Nothing beats knowledge and preparation.

Home drainage is a common deal killer when it comes to home purchases. Many times per year I receive calls from homeowners in a panic due to the fact that they… either have not dealt with the home drainage issues that affect their home, or they did not know about them.

Homeowners want to know what action should be taken, with respect to home groundwater problems, and their impact on earnest money agreements to purchase real estate, that are made subject to solving home drainage problems, in order to satisfy the conditions of the lender, with respect to the new financing. This all becomes a jump ball situation depending on how strong the repairs clause in the earnest money is, with respect to protecting the interests of the eventually damaged party to the transaction.

Surprising is the fact that few contractors actually understand and specialize in hand excavated french drains. Most contractors that advertise as professional home drainage contractors are sump pump installers.

I contend that most of these described, “would be” home drainage contractors, really do not have a clue and are licensed scammers.

Much precious time and money is lost and squandered in the attempt to solve home drainage problems. Contractors are all talking a different language too. Time to study up and take them on.

To prevent this from happening to you as a home seller or home buyer, learn how to deal with the situation if it does happen to you during a home purchase.

Read my e-books, published and offered free as a pdf file on this web site.

Arm yourself with powerful, practical, working, home drainage knowledge that works.

If you are a member, look AAA Home Drainage up on Angies List, for a sampling of how our Portland market feels about their success with hand excavated french drain groundwater removal systems.

Do not be a victim of groundwater problem fear and loathing ever again.

Stupid sump pump contractor tricks can, and will, cost you thousands of dollars, and make your home drainage problem worse to boot.

Hand excavated french drains have been around for thousands of years in various forms.

Read on and learn about the alternatives to solve home drainage problems and hold your transaction together.

Your not dead in the groundwater yet.

Groundwater problems, ie. home drainage problems, has become one of the fastest growing segments of home based litigation in the country.

Probably next to lot line disputes, one of the more litigated home issues.

Next to lot line disputes and contractor lawsuits, groundwater damage law suits are close to… the top of the list these days.

Groundwater entry that causes home drainage problems, as well as peoples attempts to solve those problems in the past, have become one of the most litigated group of issues in Oregon real estate law today.

Only the pros play in that sticky legal quagmire. The ones I know who do, also write proposals for public programs, submitted the Oregon state legislature, and are at a whole different level of expertise than your average lawyer.

Many sellers do not disclose known home drainage problems in their Oregon home sellers property disclosure statement, and they are quite self assured and bold, even though legal non-disclosure penalties for doing so are in place, and homeowners think they know what they are gambling, and who they are messing with. Turns out these types of sellers are just shooting themselves in the foot, for no good reason than fear itself.

Many home sellers feel that to acknowledge even the correction of a home drainage problem makes it less likely for their home to appeal to most home buyers.

They don’t want exposed river rock exposed at the surface of the hand excavated french drain, for instance. Or this word or that should be changed in the contract. Like the words, home drainage problem, for example. I understand, and comply, but still give them my speech anyway. I am a glutton for punishment, I guess.

It is simply another version of the big bird sticking his head in the sand when flustered, thinking everything will just change by the time he pops up. These sellers are funny really.

These non-problem disclosing home seller types stand a very good chance of being sued by informed buyers who are just plain sick of it.

Not a week goes by that this subject is not made part of a conversation, and I am again having another conversation about it.

The gloves are coming off, and it can become a, figuratively, bare knuckle courtroom brawl many times, based on anger instead of logic and science.

Home sellers may feel because home drainage is so poorly understood among the public that they can weasel through the process under the radar. They often are right, and do.

A quietly evolving bad precedent has been set by slip sliding non disclosing home sellers, making new generations of these weasels more bold even yet.

The damaged buyers usually want to get everthing they can from these fraudulent types of home sellers, when groundwater visits again, after the installation of a sump pump system, that was never a solution to the problem, like they were told, if they were told at all, and became the type of home buyers that were forced to chase a former owner to get them into court, or to agree to a settlement of some sort.

This issue is a real hotbed of activity among informed and angry home buyers who have been lied to about home drainage. If they formed a protest on the streets of downtown Portland, it would likely appear to resemble a major event spectacle. Not exactly folks of a festive mood however.

Sellers are many times so stupid when it comes to home drainage problem non disclosure that it amazes me. The neighbors probably know what the over all drainage health of that particular home is anyway, and of the neighborhood in general. Just ask them. You will be amazed at what they think they know about groundwater problems in their subdivison or area. Be prepared for stories of underground rivers and springs located right under everyones homes however. There-in starts another mystery solved in other articles, about how sump pump installers convince home sellers or owners to think they need a sump pump installed, when they almost never do.

Of course none of those neighbor homeowners that you will talk to have ever installed and benefited from hand excavated french drains and proper rain drain discharges installed, so living with the notion that the sump pump keeping their basement or crawl space perpetually wet is the best they can do has to be good enough for them.

It is not true, but they will be convinced it is true.

Most of these types of homeowners will aggressively attack any other suggestion a professional home drainage contractor may advance, that would invalidate their premise that a river or spring exists under their home.

They have already dumped thousands on a failed home drainage system. You bet they will defend the logic of installing it. It is only natural.

They have been scammed and they are usually visually upset as well.

When confronted, these types of homeowners may be very angry, and defend their system of failure first. It is human nature. This subject is discussed in long detail in many articles in this website.

The former neighbors might even make statements that everyone in the neighborhood knew that those non-disclosing home sellers always had groundwater problems, as many of the neighbors still do.

They will make those types of statements in front of witnesses, after the home is closed and the new buyers have discovered the groundwater problems, and the old sellers think they are long gone and free weasels.

Try to get the neighbor to talk to you earlier than that, before you write the earnest money agreement. It can prevent you from buying a home drainage pig, with problems no one has been able to fund or solve, and not one you want to start dumping money into, from a home drainage perspective.

As a practical matter, these same neighbors will be drug into court, willingly, to reiterate there statements in front of a judge and jury, if you need them later, as well.

Seems like many of these non-disclosing home sellers are so stupid as to think that after they have gotten the check, and boogied off into the sunset, that they have become untouchable, and cannot be found. And they are so very wrong.

Most non-disclosing home sellers think that an “as is” clause in the earnest money agreement is going to protect them after the closing of the home, despite the fraud that these former home sellers have perpetrated on the new buyers, and the lender as well in most cases, and all the federal regulations that pertain to the laws governing bank fraud that they have broken.

