Our House-Buying Experience

Introduction

As you may have already gathered, our buying experience with our new house in Holcomb Heights proved to be less than pleasurable. While there will always be a degree of give and take during negotiations, it seemed that we did most of the giving and they definitely did more than their share of taking, quite literally it would turn out. In the interest of protecting the names of the accused and avoiding libel lawsuits, I will be referring to our sellers in this story as the Kruegers, not their real name.

The process started out auspiciously when they accepted our initial offer with no modifications. This was somewhat surprising since we had asked for them to cover a few thousand of the closing costs. They were also very amenable to putting closing on the fast track.

Our home inspectors were very thorough and found a plethora of problems that varied in severity. We would later find out that the Kruegers had lost interest and let the house "go" in recent years. Among the more important things we found wrong with the house were dry rot in the floor of one of the bathrooms (leaky drain), missing and leaking downspouts, exterior dry rot caused be a leaking downspout, bad exterior wiring and broken garage windows. However, all that was not nearly as important as the cracks we found in the heat exchanger of the furnace. For those of you not wise to heating theory, cracks in the heat exchanger will eventually lead to the release of carbon monoxide into your house.

Knowing that asking for a new furnace would be a great financial burden for the Kruegers, we offered to split the cost with them. We also left out all the other repairs that we would normally have requested leaving only the dry rot issues (bathroom floor and drain, external dry rot) since those are considered to be lender-required repairs.

The Kruegers were understandably upset at the prospect of buying half a new furnace and were shocked at the long list of problems listed on the home inspection report which we furnished to them to demonstrate that we were not requesting as much as we should. As is customary, the Kruegers hired a heating professional (Bell Heating) to inspect and service the furnace. The inspector found no cracks in the heat exchanger and declared it fit. Shocked by this, we had our inspectors call their inspector and Bell Heating agreed to a second inspection. Again the inspector failed to find cracks.

After the inspection, they refused to do anything about the furnace and would only fix the bathroom, saying that the external dry rot was too small to be worth the trouble. They also indicated that they thought our inspectors to be unnecessarily picky. Not wanting to spoil the deal, we accepted their counter as-is.

Because of their "pickiness" and the heat exchanger crack debacle, the Kruegers thought our home inspectors to be incompetent and requested that we get different inspectors for the re-inspection. We refused on the grounds that the initial inspection fee included the re-inspection. They agreed eventually. Mr. Krueger was there when the inspector arrived, but left upon our realtor's request. Before he left, however, he informed us that the appraisor (inspector for the bank) had made an appointment for two days later and, coincidentally, it was his cousin.

The inspector found the bathroom drain fixed adequately and the dry rot replacement wood to be barely adequate. We also had another look at the furnace and he found another crack. He recommended we take action against Bell Heating. We put that off until after the sale since we still wanted the house. And since the inspection was a shoe-in, it would be ours.

We took possession on a Tuesday morning and Tina commenced cleanup and moving procedures immediately. Right off the bat she noted several deficiencies:

1. The plumbing for the kitchen sink was non-operational with some pipes disconnected.
2. Several light switch plates had been removed. We assumed they were decorative.
3. There had been shelves in what would be Thomas' room. They had not only been removed, but the anchors that held them had been ripped from the wall leaving gaping holes.
4. A closet organizer in the master bedroom had been removed.
5. A paper towel dispenser in the kitchen had been removed.
6. Lots of broken toys and refuse had been left in the yard and under the deck.
7. The fireplace was full of garbage (of the paper variety).
8. They left a vase full of fresh flowers on the kitchen counter.

Eventually, all of our grievances with the sellers were resolved. Somebody paid for all of it and it wasn't us and it wasn't our realtor. At one point Mr. Krueger dropped off a note apologizing for any inconvenience. Attached was a gift certificate for $40 to a local steakhouse. He hadn't gotten the bill for $170 yet.

Last week I called Bell Heating to let them know we still disagreed with their assessment and they agreed to send another inspector to look for cracks. This time I showed him where they were and he eventually admitted that they existed. Our realtor drafted a letter to them at the end of the week seeking a replacement furnace at no expense to us. (I told you!) I expect to hear from them by Wednesday.

Despite all this, we have fallen in love with the house even more since moving in and don't regret our purchase one bit. Just another lesson in how to treat others.

Bell Heating got back to us and offered to split the cost of a new furnace with us as well as providing free financing for us. Since our initial offer to the Kruegers was to split the cost, we gladly took the offer from Bell Heating. On Wednesday, July 8, we got a new $1600 furnace installed for $800 which we have to pay back interest-free for the next year. We are satisfied with the outcome.