They Took What? How to Prevent a Closing Disaster.
The Problem
Henry and Marcia had an unfortunate experience the first time they bought a house. Not only were Henry and Marcia inexperienced, their agent was too. The couple was excited about their first house and closed on the morning of December 10th. As soon as the final papers were signed, Henry and Marcia took some friends over to see the house and discovered disaster.
The sellers’ relatives, who were doing the moving, had stripped the entire house of anything they could unscrew or pry off including light bulbs, electrical fixtures (even the plastic covers on the wall switches), curtain rod fixtures, cabinet knobs and all the drawers in the garage work bench. In addition, the seller had siphoned all of the oil out of the fuel tank after the gauge had been read for the closing adjustment. The sellers had replaced the new appliances with older models that didn’t work. The carpet had several large holes in it and the area underneath the sellers’ couch had been completely cut out. Several areas of carpet in the bedrooms had large bleach spots. Many of the windows had broken seals and would need to be replaced.
The total cost to repair the damage was almost $8,000. This $8,000 mistake occurred because Henry and Marcia did not have a home inspection and had not performed a final walk-through inspection. Also, the sellers had moved out of state, so guess how much luck the couple had in recovering the cost of repairs.
How to Prevent a Closing Disaster.
Do the final inspection as close to closing time as possible. Turn on all the appliances and make sure they work. Run the furnace and air conditioner. Check ALL of the stove burners and the oven. Run the water (and make sure the hot water is hot), flush the toilets, try the lights, check the basement and make sure it isn’t full of water. Take a hair dryer and plug it into each outlet to make sure there is power. Inspect the carpet, especially the areas that were formerly covered by furniture. One additional note, find out where the electric garage door openers are. Half the time they are in the car That’s on the way to Ohio. Hire a professional home inspector to do a complete inspection on the home.