Many times home inspections do not identify the groundwater problems from last winter because the “smart”, non-disclosing home sellers have had the crawlspace dried out and have replaced the moisture barrier before selling it. Selling before the rains come in winter.

Lenders many times do not require sellers to do groundwater drainage work, even after it is disclosed by a home inspection and is backed by a proposal for work from a licensed, bonded and insured professional home drainage contractor.

This has been one of the lending industries own downfalls. One of many. The public is paying for them, but the industry created them.

They never kept up with their own properties, from a home drainage perspective, and therefore suffer from problems caused by their own ignorance.

Banks are stuffed full of stuffed shirts in ties, and attitudes. Not one of them probably could describe a hand excavated french drain groundwater removal system.

Lenders REO departments, real estate owned, everywhere, but especially in rain country, like the pacific northwest of American, are stuffed with homes, off the market, with home drainage problems lenders say they cannot afford to solve, so they say.

In the past, lenders have usually not made the home groundwater drainage work a condition of approval for the loan to the new buyer, but they will make the dryrot damage that the lack of home drainage causes a contingency of the loan. Doesn’t make much sense does it? What do you expect from this elite group of scum bags.

Those lenders knew they were encouraging seller non-disclosure of home drainage problems and were actually setting a precedent of fraud in violation of their own quality standards. As a result, they now have gotten bad thousands and thousands of these home drainage pigs. Not even the smart lenders are spending the kind of cash on some of these homes that is required to solve the problem, and stop the groundwater from entering below grade, damaging the home.

Some buyers accept the statement from the home sellers that there has never been any home drainage problems, without any of their own investigation.

They believe that, never ever, has there been a home drainage problem at the home. Someone not focused on looking for home drainage groundwater signs will just take that statement as fact, as most homes do not have home drainage problems. Seldom will the home drainage problem that is found not be one that cannot be solved with hand excavated french drains and new rain drain discharges installed at a compacted foundation splash block for maximum hard rain run off away from the home, which includes all that roof water coming into the downspouts and out the rain drain discharges.

The buyers find out too late that indeed the groundwater drainage issue was public knowledge, and has been a big problem for a very long time.

The home drainage groundwater causes problems may be making the home sick with mildew and mold spores as well as damaging it from a structural standpoint.

Now those home buyers are really pissed off.

Some time has gone by since they bought the home, they are moved in, and don’t feel like being shoved around anymore with this home drainage issue. The gloves are coming off.

The worst of this story is that occasionally people are living in homes that could be making them sick without them even knowing it, even though they may have bought into the problem and received money for doing so at closing of escrow, after the former, now present, home drainage problem was discovered, without enough time or money to solve the problem, prior to closing of escrow.

Another subject covered in other articles. How home inspectors make late disclosure a service to lenders, and perpetrate, what perhaps is a referral system from home inspectors to sump pump installers that has them both agreeing and benefiting, when homeowners are being damaged from these systems being installed in lieu of a real home drainage groundwater removal solution that collects the groundwater before it saturates, is is below grade to be pumped.

First time home buyers, as well as widows and orphans, are the worst victims of this fraud.

Here comes the lawsuit. A smart attorney will turn that into a paycheck for the new homeowners, if they can prove former knowledge by the seller of the groundwater problem. Rightly so, I feel.

It may not take the sellers admitting to know about the problems if neighbors step to your side and confront them as liars in court.

Game, set, match.

Proving pre-existing home drainage problems may not be so hard as you think. Many times neighbors who never really liked the former homeowners that well anyway are happy to help the newly damaged home buyers, and testify in court on behalf of the new buyers. Piece of cake. A slam dunk.

The most successful law suits to recover are backed with a completed contract for the installation of the system, hand excavated french drains, that actually solved the home drainage problems.

Read, and protect your rights to receive buyers home inspection reports in a timely manner, when it is not too late to… find another home and back out of the transaction getting your earnest money back. This can prevent you from buying a home that is a drainage nightmare, and not disclosed.

The average home purchase earnest money agreement gives the purchaser the right of satisfaction with respect to backing out of a real estate transaction if a seller does not agree in writing to fix the repairs issue prior to closing of escrow. If the sellers do not solve the problem, and the home buyers accept the problem, they have not done their home work, or did not get the information early enough to alter the situation, which is the case most often, and the topic of discussion is this site as well.

Should that home the buyers are looking at be found out to be an undisclosed drainage problem and basically a money pit, with non disclosing home sellers, bent on deceiving you, and with no money or interest in solving the home drainage problem prior to closing of escrow, you can be out of there with your cash, with only losing a couple of hundred bucks on a home inspection report, while delaying making application for the loan until you, the buyer, or buyers, are satisfied with the results of the home inspection report and your personal observation after learning the ways in this site.

This preserves the home buyers rights, and gives then the opportunity to learn about it before they have paid more fees and are locked in, in most cases, having already sold their existing home as well to buy the new one.

Finding out early in the looking process, before loan application, what the actual condition of the home is, prior to paying hundreds more in fees for appraiser and other bank fees, that will not be given back ever, preserves the rights already given to you and buried by everyone else in the transaction.

Find out before hand if the sellers plan to install another sump pump, or if they will actually “solve” the groundwater problems with hand excavated french drain groundwater removal systems.

It will become your way, or the highway.

Many home inspectors, sump pump installers and home lenders are involved in streamlining home buyers through their own process of understanding the condition of the home, in the lenders time, and not the buyers time.

The lenders set up their own timing, in opposition to the home buyers stated rights to discover the groundwater problem early in the transaction. Without early knowledge, buyers cannot back out in time to prevent a crash of the entire moving plan, and perhaps the kids schools too.

Home buyers have the right to back out of the transaction unless the home sellers agree to fix or solve the problem. Not just install a band aid pump.

Everything is supposed to be made, “time is of the essence” as specified within the earnest money agreement, but then not even the realtors protect or understand that right to its fullest apparently.

Just because a realtor calls himself or herself a broker, does not mean they will discuss drainage with you. They will not in most cases, and will leave it to your discovery.

Proceed to hire a real estate buyers agent with caution, even if she or he is free to you. You could pay for it in the end dealing with the realtor, brokers, lack of experience and patience.

There used to be a many years condition for having experience required to sit for the Oregon real estate brokers exam. Not anymore. Everyone is called a broker now, no matter the difference in education and experience levels. Everyone is a broker.

Lots of these folks are nothing more than new sales associates, with a new title given to them by the state legislature, for other reasons than I have time to get into at this point.

