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My husband and I have a contract to purchase a house. I have spent the past few days trying to line up homeowner's insurance. Today, I checked with Allstate. Their premium was astronomically high so I asked why! The agent told me that there was a claim for water damage which occurred in December 2004 and that Allstate was the insurer. They would require us to pick up the surcharge for this claim.
I went back to the Seller's Disclosure which asks if there have been any insurance claims during the seller's ownership. The seller clearly stated that there had been "none."
Now I ma concerned that this is not the only lie and I want to know if it is possible to back out of the deal.
Thank you for your help.
Is there an insurance contingency?
This should always be done because insurance claims follow the house, thus possibly making it too expensive for buyers to insure it.
If the seller lied on the Property Disclosure Statement and you can prove it, which it sounds like you can, you shouldn't have any problem at all getting out of the contract. Check with your attorney; you may have grounds for a lawsuit. Your Buyer's Agent should know.
Yep, talk to your agent and get advice. I'd also call Allstate back and ask them if they know what the damage was for this water leak. Was it minor as in someone spilled something or was their a roof leak or large plumbing leak? If it was something significant then you will really want to check it out. If the sellers did not fix ALL of the problem(s) there could be stuff waiting behind the "fluff" that could come back to haunt you later. If you would have found out AFTER you closed you would also have the right to sue. MissyM is correct, the address is not only going to be in Allstates file but it will be in a database for other insurance carriers to see if there was a claim made and it could get denied coverage.
With the buyers "forgetting" something as recent as 2004 I'd be very hesitant to go forward. What else have they covered up? What else have they made an insurance claim on and NOT fixed but pocketed the money? What is really sad is even the listing agent can be liable and they probably had no idea about it. Afterall it is up to the owner to be honest and upfront to their listing realtor and the potential buyers.
Run! We recently purchased a home and found out after the fact that the sellers failed to disclose unpermitted electrical work. It's going to cost us thousands of dollars to fix the problem. It's a bad sign.
We purchased a home 2 weeks ago...we had a plumber here on saturday-he had to snake out the main sewer pipe to the road(man hole township line)..the plumber said, "this has happened before" plus the neighbor said."Hilton(previous owner) has had this done before-The seller check NO to back up issues on pipes and said NO to water in cellar...So, I am thinking, like u, at one point, do you claim foul and get legal advise? There is more crap to this story as well-comment at pawtasticpet@yahoo.com
Quote:
Originally Posted by sacramento101
My husband and I have a contract to
purchase a house. I have spent the past few days trying to line up homeowner's insurance. Today, I checked with Allstate. Their premium was astronomically high so I asked why! The agent told me that there was a claim for water damage which occurred in December 2004 and that Allstate was the insurer. They would require us to pick up the surcharge for this claim.
I went back to the Seller's Disclosure which asks if there have been any insurance claims during the seller's ownership. The seller clearly stated that there had been "none."
Now I ma concerned that this is not the only lie and I want to know if it is possible to back out of the deal.
Thank you for your help.
Quite a threads like this, few if any have good results..
You can go talk to a lawyer, many will have a brief consultation without charge. The honest ones will tell you that the amount you could recover is likely tiny. Lawsuits only make sense when the financial damage you suffer is HUGE, and that is not what this sounds like.
The sellers did a dumb thing, but their attorney would likely argue that they misunderstood the disclosure. (maybe they would claim sewer rodding is something they consider normal maintenance, really not hard to believe...)
Even if the judge found that they did deceive you odds are you MIGHT get the cost of just one drain cleaning. Whippty-do...
I have seen cases where the seller clearly had hidden a major defect (failed foundation wall) and even then the judge did not award the full cost of repairs, with the defense arguing that the buyer was partially responsible for making the situation worse.
The smart thing to do is usually to just put the money you'd spend on the lawsuit toward repairs you will need down the road. Probably not as satisfying as imagining getting "vengeance" in court, but ultimately courts are not like TV shows and getting all worked up is bad for your health.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pawtastic1
We purchased a home 2 weeks ago...we had a plumber here on saturday-he had to snake out the main sewer pipe to the road(man hole township line)..the plumber said, "this has happened before" plus the neighbor said."Hilton(previous owner) has had this done before-The seller check NO to back up issues on pipes and said NO to water in cellar...So, I am thinking, like u, at one point, do you claim foul and get legal advise? There is more crap to this story as well-comment at pawtasticpet@yahoo.com
Did you have a home inspection? Don't let the fact that you were expecting to close on this home be the basis for acceptance to move forward. If you move forward knowing this, you will have only yourself to blame if more is found. Moving forward would require some serious concessions, such as picking up the tab on a comprehensive home inspection by someone you choose. The sellers lied, I'd be clear (via your agent to their agent) in the future they had better be up front with any future buyers.
There is also something called a CLUE Report. It's a compilation of all insurance claims agains a particular property. Chances are, even if you went to Nationwide, the property's history would have been pulled. Google it.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Not sure what the PA disclosure requirement is, but in CA the question is "Have there been any insurance claims against the property within the past 5 years?"
We purchased a home 2 weeks ago...we had a plumber here on saturday-he had to snake out the main sewer pipe tothe road(man hole township line)..the plumber said, "this has happened before" plus the neighbor said."Hilton(previous owner) has had this done before-The seller check NO to back up issues on pipes and said NO to water in cellar...So, I am thinking, like u, at one point, do you claim foul and get legal advise? There is more crap to this story as well-comment at pawtasticpet@yahoo.com
I am aware of several people in my neck of the woods that do this as a preventative measure after seeing what can happen when roots get into old clay pipes.
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FRAUD on sellers diclosure
