As home prices fall, wouldn’t it be loverly if you could get full information on any house you might buy?  Not every state requires sellers to reveal potential problems and owners who find surprises [...]]]> House for sale?  Don’t buy that house!  First time home buyers and those who are leaping before looking should think about these issues:

As home prices fall, wouldn’t it be loverly if you could get full information on any house you might buy?  Not every state requires sellers to reveal potential problems and owners who find surprises in their new homes are often out of luck, and stuck!

Consider these home buying experiences:

• In the 90′s Trendmaker Homes built houses atop an old oil refinery.  Residents complained of skin and respiratory problems, their dogs died, and sludge seeped from their lawns.  Ooey gooey goo was everywhere.  Some owners who took the builder to court in 2002 were forced into arbitration and won nothing.  Who wants to be tied up in court for years while your bucks are sucked up by the Money Pitt?
• KB Home build a new subdivision on a former Navy bombing range in North Texas in 1999.  In 2005, 260 bombs were removed from owner’s lawns.  Residents have been stuck in an arbitration process that in Texas tends to favor the developer.
• In 1999, an Ohio family had its new house inspected before moving in, but failed to check for bats.  Once they were moved in, they began to hear night noises.  Soon, the bats began to screech and scratch inside the walls at night.  Too bad for the owners, they’d bought the house “as is.”  Talk about “going batty!” 

Buyer beware, don’t be swindled with all the property available now!