Buying a home - learn from others mistakes

If you read a number of my blog posts you likely read about various problems with the house we bought a bit over 1 year ago.  It has been a real money pit unfortunately - some of it expected but a large amount of unexpected needs to. I like our house but I would have offered significant less money if I had known about the type/extent of problems we would be facing.

Anyways, this is just a few words of wisdom for anyone looking for a house.

• Don't use realtor recommendations for any of the services you need for the purchase.  Any bias in those that are recommended may result in you not getting the service you truly need/deserve. I'm not saying that anyone *will* outright cheat/steal/lie but you might not get a helpful opinion on something if there is any grey area. Examples where I think this played into our purchase are:
• Home Inspector
• There was some roof damage that was mentioned but was downplayed - "well, it might not be active".  I do think that the amount of damage and scope of it in the attic were probably big enough clues for someone that works in the field to make a reasonable call on this. I could be calling this one wrong but if I had hired someone of my choosing then I wouldn't have to question it.
• There were statements that bathroom areas under the sinks were not fully investigated due to the "amount of homeowner belonging".  So basically, if stuff is in the way the home inspector won't move it. Ok, I can kind of see that - maybe.  Now in our case, I think the drain pipe in one particular spot was not "hidden" and when we moved in we found it had obviously been leaking for a long time. Again, I have to question whether the inspector should have noted this but recognize that if I had hired an inspector of my own I wouldn't wonder about any bias to make a sale more likely.

Hope these examples give you an idea of what you might run into. Even though it "was easy" to just go with the realtors recommendations it turned out more expensive in the end.

Have any pool inspected - especially an in-ground pool. Get an idea of how much lifespan remains before a big investment will be needed.  In-ground pools need resurfacing every so often. Pumps and filters need replacement.  

Another big one is in regards to the septic. If you buy a house that is on a septic system and not public sewer - do yourself a big favor and have the septic system checked out.  We didn't think of this and are now facing a "drain field failure" which might be very expensive. I don't think a septic inspection ever came up during the purchase process and I am pretty surprised in a way. We question whether the original owners were aware of the situation - I can see the potential for/against that.  I would like to believe they didn't but the fact is that they had to know about the large holes in the shed roof and floor that had been hidden so who knows regarding other stuff.

I won't bear any ill will toward them even if they did know. The wife had Alzheimer's disease and they appeared to be hurting a bit for money due to that. I do hope that my family isn't stuck in a bad situation because of this though. As is, I'm likely facing a job loss by late June 2019 due to outsourcing - so I really could have done without the need for a substantial home equity loan to cover all the home repairs.  Have to remind myself often that God is in control though. 

Hope this helps someone out there.  

Scott