Happy October! We have been enjoying the little bit of fall weather around here, and we thought it might be fun to do a small mini series on some of the more, well, sinister questions we get as Realtors. For instance, “what is the craziest thing you have ever seen while showing a house?!” “have you ever been attacked while showing homes?” “do you have to disclose if someone died on the property?” “what is the scariest thing you have ever seen on inspection report?”. Frankly, the list can go on, but you get the picture!
The thing I wanted to address first and foremost today is something that may not seem scary, until you’re face to face with it, and it’s some of the DIY projects gone wrong. Listen, I am all for some good sleeve rolling, and getting your hands dirty. We are all capable human beings and we can do many things ourselves. However, there are some things we should NOT be doing ourselves.
For example, one of our team members just a few months ago had a client under contract on a home. The inspection report came back, and the inspector felt that the AC unit needed to be inspected further by someone who knows those units better. So, we of course sent out a local AC expert to look, mostly to be sure if any repairs needed to be made they could request them, but also because we wanted the home warranty to cover this unit should it fully break down.
Once our local AC repairman got up there it was very clear that someone had pieced together this AC unit. Was it working? Technically, yes. However, none of the coils matched, and there was duct tape used to hold pieces together, and it was 100% not warrantied. It needed a whole new unit because the homeowner decided NOT to have a licenced plumber to the work. Long story, short, the buyers were faced with either buying a new AC unit themselves, which was going to cost them over $12,000, or back out. They backed out.
So, buyers, when you make repair requests, be specific! Ask for professionals. Sellers, when you know serious work needs to be done, hire someone to help you do it right.
For more on this subject feel free to watch our video on YouTube and stay tuned for the rest of the series!
