspection) then it's on the buyer. But most buyer's use a Realtor, in part, to help protect themselves from this kind of stuff.
If you buy a remodeled/rehabbed home, ASK ABOUT PERMITS!! And make sure they are closed out before closing. Not all work requires a permit, but a lot of it does. The flipper might still be suck with this house if people asked about permits. It's also a great idea to have your Realtor look at the MLS listing history for the property so you can try to see the extent of the work that was done. Knowledge is power, folks.
If this SIMPLE guideline had been followed there would be no conversation- period!
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Holy smokes
