A story popped up in my news feed today. It was a story about a couple that bought their first home; 264 Glen Avenue in Millburn, N.J. actually. Then they became overwhelmed by the work the house needed…as most of us who buy homes do. This phenomenon is so common; there was a movie about it and many books. The article borrows the famous movies name – Money Pit
“When a Dream House Becomes a Money Pit ”
This wasn’t just another story about another couple that got in over their heads, nope. This story took on a whole new meaning, at least to me.
Part way through the article, they contact the prior owner for comment about the issues the new owner is having. I personally felt that was a bit over the top. You see, when you buy a house, you are releasing the prior owner from responsibility unless obvious fraud can be proven and even then, it is very difficult to prove. Most people simply state that if there were issues, they were not aware of them and will state that the contractor pulled a fast one on them as well. You, the new owner, cannot sue the contractor as you were not party to the contract. The prior owner, now absolved of liability, isn’t going to sue so the new owners are just stuck.
This happens to everyone in just about every industry. Not just you, not just the uninformed – everyone. We call it Buyer’s Remorse. I, not so fondly, recall when it happened to me – twice. First time was when I purchased my first house. I was a Real Estate Broker at the time. I was an experienced contractor as well. I was well informed. I knew how to cross my T’s and dot my I’s on a Real Estate deal. I also knew how to spot shoddy work. So how was I duped?
I had one clue. One single clue! It was there in plain sight and I overlooked it. I didn’t miss it. I spotted it, looked at it and even collected it. It…it was an Ant, a Carpenter Ant to be exact. That ant was telling me everything I needed to know and yet because I never asked myself why, I never had my answer. A Carpenter Ant tells you far more than HEY, you need an exterminator. No, that is the very last thing it’s telling you. A Carpenter Ant is telling you that you have wet wood in your house. Depending on where you see that ant, this could be very very bad. For me, I found that ant in the middle of the house in the basement; far away from exterior walls, far away from any sources of water, far away from any area that would normally attract an ant like this. Yet, I ignored the biggest clue I found.
Before I bought my house, I had been looking at boats. Sail Boats to be exact. I’m neither a sailor nor was I was raised on the water, but this is where I desired to live. People told me I was crazy to live on a boat. “They are just holes in the water that you throw money into” I’d be told repeatedly, yet a boat is where I wanted to live. Soon my defenses wore down and I heeded advice from others and one day while showing homes to a client, I found a home I liked. When I moved into my house that July 2006, my very first house, I was very excited to make it mine. Others look at projects with fear, but I think nothing about saying something like; Let’s move that wall back three feet or let’s knock out that wall and put in a door. All in a day’s work for me. So it was no wonder when I decided that the wall mounted air conditioner mounted in the living room would work much better if it were moved about eight feet to the right. I’d then be able to center a painting over the couch and the Air Conditioner would be blowing cold air directly down the hall.
Alone and with time on my hands for the Holiday Weekend, I got to work.
- Remove A/C from wall.
- Frame new opening
- Rewire
- Install A/C in new location
Pretty straight forward so I go to unplug the unit and remove it from the wall. I bought the house fully furnished so this is the first time I’m moving the couch. Why are my wood floors warped under it? I bet someone left a window open and I got duped by not seeing it due to buying the furniture. Now I pull the Air Conditioner. Humm, Carpenter Ants. Just a few so I suck them up with the vacuum. Then a couple more and I suck them up, ten more. The wood sill isn’t wet and since I will have to patch the sheet rock, I decide to open the wall to investigate further.
Cutting the two foot by three foot section of sheet rock under the Air Conditioner was easy. Removing it was frightening. Have you ever witnessed a billion ants? Any idea how fast those buggers are when you just tore into a giant nest? I was vacuuming them up as fast as I could and they were running everywhere. I opened up that entire stud bay, removed all the wet insulation and sucked up all the ants. I now moved to the next bay and then next and the next, repeating the process across twelve feet of wall. Each bay that I opened – loaded with Carpenter Ants. This wasn’t a new leak and there was significant damage to the exterior wall studs. The water had been getting in around the in wall air conditioner unit and dripping down. It was what caused the floor to warp. While the sill plate for the unit was fine, the sill plate for the wall wasn’t.
There I was, in my new house and I just gutted the living room wall. I eventually found six locations of water penetration around windows, six locations where framing had to be replaced and yet. I would be telling a happy story if that was all.
I eventually put a door in the concrete wall of the basement. Concrete that was underground so it took a bit of excavation to achieve. It was during that excavation that I discovered that the beautiful addition that had been put on the house. The number one selling feature of the house had been built on an old deck; a deck without footings, without proper framing and without permits. Now I didn’t buy a house without permits. No way, I made sure that they had permits for everything and the town was happy to oblige the prior owners request to legalize everything they had built without permits. What was the town’s process for this? That was easy – give them money. They didn’t care if it was done legally, correctly or anywhere close to building code. Just pay them some money and they would legalize it for you.
This was quite different than the other towns I had worked with. I was an expert on getting additions, decks and renovations legalized before a sale. The process was involved.
- Draw up the house showing the addition or renovation along with all measurements
- Identify the location, type and attachment method of all framing and have it open and ready for inspection.
- Dig alongside of every footing to prove it was there and that it went 48” below grade. Leave open for inspector to inspect.
- Remove outlets to show the size of wire use in each outlet. Do my best to trace wire through the addition. I even had a special tool to do just that. I could trace a wires location as it ran behind a wall, under floor or in ceiling.
Yeah, the process was very involved and when we discovered shoddy work, the situation was either corrected or the structure condemned. In all my years, we only had to tear one addition down though we did a lot of upgrading to others.
I eventually sold my Money Pit. It truly was the happiest day of home ownership which is ironic because in the world of boat ownership they say “The two greatest days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it”
I’m since retired from Real Estate – for now anyway, but I spent my remaining very successful years talking many people out of homes they wanted to buy. Either because they were not ready to be home owners or they were looking at the wrong type or location of house or because I could tell it was going to be a Money Pit and that was money they didn’t have.
So back to the original story. The story of the Buyer’s of 264 Glen Avenue in Millburn, N.J. Why would the New York Times locate and find the prior owner of that house when its significance was meaningless? Because it wasn’t, that’s why. It was very significant, significant because the New York Times has done a story on that house before and the prior owner.
(The New Jersey Teardown that wasn’t)
How does a house go from having a big renovation performed just six years prior to needing a lot of the same work done six years later? Well, it sure wasn’t due to above par construction work. Sure wasn’t due to new building code changes. No, it was due to really bad work.
So next time you are looking for a house and you come across a home that looks beautifully renovated, ask a lot of questions. Who did they work? Can we see the plans? Were the permits issued prior to work commencing? Take a look at the dates of the Inspection Schedule at the building department. Are there any? Just because someone gets a permit, doesn’t mean it was inspected when it was getting built and just because it was inspected, doesn’t mean it was done right. Who is the contractor? Are they still in business?
I talked a lot of home buyers out of buying homes in my days in Real Estate. Never did I talk someone out of a home needing a total rehab. I did talk many out of homes that were rehabbed for one reason and one reason only. I found their ant; that one clue that reveals or warns of much bigger problems.
No home is perfect, but you never want to be in over your head, be it in a boat, house or even a vehicle. Don’t ignore the clues that were left behind and then proceed with knowledge for knowledge is power.
