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I went back into my emails and found the Seller's Disclosure. It listed the Roof Type as "Shingle" and the age (approx.) as "March 2017". As part of the disclosure, the seller's agent included the MLS listing and in the Public Remarks section of the MLS listing she states "New Roof 2017".
So, based on that, it is pretty clear that it was a brand-new roof put on in March of this year. I would assume there would be some type of warranty but I don't know for sure what the standard is in the roofing industry for warranties. I am partly mad at myself for not pushing my realtor harder on this subject but also partly upset with my realtor because when the listing makes it clear that a new roof was put on the house less than 6 months earlier, I would assume one of the first things she would want to check on would be the company that put on the roof, is there a warranty, etc. That didn't happen, unfortunately.
Does your County list past permits on a website? We bought a home in November which listed some updates (roof, windows, water heater, AC) and I was able to verify each project with the permits that were online. The permits list who did the work. If you can find that, then you can call the contractor directly and have the roof warranty transferred to your name. Incidentally, the inspector that we hired (also recommended by our realtor) had made a print out of the past permits & brought them to the home inspection.
I have found that the realtors give you the information if its 'good news' but will not if its 'bad news'. And yes, communication problems, especially with the bad news part is common, I think.
So for the roof, likely it required a permit if the house is in city limits. You may be able to check and see if a permit was issued for you property. It may have been issued to the roofing company. Then you know who it is.
But, I would think that the real issue is that the news is 'bad news', that is, the roof was done by an unlicensed person, either the owners themselves, a handyman, or friend. And thus there is no warranty...and it may have been done correctly...or not. Likely it was done cheaply to sell the house.
For the sewer, if I were you, since I do not trust realtors much, I would have the sewer inspection done ASAP. If it is clear as you were told, all is good. You did not pay for the other inspection anyway, so nothing is lost on your part, paying for one now. BUT if it shows a problem, you can require (either through their volunteering or through the courts) to have it fixed at their ---the Broker's ---cost. They have insurance for this. You bought the house, and released the contingency on their word.
My concern would be that they finally got the report AFTER you already told the seller you would remove the inspection contingency (based on the broker's oral report) and the report showed a problem. Since you could no longer ask the seller to fix the problem, and it was the realtor's fault, it may have been simpler for the realtor to pay for the inspection and loose the report. Am I paranoid, maybe, but the cost to verify and know your system is ok is not much, and if you do it soon, you can make the broker pay for the repair, if one is needed, which can be a lot of money for sewer systems.
"As far as inspection goes, I requested a home inspection which was scheduled to be performed on July 3rd (my agent and I were both present for that inspection) and a sewer line inspection that was scheduled to be performed on July 6th (I didn't attend for this one and I don't think my agent was there). Both the home inspection and sewer line inspection companies were picked by my agent and scheduled by my agent."
Here's a lot of your problem. You should hire the inspectors and deal directly with them. You put too much trust in your agent, who likely has an inspector in her cell phone contact list. He appreciates the many calls he gets from her, and likely will want to show his appreciation by helping her close the deal. This puts you at risk, as he may easily overlook important issues, just so everybody closes with a smile on their faces.
When you're the one who contacts an inspector, then his/her loyalty should be to you and you only, and not even remotely to your agent.
Being a first time buyer shouldn't prevent you from asking the right questions, and performing your due diligence in research before attempting to buy.
The other issue that I had was related to the roof; the roof of this house was either repaired or replaced in March of this year (I am not sure which, as I wasn't able to get clarification on the extent of the work) and it occurred to me that it likely had a warranty on it and, if so, then I needed to get the warranty info on the roof. To this date I have been unsuccessful in getting my realtor to find out this information and provide it to me.
You should understand that this assumed warranty information may be very difficult for your agent to obtain. It would mean that your agent would need to ask the seller's agent to ask the sellers "who performed the work, and what exactly were the materials used?"
If the seller can't remember which contractor he hired from craigslist or doesn't want to admit who he hired, the trail could end there for you. Perhaps its likely your agent asked, but never got a response. She was probably expecting not to, knowing many homeowners/investors will just hire their cousins or buddies out of pocket to fix their roof. It's not exactly what you would call a highly regulated business.
It sounds to me like the two biggest issues were mostly on you not taking the time to research and ask the right questions from others who could have helped for free by just giving you some sound advice.
