Coldwell Banker sold me The Money Pit ! Pekin Illinois

You can file suit against anyone for anything is this country, so to answer your question, yes you can include both or all.

Now, On another note the attorney your Bar Assoc will have you sit with will play devils advocate, you really have too. After looking at your "purchase Contract/P & S Agreement" they will look for signed disclosures. There is a mold disclosure and I believe a Sellers Defect Disclosure that must be filled out with a home sale through an agency. Then there is the FHA Inspection that was done, who did it, what company? For FHA/VA it is usually a contracted home inspection service, add them to your suit as well. See the DEVIL ADVOCATE BELOW.

Can you prove that this was PRE-EXISTING and that a "reasonable and prudent" home owner should have been aware of these defects? Does it look like it has been repaired before?? Can you prove it was? How about the guy next door, what does he know, ask? They may have hated each other, that too will make his/her statements come into question. Buying a home is costs money, the 300 or so dollars for an independent home Inspection is worth the cost.In the end you made a decision to not have a second inspection for whatever reason. The statements you "say" your agent made about it will be hearsay, and treated as such in court. Is there a form in your contract you signed stating "Get A Home Inspection for Your Protection"? If signed that will NOT work in your favor..

Then there are the legal costs you will have. These cases don't get into court on consignment like say personal injury or workers comp would. Is it worth the cost, only you can decide that. You could do it yourself?

Agents are required to do a "walk through inspection" on a property they will list, they are not housing inspectors and in court they will not be looked upon as such.

The former owner of the property may be the only true (if any) responsible party. If YOU can prove they "must" have known of the problems your good, if not well then you know what happens next. To hold the RE agency responsible, you will have to establish that they too "must have or should have" had knowledge of these problems "PRIOR" to the sale/listing. Did the prior owner hide these things from the agent or was it collusion? Sadly, you will have to prove that as well.

I wish you luck and hope that you can get this taken care of one way or the other.

Good Luck!

DISCLAIMER: (BEWARE OF SLEEPLESS TYPOZZ)
"If you think this is legal advise your no lawyer either" Its 4:00AM and i am tired, nite!

The home was listed with Coldwell Banker and the agent I was using works for Coldwell Banker.
I spoke with the manager of Coldwell Banker and she said there is nothing that they can do. It more or less was not their fault that the house was in bad shape and it isn't FHA's fault because it did passed inspection.

I will be contacting a lawyer this week!Since the house was listed with Coldwell banker can I go after both them and the sellers?

Thanks !

Thanks for the answers. You need to run, not walk to the best real estate attorney in your area. You can call the Bar Association or Board of Realtors in your area. You definately should be able to find legal counsel that is free to you or paid only if you win.

Having said that, your beef is with FHA and your lack of knowledge with the "system". If you had your own Realtor and they told you that the FHA inspection was "good enough", include him/her in your action, also.

An FHA/VA inspector in NOT working for you. His inspection is only to be sure that the home follows HUD's standards for the lending of money to you. Please go to HUD's website and download their guidelines. Or you can go to any lending institution that deals with government loans and ask for a copy.

The fact that the roof had 3 layers and was only warranted (verbally?)for a year or two should have been a huge red flag for you. Common sense tells us that if the roof has only 1 year or so of life left,it's quite possibly leaking. A thorough follow up inspection should have been made by a licensed roofer.

When you buy a property "as is", sellers must still by law disclose any defects that they know. Can any of the neighbors help you with testimony of their witnessing any of the problems you are now having? Neighbors are the absolute best!! You could and should have hired a licensed ASHI home inspector to go thru the home even if you were buying "as is". I would still hire someone so that you can discover what future problems may be waiting for you.

As a Realtor, I know(sadly) that there are lousy Brokers and Realtors. Most of us work hard and honestly though. You said that Coldwell Banker sold you a "money pit". Was the home listed with them or was your agent with them or both? That could make a big difference in how and who you approach regarding these issues.

The house was listed with a Realtor (Coldwell Banker) in Pekin IL. I bought the house FHA so we did have an FHA inspection but no other inspections because we could not afford it and my Realtor told me that an FHA would be just fine. We should not need another inspection.

The son had done the painting etc... on the house to get it ready to sell aand the daughter signed all of the disclousure papers.

We were told by the Realtor that the house had been freshly painted by the son and he had done some other repairs. House itself is about 50 or 60 years old. There is also nothing disclosed on the disclosure papers all that is marked is "seller has not lived on this property within last 12 months".

When we started having major problems with the house we had a insurance inspector come out and he looked at all of the problems and said they had been there for awhile and had been "bandaged up".

The whole house has been freshly painted on the inside and FHA said that the roof would have to be redone within a year or two but we were not told about the leaking roof and how bad of shape it was really in! There are 3 layers of shingles up on the roof and according to the Insurance inspector all of the wood underneath is rotten.
When the Insurance inspector looked at the mold on the walls he said that had been happening for awhile also. My daughter can't even sleep in her own room because the mold is so bad and our bathroom from wall to ceiling is covered in it. Our inside walls are even starting to show some kind of wetness. My floors are buckling and that is quite dangerous.We started painting the kitchen and a couple days later it rained and water started coming through the walls in there.
I have had my phone jack replaced in the livingroom because of water coming through the walls and the phone jack got so wet that the phone either quit working at times or there would be so much static you could not hear anyone on the other end.

There are cracks in the wall that have happened
since we moved in and I don't think they are settling cracks. 1 week after we moved in my Fiance turned on the stove to see how it worked and we smelled gas right a way so he turned off the stove and called the fire department. They had to come down and take the stove out etc... and Cilco had to come and shut off the gas to the stove.

I know one of the young men on the fire department and that is when he told me about the fire that happened back in 2001 or 2002 and they sent me the info and told me we should of been told about the fire.

When we first looked at the house I told the Realtor we could not afford a "money pit" and we got worse then that. I can't afford to fix these problems and believe me we are just miserable and just want out of this house.

I can't afford a lawyer and just don't know where to turn anymore this house has worn me out.
If you need to know anything more please let me know.

Thanks

I am sorry to hear about your problems with the house that you bought a year ago. I am a multi-millon dollar producer, Accredited Buyer's Representative and have represented builders including a national home builder. Maybe I can help!?

You did not provide quite enough details for me to be really specific, so I have questions. Is this your first home purchase? Did you have your own buyer's representation? Was the home listed with a Realtor or real estate agent? How about a Home Inspection? How old is the home? Were there any disclosures signed by you or the seller? In what ways were the defects covered up and by whom? Do you have proof?

There are many other recourses to take other than the Realtor or Broker (I am NOT nor have I ever been affiliated with Coldwell Banker)

The fact that someone died in the home does not need to be disclosed. If a property is "stigmatized", each state has there own laws on what and how that must be disclosed, however.

Give me more detail and I will try to help!