Dummy has incompetent home inspector; wants to sue seller

[BannedFromDU]

Timefortruth

 
Home seller disclosure fraud, how to prove?
We recently bought a new to us house, since moving in it has been a fiasco, to say the least. We were diligent with inspection prior to purchase, but inspectors can't realistically be expected to identify deliberate fraud. The seller disclosure lied about significant problems with the home. Although there have been many problems, the last straw came yesterday when the wood floor started buckling perhaps because of water seepage.

A low brick dividing wall surrounds a brick porch behind the home.That wall runs directly into the brick exterior of the home at a 90 degree angle. The wall itself had a dislocated crack, caused by a tree which is foot from the wall, and four or five feet from the exterior wall of the house. That dislocation didn't concern us because the cause was obvious. Now that the floor has buckled (the house is on a slab) we took a closer look at the exterior wall. A cosmetic repair was made to that wall to conceal structural defects. There are cracks where the porch meets the house which were by an ornament left by the seller (which struck me as strange because she left absolutely nothing else. Elsewhere the bricks in the home are uniformly spaced, but in the area of the artful repair the spacing is about twice as wide. The large window above this area now also shows bowing which wasn't apparent four months ago.

The seller owned the home for seven years before we bought it, and it is impossible that the repairs are older than that, particularly since the deterioration since we bought it is happening so quickly.

I'm so angry at this moment I could spit nails. Is there any way to prove that it was a deliberate fraud? Does anyone have links to sites where people offer advice in messes like this?

Yes, we know we need a lawyer, but we really need to prove the fraud before we spend money in attorney's fees.

Does anyone out there know how to deal with crooks like this seller?

Hate to break it to you, moron, but you pay for an inspector for a reason. Sounds like yours was stupid, crooked, or liberal (therefore all three, really). Your beef isn't with the seller.


New bonfire; probably worth following.

[BattleHymn]

Dollars to donuts, the home seller was a liberal, too. 

We bought our home from a nice Christian couple about 10 years older than us.  They were up front and honest about everything, and were happy to answer any of our questions.  We still keep in contact with them, since we adopted two of their outdoor cats (at their request) that they were not able to catch when they moved to their new home.   

We have had no surprises in our 75 year old home, thanks to their honesty.   

[BannedFromDU]

Dollars to donuts, the home seller was a liberal, too. 

We bought our home from a nice Christian couple about 10 years older than us.  They were up front and honest about everything, and were happy to answer any of our questions.  We still keep in contact with them, since we adopted two of their outdoor cats (at their request) that they were not able to catch when they moved to their new home.   

We have had no surprises in our 75 year old home, thanks to their honesty.   

The point of having an inspector is to identify problems that the seller might not know about or can't be expected to fix. It isn't "fraud" to not disclose that your pipes are prone to slab leaks, for example. The act of paying a licensed, bonded inspector does two things: (a) provides security for the mortgagee, and (b) indemnifies the seller against fraud complaints.