If any of you all know me, you know I am not much of a TV person. Yes, I will sit down and stream a show every now and then, but we don’t have cable, DirectTV or anything like that. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but the kids watch more tv than Kadee and I do. To be honest, who has time with all the running around and trying to manage a business. That being said, if you read my blog from a few weeks back you know Kadee and I had a week away from our kids while we were at the Super Conference. While we were away, I took some time and turned the TV on while we were in the hotel room. As I was flipping through the channels, I landed on HGTV. I was amazed at all the shows where people were flipping a house. Oh, it looks so easy. No one broke a sweat, hit their finger with a hammer, or anything. Of course, for drama they always have a crisis. Most of the time the crises were not even real – it was all made for TV drama. Back to my point. They made it look so easy. It is no wonder so many people are trying to flip a house these days. I mean, it only takes 30 minutes, right?
How Not To Wire A Flip House
Now let’s get back to reality. I have inspected a lot of flipped houses over the last few years. What I am going to tell you is some people know what they are doing, and some are just trying to put lipstick on a pig. Let me tell you a story of a house where the seller told the buyer they rewired over 90% of the house. When I did my home inspection on the house, not a single outlet had the ground wire connected. The dryer outlet that should have been 220 volts, but only had 110 volts at the receptacle. When I looked at the electric water heater, the breaker was on, but the house had no hot water. I was told later that the water heater was wired incorrectly. I tried to check with the Oak Ridge building permit office to see if the flipper pulled a building permit. What I found out was building permits are not public information and you have to prove a need to see one for the house. The purchaser went to the city manager and sure enough, there was no permit.
Water In The Crawl Space During Home Inspection
Then there was the water under the house. The inside was freshly painted, brand new floors, and a completely remodeled kitchen. This house looked like a dream. Then I looked at the yard. The whole street was sloped toward this house. When I entered the crawlspace, all I can say is that I was glad I had my Tyvek suit on. It was a muddy mess under the house. You could see grooves in the dirt. There was so much water under the house. Someone had installed a sump and sump pump to help remove the water, but it was unplugged.
I tell you these stories not to scare you away from purchasing a house that is being flipped, but I tell you these stories to stress the importance of the home inspection. There are a lot of people flipping houses. Some are doing things correctly, and some are cutting corners. You can’t just look at the new Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) flooring and the new gray paint and think everything is in great shape. With both homes the buyers did move forward with the purchase of the home, but they were able to negotiate a lower price. Going in, the seller was saying, “This is an ‘as is’ house, you can have your inspection, but I am not fixing anything.” Remember, it is a negotiation, and if they can get you to drop the home inspection, they win.
Why You Shouldn’t Skip Your Home Inspection
So if you are buying a house, it really doesn’t matter if it is brand new or being flipped: please don’t skip the home inspection. It is your opportunity to find out the true condition of the house. We don’t want the flipped house you are purchasing to be a flop.
As always, if you have a question, whether you use Bent Nail Home Inspections Services or not, you are always welcome to call us. We will be happy to help you in any way we can.
Have a great day,
Lee and Kadee