Another area realtors often fall down on, when representing home buyers, is they do not protect their buyers with good enough earnest money repairs clause amounts or language to mandate and define what needs to be done, and at whos choice of method, and by whos bank account. Realtors see all those issues as deal killers, because they are, if left to deal with. If dealt with right away, and not successfully, oh well, on to the next home, where they will scratch their heads as you inspect the crawl space, and start all over again, with a patient realtor that knows you are a deal, and not one of the lost.

Fine. Hit the road folks. Shake some hands. Smile. Go find yourself a home to buy. Forget what you cannot change, and be smart enough to know the difference early in the home transaction by reading the obvious, which is not understood until looked for.

Realtors will not support this program in general.

Talk to your buyers agent ahead of time, explaining your priorities. If he or she is not comfortable with them, including treating their own customers on their own listings, should you wish to buy one of those and they are acting in a duel agency capacity. If the answer looks like no, shake their hands and find someone who gets the importance of it, and is not afraid to rock the boat a bit. No exceptions.

Realtors are mostly all taught the same working methodology, until they get more experienced, when everything changes, if they last that long in the business.

Most realtor brokers do not last more than a year or two.

When a few I know start crying, I remind those short sited realtors of an old Muddy Waters blues song line, “you can’t spend what you ain’t got, you can’t lose what you never had.”

Start reading if you are a real estate broker. Start really protecting your home buyers and sellers, in a market where they need it badly.

You will find that you have uncovered a massive market of under serviced home buyers out there, who appreciate your knowledge and will stick with you over the years to come as well. Provide them with access to this site, so they can learn how to solve groundwater problems and make you life easier too.

Lenders dictate to home inspectors what they expect of them, as they are interested in only their own program, and are not in the least interested in respecting the home inspectors, or the home buyers or sellers rights first off, to simply not proceed with the transaction if terms are not met, or the conditions are beyond repair as agreed.

“Just tell me in time to find a solution to the problem, or back out.”

Nothing in the earnest money agreement obligates or forces home buyers, unless otherwise agree to in writing, to be forced into accepting a sump pump installation, that the home buyers know is worthless in its ability to stop groundwater entry below grade into your crawl space or basement.

If the home buyers have no right to walk away quickly, they have no right period.

It counts for little, if the terms or conditions are changed in mid stream, under the table by the parties to this collusion.

Drainage problems are discovered too late to solve the problem, due to planned late disclosure of the drainage problems.

Without prior knowledge of the homes condition, prior to determining to go all in and buy it, the home buyers are at the mercy of everyone else, and no one will step up to defend their earnest money agreement stated rights, even if they do know the difference.

Prevent the streamlining of a sump pump installation, set up by a controlled and delayed late home inspection report, done that way in part just to give the home buyers no time to do anything else but install a sump pump prior to escrow closing.

Protect yourself from lenders, home inspectors, and sump pump installers, by reading how to proceed in opposition to their plan.

If a lender does not go along with you, with your plan to order and pay for home inspection reports yourself right away, before making application for the loan, after your own inspection for drainage purposes, as discussed first when you are pre-qualifying for the loan at the lenders office, go to the next lender, after shaking his or her hand, and telling him or her exactly why you can not deal with this lender.

That is where control starts for the home buyers, and where industry change begins.

There are literally hundreds of sump pump installers and home inspectors in every home market. Especially in the Portland, Oregon market.

Most of them are talking the same old, very old, lingo. Many sump pump installer companies and home inspectors pass referral fees back and forth all the time, and have for decades I am told. More information is available on this site with respect to this problem of collusion among people who can influence professional home installations, under the pretext of an inspection report.

These types of home inspectors are probably making as much off referrals as they collect doing home inspections, where they are really working it.

The play is fleshed out right away in the beginning, when the home inspector gets the first chance to talk to the homeowners and suggest they should meet his sump pump guy first.

The stage for the perfect home drainage crime has been set. All the actors are in place. They are on spot, and basically on cruise control by now, expecting the same old drill will work again, as it always has in the past.

I will not disclose this in detail at this time, as I have previously on this site.

Don’t be lender, home inspector and sump pump guy scammed.

Part of why the real estate financing industry is in such turmoil is from their own greedy and shady scams.

This is not one of their most profitable misrepresentations, but it offers them total control over whether they have wasted their time on a home that will not close, or have invested their time in one that most often will close, even if the drainage problem has not been solved, for what ever reason the bank does not care. This is why so many properties are in the lenders REO, real estate owned portfolios. They are stuffed with home drainage damaged homes, that they will not pay any money to fix.

Home buyers and home sellers are systematically force fed, until they could puke, stories of underground rivers and springs under the home, and how a sump pump is the answer.

It bodes well for home sellers and buyers to protect, recognize, respond, and to change this perfect crime, that circumvents the rights of both the sellers and buyers, as given to them in the earnest money agreement.

What good is a clause in the earnest money agreement, that says, “this transaction is subject to the home buyers satisfaction of a home inspection report”, containing a repairs cap clause, etc, and other protections, if the buyers will never find out about the home drainage problem in time to solve it?

Or if a home seller has already been programmed and motivated by what they believe to be less money to install a sump pump rather than take the bid to actually solve the drainage problem, what chance does another professional have in attempting to educate them on the fly, when ignorance rules.<

The planned late disclosure of home inspection reports by home inspectors and lenders is discussed in more detail in past articles.

The fact of the matter is that most home inspection reports are planned to be delivered late to home buyers by the lenders and home inspectors, usually the last week when the home is in escrow and set to close.

There is no time to install the proper groundwater removal system prior to closing of escrow, or perhaps not even enough time to get a bid for one, even if the sellers would step up for what by this time, the sellers believe is the more expensive option, after talking sump pumps and prices, rather than installing a hand excavated french drain groundwater removal system that will actually solve the groundwater problem.

Home buyers should have controled this a long time ago. Read more on other articles about this subject, as it is detailed better within those articles.

The home buyers should always be asking themselves, “what else have these sellers not told us about home drainage and the general condition of the home?

If you are a home seller, and you want to avoid the problems that can arise as a result of home drainage problem non disclosure during the sale of your home, read my site and e-books, looking for articles on home inspections, lender scams, real estate, and other articles discussing how sellers get double dipped financially and emotionally by not acknowledging and dealing with home drainage problems, prior to listing the home for sale, or at least during a home transaction, if caught having to deal with solving the problem.