Riggy_house, I did think of the first one (finding the inspectors on my own) but I chose not to go that route as I am a first time buyer and I don't know the business well enough to know which professionals to use and which ones to avoid. Sure, I can read reviews online but that only tells you so much (keep in mind that my realtor had excellent reviews herself and look how far from excellent she ended up being). So, I feel like I would have been almost drawing an inspector out of a hat and hoping for the best. I did my research beforehand and am aware that realtors have their favorites and that there was/is a risk that the inspector cuts corners/overlooks things/rushes the inspection with a wink and a smile to his friend the realtor. I still think I needed to trust the realtor that I hired to bring in a true professional for the job. The other reason I allowed the realtor to select and schedule the inspectors is because if I picked them and they ended up being terrible and missing numerous issues, then my realtor could just absolve herself of responsibility by saying "you hired them, not me" and viewing it as my problem completely.
Riggy, I also have considered your 2nd point and was aware of that being a possibility before you brought it up.
I am aware that the seller and the seller's agent may be playing car and mouse with my agent and not want to admit/provide the info on who did the work and how it might not be under warranty as a result of Uncle Jim doing it (or worse). I get that and already have thought about it.
I still believe that my realtor is at fault on that one because my realtor should be communicating that to me. If she levelled with me and said that she has tried multiple times to get information on the roof from the seller to no avail and that she thinks that is a bad sign that the work was likely not done by an unlicensed professional and that they just don't want to admit that, then I would have likely backed off a bit and would have at least understood that she was trying and putting forth genuine effort. However, since she wouldn't/won't even provide with me even the slightest update, which leads me to wonder a wide range of possibilities, including the possibility that she doesn't care a bit and hasn't reached out to the seller at all about this. I don't think expecting some communication and some updates from the realtor is expecting too much. Quite frankly, it let's the client know that you are working on the requested items and trying to get the information.
Here is the other thing on the roof - did I screw up by not trying to find out from day one the status of the roof? Absolutely and I have regretted it tremendously. I should have asking about the roof and requesting information on it from day one. Would I have gotten the correct information or any information at all? Maybe not but it would have at least raised a red flag from day one. However, I am still disappointed in my realtor on this one for another reason: why did I have to approach her about this subject? Why didn't she notice it, mention it and say we needed to look into it. It was mentioned in the listing and she should have mentioned it and said "Jardine, the listing says that they put a new roof on the house this year; we need to find out who did it, if they were a licensed professional and if there is a warranty on it". She's been in the business 8+ years and does this full-time, so she should know the status of the roof is important but, despite it being mentioned in the MLS listing, I still had to go to hear and broach this topic to her. She agreed to look into it multiple times and provided no meaningful update each time I brought the topic up, which gives the impression that she didn't take it seriously and try to get the info from the seller.
I understand that I made some mistakes in the process and I absolutely regret those mistakes and will learn from them in future transactions. However, I don't really think it is too much to expect communication, honesty and effort from my realtor. It isn't like she only made a few hundred dollars from this transaction; she made several thousand.
Ask your new neighbors what they remember about the new roof. Around here, there would be no permit (not required) but the roofing company always puts out their sign. I always pay attention to stuff like that, because I never know when I'll need a new roof myself, and I like to have a couple of proven companies filed away to call. You should do that, too. Pay attention which HVAC companies, plumbers, or electricians are working on your neighbors' homes. Gives you a place to start when you need one.
And regarding the roof warranty: of course you should try to get all the info you can, but I've had 3 new roofs in my life, and I never had a warranty call back on any of them.
.. The other reason I allowed the realtor to select and schedule the inspectors is because if I picked them and they ended up being terrible and missing numerous issues, then my realtor could just absolve herself of responsibility by saying "you hired them, not me" and viewing it as my problem completely.
This is the heart of the issue - you were playing a game, trying to transfer your responsibilities to the agent & hoping to assign any problems to the agent, vs being a grown-up & taking responsibility for yourself.
Agents aren't expected to have expertise or detailed knowledge of managing / vetting contractors unless they claim and advertise that ability.
