I agree with the last post from Randy Brown. As a real estate professional, I've helped many investors and home buyers purchase foreclosured homes. The two points to remember about foreclosures is that you are 1) buying the property below market value and 2) purchasing the property AS IS.

It does sound like you did your due diligence and had a home inspection. You would need to define the issues that you are now encountering. An inspection will only give you a home's condition at a given point in time. If you do feel as if the inspector did not thoroughly do his or her job and missed items, then I would definitely contact the Texas Real Estate Commission.

The advice you were given is very good, to a point. Disregard the comments that tell you to hire an attorney or seek any retribution for your oversight or lack of experience. You'll be traveling down a very costly avenue that and your house will still need repairs months from now when you trying to recover something that you're really not entitled to.

I've been investing in real estate since the mid 80's (the origninal downturn promulgated by ARM's and GPM's) and although I've done very well I've bought some real headaches. Nevertheless, the "as is" portion of a foreclosure pretty well covers everything from the sellers perspective and the inspection, as earlier noted, is only as good as the day it is done. If you're convinced that the inspector did a below par job or sloppy work I'd contact the real estate commission in your state and report him so others don't use his poor services. Keep in mind they can't find everything and you shouldn't expect them to do so. Like I said, I've been doing this a long time and people asked why I spend the money on inspectors. It's because I can't find everything wrong on every house and the second pair of eyes has always proved beneficial.

A case in point of an inspector missing something, and an inspector I've used for years and have faith in his abiity, missed this one big time. I had an offer on a house with a fireplace and we were discussing the condition of the house as we stood in the back yard. Ironically we were talking about the roof condition when I noticed the house with a fireplace didn't have a chimney. That's right, a log burning, gas fired fireplace with no chimney. After we discovered the problem we looked further and after crawling into the fireplace we found that the chimney had been removed and roof decking was about 2" from the top of the flue pipe. The first fire to be lit in this house would have been a major disaster and probably would have set the whole house on fire.

So, don't take it for granted that your inspector is the see all answer to your house repairs, you bear the final responsibility for what you buy, especially in this market and with "as is" foreclosures.

Get yourself 3 or 4 bids from contractors, determine who has the best price and appears as if they will work with you in a professional manner. Get references and go to work.

Best of luck,
R. Brown
Eagle REI

Hi Sudhir,
I have bought several foreclosures myself, but I make sure I am buying at a price that would more than compensate for any unforseen repairs that an experienced inspector (I usually hire a Profesional Engineer, although that doesn't guarantee they won't miss anything...) could not catch or readily identify. Big ticket items are foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing so that is what I focus on, and have any of my clients focus on as well. At this point, I doubt there is much you can do, and litigation will cost more than the amount of the repairs. Foreclosures are sold as is and the banks have no idea about the condition of the home or its history and make no disclosures whatsoever. It's a risk you were probably aware you were taking, and this time it turned out to be costly.

Lucie Ogdee, MBA
Keller Williams http://www.BetterHoustonHomes.info
713-539-1006

Oops! Sounds like you are having buyer's remorse due to all the repairs needed to get the house ready to live in or to sale for top dollar. You don't mention if the house was bought for personal use or investment. Either way, the Realtor really isn't the problem here and neither is the inspector. Did you know that technically the home inspection is good for the day the inspection is done? Good luck with trying to prove wrong doing. The inspector is licensed by the state and he is not going to put his license on the line for one inspection that pays him $350 to $500. So going after someone to justify your good or bad decision on buying this house will be hard to prove.

Here's a better question. Are you doing the repairs yourself, or is someone telling you the house is worst that it really is? If you are doing the repairs yourself and you are not an expert in this field, I can see where the frustration is coming from. But, if you are using an independent contractor to fix everything, I would start with bringing in a second opinion. Remember, the contractor is trying to make bank on you, so be sure you need the repair being suggested, research the price of everything before agreeing to the repair. And, be leary of a contractor that quotes you one price then wants to change it by adding on additional reparis. Keep the contractor to the original bid and supervise, supervise.

So if you bought a house to save yourself a couple of bucks, but now you have invested a couple of bucks to get it livable, was it really a saving? Unless, you are a season investor with deep pockets and strong connections in the real estate trade industry stay out of the foreclosure arena; especially with houses that need alot of repairs. I can almost bet your Realtor tried to tell you this, but all you could see were the savings and you didn't listen, right? So was it greed or wisdom being used that day?

Now the damage has been done. Your options are very limited. Most likely the bank sold the property in as is and there is no recourse back to the bank. The realtor is not an inspector so little ability to go to them. The inspector may have recourse depending what was in report and what he may of pointed out when inspecting the property. Hopefully you were there when the inspection was held.

This shows the reason to have a good buyers agents and to ensure the inspector is knowledgable and has had the experience required to help you make a informed decesion, There are many realtors and many inspectors you should always be carefully when selecting either one.

It sounds like you may have to hire an attorney if the problems are significant and the inspector did not identify them.


Good Luck

Keith Manson
First Weber Group
Certified Distressed Property Expert
Milwaukee Metro

Unfortunatly after a few months not much can be done. I hope your realtor told you a few things to protect yourself. Lately the home warrenty programs have product to protect the buyer for latent defects, so that each item would cost only the service charge. That "Great Deal" isn't always so great and inspectors can only test things to a point. I would urge my clients to purchase a 2 year home warrenty so that they have maximum coverage.

In my state, IL. the home inspectors can only be held to the cost of their fee and in my company both buyers and sellers have to sign off if they chose to not purchase a home warreny policy.

Pick you reatlor carefully and more importantly with short sale and foreclosed property the realtor MUST know their business.

Was this a licensed inspector that did the inspection? A roof, water damage and driveway are issues that any good inspector will notice. foundation issues can be a little trickier. Without knowing the complete details it's hard to say if this was an oversight or matter of opinion as to whether these things are to be replaced now or in the future. Don't look to the bank for any recourse. If these are obvious oversights, you should contact the inspector and an attorney to see if you have any recourse.

Sudhir-
Any good inspector who missed non-invasive items should at least discuss with you the items you now find to be a problem. Start there first. If something was missed and they won't admit to it, then talk to your agent for the best course of action.

Good lesson learned. It's priceless in a real estate transaction to work with an agent who has a trusted business team, including excellent inspectors.

Call an attorney as a last resort. "As-Is" - Buyer beware and inspect, inspect, inspect.

Hi Sudhir,
Both of the answers below are correct. I would contact the inspector and contact an attorney. When you buy a foreclosure, it is "As Is" and you assume the risks involved. That's why you have to uncover any issues through a home inspection and your own investigating which it sounds like you did. Good luck to you!

Amber Carrillo, Broker/Owner
It Homes
832*643*5632
ambersells@sbcglobal.net

Sudhir,

Unfortunately not much. You most likely signed an AS-IS Addendum as well as a number of other documents stating that the house is being sold without any warranties, you're aware of its condition, etc. You also had an inspection, however I'm wondering if the inspector didn't find out about the roof and foundation, how did you?

This is a good example of why foreclosures can be very risky and buyers and their agents really need to do their homework before buying.

If you really want to look into your options, you should contact a good real estate attorney in your area.

Good luck.

It is my opinion that you do not have any recourse. The home inspector should be contact to confirm the "tons of things" that need to be fixed are in fact serious problems to the home. Did your inspector offer any services to you after inspection? Some do, ask.
Unfortunately, you have gotten what you have paid for.

The best approach is to speak with your attorney.

Roof Replacement - 10k
Foundation - 4k
Driveway - 5k (something i knew about)
Water Damage etc...