Home sellers would be well advised to inspect the home themselves, or hire a home inspection person themselves, after clearing it with the bank they intend to use the home inspection report with, to get the loan.

This takes the scam out of the lenders and home inspectors hands. The home inspector now works for the buyers directly, and not their prospective bank, even after they had paid the fees to hire the inspection in the buyers name.

Timely attention to home drainage problems, prior to marketing the home, will save you money and grey hairs in the end, if you are the home seller.

The use of my buyers due diligence check list and other solutions to common real estate scams can change everything for you and your family when buying or selling a home.

This is not some fly by not information that is just going to go away. Plan on hearing more about it, everywhere you go.

If you are a home buyer, turn what would have been a home escrow sale fail, into a closed escrow on time, as projected, without getting burnt or losing your rights to back out of the home transaction early, before you are on the streets, because of some criminal act of ignorance and greed perpetrated against you by lenders, home inspectors, and sump pump installers, as well as realtors who are part of the problem, but can’t get involved without becoming road kill themselves.

No one can do this for you. You must learn and teach home drainage to not be a victim in the future. The issue is not going away folks.

There is no alternative to truth. You must step up and realize the truth, and deal with what is, and not with what they say it is. On many levels.

]]> http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/191/feed 0 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/344 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/344#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:56:10 +0000 DL http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/344 Home buyers working with lenders on home loans should demand early release of home inspection reports during escrow and financing. The report should be… ordered, the home inspection finished, and a copy in hand to the buyers, before making application for that home loan, which includes appraisal fees and inspection report anyway, on a home that has not even gotten a clean bill of health.

Oh sure, I hear you crying, “time is the essence of this agreement,” and that is still so. Nothing changes, but the chance to mess up and buy a home drainage problem is taken out of play, that’s all. What is not to like about that?

The home buying process is skewed to favor control by the lenders and home inspectors. Should you be so surprised? We are going to slowly change that.

Many real estate buyers these days, after meeting me especially, are ordering and paying for home inspection reports themselves, prior to paying lenders for appraisal fees that can not be recouped if the home inspection report indicates groundwater problems with the home, that the sellers did not disclose. The home sellers always seem to say they do not have any money to pay for anything, poof..up goes the transaction in smoke, with money lost.

The home buyers have to pay for home inspection reports in cash anyway, when they make application for a loan. As well as pay another $500. or so to the lender for the appraisal report, besides the $300. for the home inspection report. Better to just lose the inspection money rather than go all in right away on a home that you do not know the quality of. Home drainage is not the only issue that could come up either.

Check with the lender to make sure they will accept the results of the home inspection report that you plan to order and pay for, on the home you may be interested in buying. Do this before paying them one dime. If they do not agree, go to the next lender. These guys will follow you around like puppy dogs in this market, if your credit and attitude is strong.

Home buyers should have already inspected that home themselves, from the ground up, after reading this web site, prior to redeeming the note for earnest money and making application for the loan.

The lenders want the home inspection reports to come out at the very end of the loan process when the buyers have ordered and paid for the appraisal report already, and the lender has collected most of the loan costs. This is a trap, and insures that their staff appraisers, or independent fee appraisers will collect your appraisal fee, even if your deal never closes escrow.

Lenders know if they do this, that the home buyers will always have more to lose if they walk away from the transaction, and this all favors the lender and the real estate agents, and not the home buyers or sellers.

Lenders also know that home sellers caught later with concealment of home drainage issues, know the gig is up, and may be more motivated under pressure to put up that cash, and solve the groundwater problems trashing their home, under pressure of losing the transaction.

The minute most home sellers put their home on the market, they conclude they will spend no more money. It belongs to someone else. And most often this includes capital improvement money to solve drainage problems when selling the home.

Learning how to negotiate home drainage repairs early in the home transaction, before the lender has the buyers and sellers slammed into the loan application process, and the sellers are in control of what will be done to solve home drainage problems, should be a home buyers objective, whether a loan is required or not.

The real problem comes when there is no time left in the real estate transaction to even have the property looked at by a home drainage professional. Short notice is the anchor around everyones neck at that point.

The professional home drainage contractors assessment is needed to find out what to do to solve the home drainage problem, under pressure of time, due to the planned late disclosure of the home inspection report by the home inspector and lender.

It sure seems like home inspectors have wandered into my sights lately, with respect to a few issues of procedural legality, as well as their growing attitudes and mis-information, with respect to home drainage.

Many variables can affect the ability to close escrow as agreed in a timely matter, even if everyone has agreed that “time is of the essence of this agreement”, with respect to the language in the earnest money agreement.

The earnest money agreement is where you get it all lined out.

A solid real estate buyers agent is a must at that point in the home hunt. One with knowledge and patience is a blessing. One with knowledge of home drainage is rare.

State your intentions clearly and get the sellers signatures on what you plan to do prior to making application for the home loan.

This should include on the spot, initial examination of the crawl space, during the first showing, if you think the home is suspect for drainage problems that were not disclosed to you.

Make sure the language in the earnest money agreement takes the property off the market, for a period of a few days, until the contingency is signed off satisfactorily by the buyers, subject to the repair conditions, and that any subsequent offers to come in, prior to the removal of this contingency, will be placed in a back up position, subject to the failure and mutual written release of the transaction by all parties, which includes the buyers.

Perhaps the prospective home buyers loan rate lock may even expire, as a result of home sellers not closing escrow as projected, on the date projected, because they did not disclose drainage problems, and therefore blew the closing on their new home too probably.

When late disclosure of home inspection reports rules the transaction, seldom is there time to solve the home drainage problems, and lots of sump pumps get installed by homeowners and home buyers looking for at least a band aid on the wound, so the lender will close escrow.

Escrow closing typically would be around 30 days from the date of the mutual acceptance of offer, unless otherwise wisely written to give home buyers more benefits, to protect home buyers from non disclosure of home drainage problems and lender/home inspector scams.

Home buyers that have family in tow, and are stuck with not enough time to solve the problem, install a sump pump and get some cash from the sellers, and still live with drainage problems and health problems, that they did not intend to buy into, buy by then realize, they are forced to.

It is necessary for home buyers to protect themselves from being a home buying victim of non-disclosing or knowing home sellers with drainage problem homes.

Late report issue is a very old lender scam. I only now have a soap box on which to shout about it.

Lenders are fed up with short sighted property owners who won’t do the home drainage deferred maintenance before trying to stick new buyers with the problem.