I've rehabbed & repaired lots of houses, but the act of giving you my drywall guy's number doesn't mean I guarantee his work, nor do I assume any liability for his actions or problems with the job. The act of saying "I've used this guy before, he did a good job for me" doesn't give you a right to sue me because you're unhappy with the job *he* does for you.
General contractors assume liability for the "subs" they bring onto a job, they also charge handsomely for assuming that liability. The tile guy they pay $1 a square /ft to install tile gets billed to you at $3 a square /ft. Did you pay double or triple the "going rate" for services you had the agent get done for you? If you didn't, then you didn't pay them to be your "general contractor ". You paid for limited expertise and limited help. Not much different than asking a neighbor to meet your landscaper & hand them a check when the landscaper *says* they're done.
Your own words explicitly state you wanted *two* people to blame if there were problems- the contractor and the agent. Which isn't fair & it's *not* what you're paying for when you hire an agent, no matter how big the check is that they collect at the end of the deal.
The error the agent made was not telling you to put on your big-boy pants & choose the contractors yourself, talk to them yourself & pay them yourself. By being "nice" to you, they allowed you to take advantage of the situation and attempt to stuff your liability onto them.
You had an inspection period- during that time you have the opportunity and the leverage to demand receipts and permits, and even blood samples if desired from the sellers. In my state, you have to explicitly *end* that inspection period in writing by sending a document where you "accept the property as-is" or "demand the following repairs / credits" .. if you signed something like that without being satisfied with the conditions of the property, that's on *you* not the agent. The agent can lead you to water, they can't make you drink.
Zippy, I certainly made mistakes but you truly feel that I am at fault rather than my realtor? A realtor has a responsibility to communicate with their client, whether good news or bad news, and my realtor failed to do so repeatedly. That isn't professional or acceptable under any circumstances. I imagine that I won't make the mistake again of allowing my realtor to select the inspectors and ensure that the inspections take place and that I receive a proper report. I will do that in the future. I do take umbrance to your "big boy pants" and "being a grown-up" comments. I am an adult and I act the part. Maybe my expectations are higher than other clients but I will check to see if what I requested (ie having my realtor setup the inspections) is abnormal and unreasonable in my market; I don't believe it is but I will find out.
Also, taking into account your comments that I needed to take responsibility - how would I have taken responsibility for getting the info on the roof? Did you expect me to bypass my agent altogether and call the seller's agent directly? I imagine that would have been considered pretty abnormal, as I doubt that a seller's agent normally deals directly with the buyer with no involvement from the buyer's agent on a request. The agent may have blown me off and told me that requests and communication like that needed to come from my agent.
Frankly I would have refused to close without knowing if the sewer had any issues or what the warranty stated on the roof.
This is what, #5 ditto?
But, if this is in a mature tree area, I would 1) gather and file ALL communique with the agent regarding the sewer inspection and keep that file. 2) contact another company, now, to inspect the sewer line. Hire someone that you have checked out. Get a report in writing and an estimate, if needed. Then head to see the broker with both files.
Yes, your fault for who was hired, but inexcusable that someone who represented you and took responsibility for the inspection let this inspection fall thru the cracks when it was understood she was handling. I don't like the fact the report went missing. There is no time in the future like now to follow up on this. Wait two years for a problem to pop up and you will be on your own.
But, if this is in a mature tree area, I would 1) gather and file ALL communique with the agent regarding the sewer inspection and keep that file. 2) contact another company, now, to inspect the sewer line. Hire someone that you have checked out. Get a report in writing and an estimate, if needed. Then head to see the broker with both files.
Yes, your fault for who was hired, but inexcusable that someone who represented you and took responsibility for the inspection let this inspection fall thru the cracks when it was understood she was handling. I don't like the fact the report went missing. There is no time in the future like now to follow up on this. Wait two years for a problem to pop up and you will be on your own.
Smartmoney, I agree and intend to start the process today to find a reputable company to inspect the sewer line. This is absolutely a mature tree neighborhood, as it is a neighborhood that was built 60+ years ago and has massive oak trees all over the neighborhood. This is part of why I was concerned about the inspection not happening. I also intend to drive out to the plumbing inspection company that my realtor was using and check up on my realtor's story to see if she was telling the truth about them losing the inspection report and all record of an inspection occuring. I truly hope that she wasn't lying, as that would be incredibly disappointing.
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Don't Expect So Much From Your Realtor
