Re: Non-Disclosure

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You got nothing to lose here-sue the SOBs. Get yourself a
meat eater for a lawyer and not some guy who doesn't want to
try a case because they'd piss off their friends at the
country club.

The other thing is it doesn't matter if you took one step
forward and raised your right hand. This is an equal
opportunity country and civilians get screwed just like
veterans.

On 7/26/06, Derek wrote:
> Aloha Experts,
>
> Several months ago my wife and I purchased our first home
> in Illinois. This in fact was to be our dream home
purchase
> because we have saved up for years anticipating this day
> which would also be in conjuction with my retirement from
> the military. A very special occasion for my family.
>
> The events that I will described happened while we were
> stationed in Hawaii and we solely relied on our Realtor,
> Home Inspector, Attorney and my Inlaws to make the
> transaction on our behalf while overseas.
>
> In December we called our realtor, viewed the home, got an
> attorney and made an offer to which the seller accepted.
> (we were told this home was just put back on the market
> because the previous buyer backed out) I used my VA
> benefits to help us along the way but we were told that
> approval of loan would be based on appraised rate to which
> was not a problem. Our contingent was to close in May due
> to my military duties but the seller declined and said we
> had to do it no later than Feb so we went ahead with the
> deal.
> We got a Home Inspector which noted quite a bit of
> maintenance issues that I could handle on my own but
> several were major like the electrical, plumbing and mold.
> we asked the seller to repair the problems and he declined
> once again so we were going to back out of the deal when
> our attorney called to tell us that they agreed to have
the
> mold looked at because this was my biggest complaint. The
> Home Inspector noted on the report that the basement had
> allot of patchy areas that appeared to be mold but because
> he wasn't certified in mold remediation that we would have
> to seek out that particular contractor for test.
> Well, the seller agreed to pay for the test and repairs if
> needed. mind you, most of the mold was located in the
> basement but the contractor the seller got for the
> remediation said the issue was in the half bath on the
main
> floor??? wait, the home inspector did not note any
problems
> there??? what gives? so he said he got the place fixed...
> also got an electrician to come and and certify that there
> were no electrical issues. so we closed on the deal at the
> end of Feb 06.
>
> The problems:
> I couldn't get my family out to the house via military
> transfer due to paperwork issues until the first week of
> May so the home would be vacant until then. So my inlaws
> aggreed to check on the home every other day till my
family
> arrived but In April this is all hell broke loose! My
> inlaws called to tell us that our basement was flooding
and
> the water was coming from a crack in the basement wall and
> pouring out (exact words) like you were holding a gallon
of
> milk upside down watching it pour out. We had them call a
> leak repairman which responded within a couple of hours.
> after he had sealed the leak, he walked around and noted
> that someone had did a terrible job with the first
> repair!!! WHAT REPAIR? He said someone had tried to repair
> this leak before and didn't do it properly and as he
> thoroughly inspected for more leaks he noted that this had
> been an ongoing thing for quite awhile to the point that
> mold was everywhere and what looked like someone had
> repainted the basement walls to hide what appeared to be
> water damages. and 2 new furnaces were installed and drain
> tiles into 2 separate sump pumps.
>
> We concluded with repairman and immediately called our
> attorney and explained the issue to him. He said he would
> contact the sellers attorney to find out what was going
on.
> he called us back after an hour to tell us the the seller
> had offered to pay us $400 to get the leak repaired. I
> asked if this was an admission to a problem that was not
> disclosed at the signing of the contract. as a matter of
> fact nothing was checked or initialed on the disclosure,
no
> problems what so ever. This is what we paid the home
> inspector to find and he didn't even notice that the
> basement was ever flooded and why there were drain tiles
> installed in the past.
>
> Now we understand why our basement is a petri dish for
> several hundred types of mold.
>
> I had to lock the basement from my 3 year old daughter and
> 2 year old son that has the possibility of being exposed
to
> some harmful mold spores. The Basement that we bought with
> the home is totally useless and with my military income,
no
> way can I afford to have it repaired. I am only an
E6....no
> way possible! This Doctor, The Seller took advantage of me
> and my family. I swore to protect and defend my country,
> our country, and this is the thanks I get in return.
> My attorney has casted doubts on us saying it impossible
to
> go after him or the home inpection company or any others
in
> cahoots with this scam. I talked with the neighbors and
> they all agreed that the Good Doctor knew of these
problems
> because he bought the problem from the first original
> owner. We went to the village tax assessors office only to
> find out the a couple of the employees they were friends
> with the original owner and told us that they had problems
> when the home was first built and that we'd be better off
> filling the basement with concrete......that was so nice
of
> her to tell us this don't you think!
>
> This is our dilema.....can any of the Experts here send me
> on a good course of action? I don't know what to do. I
> really got duped and now if I try to sell I have to
> disclose everything and this Doctor walks free and clear
> and when we agreed to buy the home, he made a nice profit
> on us.
> I also believe the sellers realtor had prior knowledge of
> this as well but I can't prove it. I would just like to
see
> the corrupt brought to justice and make all wrong, right
> again.
>
> Very Respectfully, Derek DeCosta PO1, USN