Lenders who are originating home mortgages, continue to use late disclosure of home inspection reports to home sellers and buyers, as a means for them to control the time line of the home purchase. This keeps discovery of home drainage problems to be discovered only days prior to the scheduled closing date.

And all this planning comes from professionals too no less.

Leaving no time for the buyers to change course and find another home, in most cases, if the home inspection report indicates a serious groundwater problem exists, and the sellers act like mules with their feet propped out in front of them, not willing to move an inch or flinch.

This old lender scam has been in place, and running quietly, right under everyones watch, like a computer virus, quietly eating away various opportunities and rights, that the home buyers especially thought they could count on, as these rights were already agreed to in writing within the earnest money agreement to buy the home, that everyone signed. It was made law that home sellers disclose former or present groundwater problems for a reason. Home sellers are notoriously bad liars on the subject, buy liars many times, never the less.

The nature of the home inspection process taking up 3/4 of the closing time on average, just to get a piece of paper out to parties involved, is not because the home inspectors are so busy, or perhaps even want it that way.

20 years ago I knew home inspection companies that would give you a computer generated report on the spot.

Home inspection companies not playing this game with lenders, who give them lots of homes to look at, and tell them what to do in some cases, are still able to print out a report on the spot. Just like I do with my Mac Book and printer, powered in the truck with a dc to ac convertor, and paper. On the road, when I need to write a proposal on the spot. Everyone else these days seems to be up to communication speeds required. Why not home inspectors? Oh, I forgot. The old party line, “they are so busy”.

So, it is not really so much a home inspection guy schedule problem, it is lender b.s.

As a practical matter, the process disparages both sellers and buyers of homes, and benefits lenders only.

Whether this scam is actually a product of over scheduled home inspectors, or, as I contend, is always lender created, still makes the practice unacceptable.

After all, the money was paid to the lender of choice, all of whom play this same game, by the way, for the home inspection report, weeks prior, when the report was ordered, as the home buyers made application for the loan at the lenders office. This would have been just a few days from when the buyers redeemed the not for earnest money at the escrow, and ordered the report.

Why should every home inspection report take over 3 weeks to complete, every time? Of course, they do not take but a few minutes to write actually.

Time for performance of all due diligence to complete the loan process, was made ” time is of the essence”, in the earnest money agreement clause, and the bank violates that clause most every time by their actions, which always go un-detected.

Lenders work with home inspectors to teach consumers and realtors what is possible, backed up by stories from home inspectors and lenders on how busy they are, and why it will take so long to get a home inspection report out.

They lead you to believe it won’t be that long though. But it will be.

The home inspectors get their checks directly from the banks very often, and work with them over and over again, some on staff, some as independents, developing a cozy relationship in some cases. Getting the picture now?

The same old story comes down the line, with respect to why the home inspection report takes so long to get out, and as a result, everything is “status quo”.

The home inspectors are just so busy. Sure. Like the Maytag repair man. Especially in this real estate market.

Some of these home inspectors have proven to me that they are in bed with the lenders and sump pump installers as well. Other articles will go into this subject in detail.

Some home inspectors are just not aware they are being manipulated. Some of these home inspectors just plain piss me off too, because of the mis-information mutual admiration society that they belong to, developed by the lenders and sump pump installers, which gives them all pay checks at the expense of both home buyers and sellers.

Home inspectors that don’t have a clue about home drainage will be found saying stuff in their reports like, “grade the crawl space”, “adjust the low point drain”, trench along the inside of the foundation crawl space wall, and then have their buddy install a worthless system and run off with your dough.

Stupid stuff, from a professional home drainage perspective.

At the same time, many of these home inspectors act like their opinions are professionally qualified, with respect to home drainage issues.

Why don’t they just shut their mouths and say, “contact a home drainage contractor” only?

Often as the scenario plays out, the home is finally closed. Nothing is done physically solve the home drainage problems or to satisfy the legal repairs clause aspect of the earnest money agreement that was violated, with respect to the home inspection report, and the sellers requirement to fix drainage problems, prior to closing of escrow, which never happened.

The home buyers are most often given some money by the home sellers to compensate them for buying into the home drainage problems, as well as the possible health problems. Great trade, huh?

The new home buyers pocket the cash as profit. The bank makes the loan, and we start all over again with a new non disclosing seller and new buyers, both out of cash, most often much later in the future, where a version of the same thing will likely happen again, if no one steps up to fix the drainage problems prior to that time.

In many cases, the homes drainage problems get worse, and are never solved, because those new buyers were forced into pocketing the cash, and never had the cash again to fix to drainage problem the right way.

It comes back to the time line at closing of escrow, and these home buyers being slammed into the home drainage problem when it was too late to simply walk away, after they found a problem with the homes drainage, as well as the homeowners mindset.

By the time the buyers get the bad groundwater, or other related drainage report news, and assess the results of the home inspection report, it is most often too late for them to back out of the transaction, without a significant monetary loss, and emotional upheaval, and being on the street perhaps as well, looking for a home under the gun. Perhaps staying even a night or two on family friends couches while they are still looking for homes, and are about out of money.

It probably is too late to schedule any work to repair the home drainage problems prior to closing of escrow anyway, given the late disclosure of the home inspection report, and no time to complete the work before the projected closing date.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an old, blatant, perhaps even criminal, lender and home inspector ploy, to make sure.

It all goes together that way so that enough time has elapsed and is wasted, before the home inspection report is returned to the buyers and sellers. That is the beginning of the end for the home buyers home inspection report rights.

As a result, the buyers have much more money and time invested into the transaction at that point.

If the lender can stall the home inspection report until later, which they always do, no sweat, most often less than a week before closing of escrow was projected, the home buyers are in a whole different situation.

The focus now becomes urgently on closing the transaction and everyone bails on the need to solve any home drainage problem at all.

As things get crazy, the cash in hand from the sellers, and perhaps a grand or two off the purchase price even, starts sounding better than uncle Louie and aunt Marthas couch.

The home buyers actually end the transaction with some cash being given to them at closing of escrow.

Home buyers are usually broke after the process and fall for it almost every time, to their long term detriment.

Late home inspection report issue serves to slam home buyers further ahead into getting it done, from the lender perspective. The heat gets turned up on the cooker, with little time left to even find out what is to be done.

With often the buyers and sellers both being the cooked.

Buyers are slammed hard into the transaction at that point, without much recourse, in most cases, but to lose their appraisal money and home inspection money and start over again, looking at homes to buy.

