New home owner here and I feel kinda dumb and I’m sure the answer is “your house now your problem”, but I’m currently crying my eyes out. I just bought a house 3 days ago, it was inspected appraised I asked all the questions, I got a warranty and there Ofcourse was disclosures, and was told that the finished basement didn’t leak and was told at length about how bone dry it had been all summer, but I just came home from my 12 hr shift at the hospital and half of my carpet in my room (which is in the basement) is soaking wet and a wall is damaged from the leak (it rained hard for an hour maybe 2 in the morning). It’s 2:30 am, there’s obviously nothing I can do at this hour, I can’t sleep and I have 3 more 12 hour days in a row, then I have a U-Haul scheduled to move the rest of my things followed by another 12 hr day at the hospital and we have more rain coming in a couple of days. What should I do? I’m feeling pretty lied too. We (my realtor and I) did ask for photos of the basement before it was finished but the seller said they didn’t have any and didn’t provide them. Since the basement is finished should I just call a professional?
Just bought a house and I feel lied to…
byu/SierraBeara inRealEstate
Posted by SierraBeara
2 Comments
Consider calling your insurance, but only if the cost is going to exceed anything you can comfortably pay out of pocket for. Parts of the country are experiencing an insurance crisis, and they may find this cause to drop you even if they cover it first.
*Before you contact your insurance,* read your policy inclusions and exclusions. Will this be considered flooding per letter of the policy? Do you have a flood policy? Are you sure the source of the water? Etc. I went through a water damage claim last year after a freeze. If I hadn’t been dripping faucets, they would’ve denied me. If I hadn’t set the temp to a minimum temp inside the house, they would’ve denied me. There’s all kinds of exclusions.
If you file a claim, even if it’s not covered and they deny you, they could still drop you. So make sure it’s covered and included first before you file.
Ask your agent if they have any recommendations as far as additional inspections go. If you want to go after the sellers, you would have to be able to prove 1 they knew about it and 2 they lied about it. Even if you find a shitty patch job, that doesn’t mean they knew or that they did it themselves. The burden of proof is high and you might be SOL on that front.
I’m sorry this happened to you.
Yes a professional needs to add fans and pull the carpet asap so the basement can begin drying. After you do that you then need to call a contractor to fix the leak in the basement. I actually went through homeowner insurance when this happened to me. Everything is going to be okay, hang in there.