Always, Always, ALWAYS... RE-inspect.

Well, here we are:

It's officially (since it's after midnight) 2 days before we sign the closing documents on our new home in GA. We have braced ourselves to take on a second home (aka, second mortgage) for a couple months, and were excited for this one leg of the relocation process to be OVER.

Now, let us take into consideration the fact that nothing thus far has been smooth or simple... why would we have expected the final leg of this to be nice and easy?

I blame myself. Seriously.

I looked at paint samples.

Every time I make the slightest effort to mentally redecorate the new home, something happens to prolong the process. I think it is one of the universe's amusements. I really should have learned better by now, but unfortunately I have not and subsequently picked paint colors for the master bedroom and bath.

Maybe, just maybe if I had left the paint choices to the master suite, we would have emerged unscathed. However, I unfortunately have to admit that I also picked samples for the hallway, office, dining room, living room, kitchen, and family room (in my defense, the kitchen, hallway, and family room are going to be the same color, so they should not count against me as three separate choices!).

As Hubs and I were enjoying a few drinks (a few too many? I can still type, so I say it was an acceptable amount) on the back patio, we should have been checking our email (yes, we have a joint email account for all the housing contact.... we are tools, what can I say?). Our lovely, and always on the ball, GA realtor forwarded us information from our re-inspection.

After having the house inspected during our due diligence period, we did not simply trust that all the necessary repairs were correctly handled. As with the house we currently have on the market in OH, we had the GA house inspected for a second time to assure that all agreed upon repairs were satisfactorily completed.

Out of our six or seven major items, ONE was properly addressed. . . ONE.

To be honest, I feel badly for the seller. She is a nice woman, and has sent us paid invoices for all the agreed upon repairs. She thought everything was in order, and has expressed extreme concern regarding the recent inspection discoveries. This woman paid for everything to be fixed, and basically made the mistake of hiring companies that were not reliable.

I feel badly for her, but we are not taking the house over until everything is up to par. We just cannot take on the possible financial burden of a leaking tub pipe and the subsequently moist dining room ceiling, a wobbly deck, and inoperable windows. The closing may need to be postponed, but hopefully the seller will be able to have everything rectified over the weekend...

Hopefully.

My advice to everyone... REINSPECT before you close. The process basically goes like this:

You have a home inspected.

Something will be discovered.

The seller will agree to fix the issues.

Then have your inspector back to reinspect the agreed upon problems.

Not everything will be correct... as we have learned with multiple houses, they are never all perfect.

THEN, after the sellers have it all fixed again... INSPECT again.. until it's all correct.

Suck it up buyers - pay the extra inspection costs and make sure you do not purchase long term issues. If you have recently bought a home and did not pay the inspector to come back... do it now. There is s likelihood that something is still wrong...