Starting over looking at new homes 3 weeks ago would not have produced the same effect for these example home buyers or sellers. In fact their old home would not have even been sold and closed by then, in many cases.

When in fact, the transaction wording in the earnest money agreement plainly says that “the transaction is subject to the purchaser and the property qualifying for acceptable financing”, the buyers rights under contract have been violated by the lender, with respect to the, “time is of the essence clause”, and from an ethical standpoint, as well, in my opinion.

The effect of the prospective home buyers having sold their home already, and them feeling uneasy as well about the current prospective home acquisition, now late disclosed as a home drainage problem. The home buyers probably know little to nothing about drainage.

This all makes the buyers feel that backing out of the transaction because of a bad home drainage report is just not wise, or even possible. Given the amount of money already invested.

In most transactions, with standard earnest money agreements being used, it is possible to back out of the transaction after getting the results of the home inspection report, and for the buyers to get their earnest money back in full. This is very standard almost everywhere in the United States.

The lender asked you, if you are the home buyers, to consult a home drainage professional. The fact that the property needs work is the buyers out. It does not matter how much work, or where it is on the home. If the home sellers will not pay for the work and complete it prior to escrow closing, the buyer is refunded the deposited earnest money at the escrow and the escrow is cancelled.

Buyers agents should write earnest money agreements to protect their buyers first. If the home does not come up clean on the home inspection report, the buyers get their earnest money back, except when the lenders don’t tell them in time to make it physically happen. This is planned stuff, not bad luck.

If you are the home buyers, you probably will have lost the appraisal fee and the inspection report fee amount, if the report indicates you should bail out, and it is late in the game.

Knowing everything ahead of time is the only way to go.

Order the home inspection on a home you are interested in, as I discussed previously in this article, only after your own physical inspection, complete in the crawl space or basement.

Escrow cancellation charges and other cute kinks can further make closing the existing escrow more important than fixing home drainage problems, that the home buyers had been compensated for anyway, in cash, prior to closing of escrow. The lenders never really made anyone do anything to solve the home drainage problems at all. It was planned this way. Why? Not sure of all the motivations, just the ones I see over and over again.

The buyers have already sold and perhaps closed the former home, and they often feel absolutely held hostage to the lenders repair items, as indicated by the home inspection report.

It sure would have been nice for the buyers to have access to that information prior to spending around $500. for an appraisal fee wouldn’t it? Thanks a lot Mr. Banker, right?

The lenders know how this screws up both home sellers and buyers, and they are counting on this game continuing forever, unless we stop it. This old game benefits banks greatly, and they have no intention of it being disclosed to the public, or of them ever having to give up a very profitable game.

The lender game is changing however, just when you thought they would never change. A little change may be coming. Not enough change though. Many lenders are now requiring that professionally installed home drainage systems, in particular, hand excavated french drains, be installed on the subject property, prior to closing of escrow.

The average banks REO departments are full of foreclosed properties with home drainage problems that prevent even the lender, who wants to sell them, from selling them. As well as the market is glut stuffed with home inventory for sale. These lenders act the exact same way as the sellers with chronic home drainage problems. They just will not spend the cash to fix the home drainage problems.

I know of many such cases currently in the Portland, Oregon area that fit that exact statement.<

p> So who pays for the home drainage work when the sellers say they will not pay for it, and the buyers are slammed into needing to close escrow, and have no money to contribute to the home drainage affected home sellers contribution of 0 dollars.

The home buyers are down the road anyway, in most cases, if that happens, after blowing some cash, only to start over again, looking at more homes to buy.

Ask the bank you are intending to pre-qualify with for the purchase of a home, which entails a credit report and financial statement from you to the lender, if the lender will accept a home inspection report from a licensed, bonded and insured home inspector, that they, the buyers have hired and paid for, prior to loan application being made. We want to take the property off the market subject to your inspection report giving it a clean bill of health, and then agree to make application for the loan, on or before 48 hrs. from the satisfactory removal in writing of that contingency, as it pertains to repairs for anything, especially home drainage.

I would like to see home buyers order and pay for the inspection report prior to making application for the loan. Just tie up the property on an inspection clause in the original earnest money agreement, that is modified to allow you to do this. Sellers agree, sign off etc.

The home inspection report is ordered in advance of the loan application on that particular property that you are really ready to buy only. Sounds stupid until you realize that I have just put you, as buyers, in control of an important, volatile subject. The home inspection disclosure process.

I have reduced your potential loss in many ways and I have reduced your immediate monetary outlay from the potential loss of home appraisal costs, all of which would be lost if you backed out later in the home transaction, due to reports that the home had serious problems of some sort.

If the home inspection report is new, and you ask ahead of time, before making loan application, or giving the lender the impression that you are ready to make application, the lender may honor your request.

Write the earnest money agreement to reflect the need for this timeline. Agree to inspect the home within 3-4 business days after acceptance by all parties of the earnest money agreement, with the provision that should items of repair come up, or drainage problems be found, you can get your earnest money back right away, upon mutual release, not to be unreasonably witheld, unless the home sellers agree to solve the home drainage problems or any other repairs required at their expense and the buyers choice of proposed methods.

Do not let realtors dissuade you from your mission if you are the home buyers.

If you are the home buyer, or buyers, get tough and make the home inspection process work for you. Do not let the sellers and the lender control the way the inspection process works. Don’t get steam rolled by this old lender scam.

There are thousands of great homes out there for sale. Use common sense. As a home buyer in this market, you are in control, if you are a strong, pre-approved buyer. Not just pre-qualified. Pre-approved. This means your credit report and financials have been submitted to the prospective bank you wish to use, and that they have issued a letter in written pre-approving the buyers up to a certain amount, for the loan, and under certain other conditions. One of the lenders conditions is the condition of the home, as well as the buyers.

Everyone, including the sellers and lender will fidget when you break out this logic out for the first time, but in the end they will go with your program, if they want a home sale. Buyers are not exactly dripping off the trees with the rain these days.

Lenders have taught bad seller behavior in the past, with respect to solving home drainage problems, and not required that home sellers or buyers solve home drainage problems prior to closing escrow. They have left it to a meeting of the minds between the sellers and buyers, as the banks REO swell with foreclosed properties that won’t qualify for loans because of home drainage problems.

Most all banks have used this failed control of home inspection report release policy, based on their success with it as it serves them well to control of the information process and when it is released, there by diminishing any time sensitive time alternatives that could have solved the problems prior to closing of escrow.

