You have your Realtor. You’ve done your real estate homework. You’ve found your dream home. You place an offer and it’s accepted. You’ve got it! But then, a structural problem! What do you do?
1. Contact the seller and inspector. Ask them if they knew about the problem earlier. Ask them what they’d recommend. By doing this, you’re putting the ball in their court and many times they will voluntarily assume responsibility. Remember, the sellers may have just forgotten about a problem that they patched up years ago and they may be willing to make reparations. Realistically though, the sellers will not claim responsibility. Decision time.
2. Investigate. Find out if the problem existed before you moved into the home. This is crucial to establishing your case. If you can’t prove that it existed before you arrived the sellers can argue that you created the damage. If you can, then you want to establish the case that the seller was concealing the problem from you or that a competent inspector should have noticed the problem. Look for plaster work in the problem area. This is an excellent indication that a previous owner knew something was work
3. Talk to your neighbors. Ask them if they saw repair workers near the problem area. Find out if the previous owner complained about the problem to them. If they did, then the neighbors would be excellent witnesses.
4. Write a letter. Even if your evidence isn’t airtight, oftentimes if you make a solidly crafted letter showing your evidence, this may be enough to persuade the previous owner to provide for repairs. If this still doesn’t work, more drastic measures may be in order.
5. Go to court. First weigh the legal costs versus repairing the damage yourself. If the legal costs would outweigh the repair costs, bring out the big guns and hire a competent lawyer.
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