Lenders are fed up with short sighted property owners who won’t do the home drainage deferred maintenance. The lender is actually going to feel more secure putting time into your transaction when this roadblock is out of the way early in the transaction and clear sailing is ahead for everyone, but they are penny wise and pound foolish, and stick with the disclosure of home inspection reports at the last minute, because it closes transactions, and does not give many buyers a way out in time, without additional loss.

The lender industry knows that perhaps 90% of all home drainage problems have been known about by the homeowners for a long time, and have probably been passed down the line from seller to buyer over and over again.

There is one home in the Portland, Oregon area that I have personally been called out to 3 times in the past 8 years. Each time the seller refuses to do what is necessary, and each time the proposal price goes up because the cost and scope of the work goes up, and the groundwater problem gets worse and worse. Eventually this home will become a lender owned property, or some poor seller will have to bite the bullet for big bucks to solve this homes drainage problems.

Times are changing with respect to lenders not wanting to own homes at all. In the past the lenders mentality was that all property was going up in value, so they were not afraid of becoming home owners, especially as a default and loss of equity only played into their big profit picture.

Huge REO, departments did not worry lenders. Todays market is crashing, so they simply don’t want to become owners of real estate in this market.

The lenders are holding thousands of homes presently in their REO departments, which is bank jargon for “real estate owned’. These are homes that they have foreclosed on. Many as a result of groundwater damage such as dryrot, air quality issues, foundation settling, doors and windows jammed, and other invasive groundwater problems, and are not even capable of being sold in their present condition. Many of those lenders act exactly like the homeowners they got the homes from, not wanting to spend the cash to solve the home drainage problems either.

At best, in this market, the lender, if they are the seller, will act just like the typical non disclosing seller. They will acknowledge the problem when a report makes them do so, and agree to do any repairs only if they have a solid buyer who buys into a sump pump installation to give the buyers the impression that something of value was done, and to close the transaction. You will see many of these slip slide lenders wanting to install a sump pump and call it a day. I have seen a few lately.

If you are planning to ever sell your home, remember that todays lender standards will not allow the types of groundwater caused homeowner abuses that have helped to stack up thousands of homes that are literally unable to be sold in their present condition.

To make matters worse for the lenders, they don’t have the money to invest to fix these homes, so they say, for sale when all the homes are added together, and all the contractors fees are combined. So many of these homes just sit vacant.

Lenders say they are fighting for their own survival, as they record huge profits and lay off workers. Most of their toxic assets were removed and they were fronted more cash to loan out. So how bad can this be for these fat cat lenders on the take.

As their loses from real estate lending mount due to these practices, they will come around all together to form a better model for their own survival and for what is right to do for the home buyers and sellers.

Lenders are perpetual consumers of money to pay experts to sit on their posterior and postulate. This takes cash. Stuffed shirts with big attitudes make for big wheels going in wide circles. Postulating takes people who get paid lots of money if they believe your postulating, so there is an adequate feeling of superiority and control imparted to the person postulating, and this is great lender boot camp stuff to toughen up the troops, ie their loan officers.

Banks are sitting on hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide right now that are vacant and are actually just molding and becoming worse by the day. These lenders are hoping their credit card business will pull them through, and many are putting their heads in the sand with respect to bringing these homes to the market. Many other lenders are just passing time hoping for congressional connections and a bailout when it is their turn to go under.

In addition to these lender motivations, the clearing houses that have traditionally functioned as the buyers for the asset backed paper that is generated by lender note creation activity, like fannie mae and freddie mac, are now underwater themselves and going down with the ship. This means that lenders are less inclined to make loans at all, as they do not want to be held holding the bag as a portfolio lender, holding the notes generated from home loans as the market free falls in value.

If you are a good credit buyer, or an investor with a good credit rating, look for these home drainage damaged homes by contacting the REO departments of your local banks. They probably will have some special terms for homes in this category, not that you would want to live in them prior to fixing them up and giving them months to dry out. You will need to solve the home drainage problems that put them in that category to begin with. There is actually lots of money to be made by buying these homes at steep discounts and doing hand excavated french drain and rain drain systems.

]]> http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/344/feed 0 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/123 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/123#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:05:48 +0000 DL http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/123 This article is available below as a pdf file e-book as well.

This is published for home buyers who do not wish to download the entire e-book.

All homes are not created equal.

When it comes to assessing a home that you wish to purchase, home buyers need to… understand common home drainage problems that affect the livability of the home.

Homeowners need to learn how to look for signs that could indicate to the home buyers that a home drainage groundwater problem probably, not perhaps, exists.

Home drainage should be at the top of the inspection and due diligence list for home buyers, but it seldom is, unless a reader becomes aware of the power of this knowledge, when used as part of a preparation study in home drainage health.

Readers learn to value the knowledge here-in on home drainage in real every day use, when solving drainage problems, or when hiring a home drainage contractor in their part of the world.

Study this home drainage due diligence check list, which is written to teach home buyers how to assess the condition of the home they are thinking of buying, with respect to home drainage issues.

Learn which homes have groundwater problems that can be solved, as well as those homes that probably are a “pass”. Too much damage. Too large a problem for anyones budget. Structural problems etc. When you want to raise the bar, and ask questions, just call us.

There are too many great homes on the market for informed home buyers to buy one of those home drainage pigs from non disclosing home sellers, without serious upside in profit potential becoming a motivating factor.

After the groundwater problems and structural repairs have been completed, a new era begins for the homes worth and health.

Look for a home with exposed river rock hand excavated french drains installed, as value added, only if evidence exists that shows it actually works. As in, no water in the crawl space or basement.

Hand excavated french drains are not a sign of weakness in a home, when professionally installed, they are a sign that the builder or homeowners have taken a value added step to install hand excavated french drains to prevent groundwater entry into the home, as well as to preserve the health and value of the home.

I have inspected hundreds of homes that were under 5 years old that had been affected by groundwater from the day they were built, due to home builders drainage attempts that were doomed by poor to zero home drainage knowledge and planning skills.

Groundwater drainage issues are often misunderstood and not dealt with correctly by the homeowner during their period of ownership. Many times they are just passed on to the next chump down the line.

They are seldom incorporated into the overall design of the home when the home is built.

Once new homes are built with groundwater problems destined to be part of their legacy, they soon turn into older homes with groundwater problems, made worse by procrastination, and owned by homeowners who really may not want anyone to even suspect they have a groundwater problem.

1. When you are considering a home on a flat building site, or one on the low lying, below grade type of building site, without hand excavated french drains, think twice, or budget for hand excavated french drain groundwater removal systems to be installed, and grade compaction work, as part of the move in costs.

2. Make sure the home has wide gutters with adequate downspout locations, and that they look newer and are in good condition.

Look for the proper sloping of those gutters horizontally along the roof line, sloping the roof water to the downspout location at the end of the gutter, most often.

Gutters are not meant to be installed flat. They slope to the downspout location cut in the gutter.

Gutter spikes popping out are the most common cause of roof water missing the gutters.

Gutters should be hung at a slight slope on the facia board running towards the downspout location.

Many gutter systems are hung wrong and overflow over the edge of the home causing roof water to pool next to the foundation and subsequently producing groundwater saturation, hydrostatic pressure, and leaking of groundwater, once roof or rain water, into crawlspaces or basements.

Gutter guards can make the cleaning process seem easier for the homeowners, but I am not a fan of the helmet type gutter protector, which reduces the size of the gutter opening and tends to run rain water, during hard rains, over the edge of the gutter, instead of in the gutter system designed to remove that rainwater. More plastic than air space. In hard rains it is like having no gutters at all.

Look for homes with multiple layers of roofing. If you stand at the edge of the homes overhang and step back a step or two, you will see that homes with many layers of roofing raise the height of the shingles relative to the edge of the gutters line of sight below it.

Presto. Rainwater sheets directly over the gutters. This will make a more severe groundwater problem than had existed to begin with, in many cases.

Line of sight on the roof line, over the top of the gutters, as mentioned above, is a smoking gun for home drainage problems caused by melting snow or roof water run off.

It does not have to be a home with gutter guards that are helmets either. Home buyers need to look at the way the roof height stacks up with the edge of the gutter system.

Faulty placement of gutters and lack of adequate downspout locations are smoking guns that lead to overflowing gutters which can cause wet basements and crawl spaces. The resulting groundwater damage is seldom noticed until inspected by someone professionally looking for such a problem.

Most likely discovered by the professional home inspector that will weigh in on the health of the home when it is sold. Unless the home is sold for all cash, or as part of a Irc 1031 tax deferred exchange, and like the other examples, did not require loans from a bank, and therefore was perhaps not even inspected. In those cases a home inspection may not have been ordered.

3. If you are a prospective buyer of a home, talk to the neighbors about the evidence of home drainage problems in that particular neighborhood, and naturally, specifically at the home at which you are looking.

Introduce yourself, and ask these neighbors if they know of any home drainage issues that the home you are looking at has ever had in the past.

Not all neighbors get along like two peas in a pod. Many homeowners will tell you the exact truth about the home, and do so in a more honest way than the sellers of the home would.

If the home is newly built, take the time to talk to the neighbors or former customers from a different subdivision, that the same builder was responsible for building, and ask about what they know of the builders methods, and any problems with drainage that any neighborhood owners may have encountered.

You will find out that neighbors often have lots of old world, down to earth, hand excavated french drain knowledge, and a seemingly rippin desire to educate you, with respect to what may concern you about the homes drainage strong and weak points, as well as the over all drainage health of the entire neighborhood.

I warn you however. Be prepared to hear stories about underground rivers and springs under the neighborhood and that this has been common knowledge for many years.

The story will go on explaining that they are the reason everyone has groundwater problems, and yes, you guessed it, sump pumps installed.

Do you understand what a hand excavated french drain is? Do you have one installed and engineered properly? Few will know about them, and less will have them.

So, there it is. The stories about these underground rivers only come up when the winter comes and groundwater is apparent again. As a result, in my opinion, over many years of installing drainage systems, that the stories of underground rivers penetrating everyones homes and springs, everywhere, are a bunch of suburban gibberish that got started over a pitcher of beer somewhere.”We’ll just tell them this, then”. Right? Sure you will dude.

While it does happen that a building site slips through the cracks in the approval process during the preliminary plat approval process, and is approved when geologic data and inspection indicate that because of the soil stability or springs that the area should be dedicated as common area to the subdivision and not granted lot status, very few sites slip through the cracks and are built on with geological rivers and springs under them, and coming to the surface under the home.

4. Ask the sellers and their agents about the existence of hand excavated french drains on the property. You can be sure that your buyers agent has never uttered the words french drain even in the most silent of ways.

That is the last subject that any realtor wants to have come up. What a deal breaker.

Come on home buyers, if you don’t take control of this process and turn looking into seeing, no one will be at the wheel when it’s too late to change everything back to re-do and start over, looking for another home.

If the homeowners profess that the home had french drains installed, did they specify hand excavated french drains, and when were they built? Are the sellers starting to fidget and scratch occasionally about their faces, when you keep your questions coming?

Body language will tell you most every time whether they need to be uncomfortable, because of your preparation asking pertinent questions, or whether they are just weasels caught with their tails in the trap.

Ask the sellers if they understand the distinction between a french drain and a hand excavated french drain installed in the old world way, with a hard finished engineered slope of 2″ per 10 lineal feet of grade, venting to a “green friendly” hand excavated dry well or day lighted vent.

Ask the sellers of the home to show you the placement of their hand excavated french drain, if they say they installed one. Ask the sellers to show you the rock exposed on the surface of the hand excavated french drain, and the grade work.

Was the clean river rock within the hand excavated french drain covered up with dirt, therefore rendering the effort fruitless. No french drain would function well in that condition. If the french drain was covered with dirt it would have been destined and designed for failure, unless used with weed cloth and dirt over lawn drainage, which is designed with sod or grass seed replacement over the dry well, if it is located in a yard, for example.

Lawn drainage engineered hand excavated french drain groundwater removal systems are an example of putting dirt back over the river rock on the surface, but in that case the river rock placed over the perforated pipe and sloped bottom are separated by a layer of weed cloth from the dirt and sod which keeps the hand excavated french drain from accumulating the type of debris volume that would cause the drainage system to not work.

Ask how old the french drains are, and where they are located, if the sellers say that they exist at all? They say every picture tells a story, and with home drainage this statement has never been more true. Thanks Rod Stewart.

5. If you are buying a one level ranch style home, without a basement in particular, look for the adequate placement of the foundation crawlspace vents.

Were the foundation vents poured so low in the foundation wall that the addition of soil and bark dust next to the home placed them even with, or below grade to the existing soil level?

Gravity takes that ol’ nasty groundwater and pulls it right into that hole about 8″-12″ wide and long. A huge hole on the ground that can fill up with groundwater caused by rain. Well duh. I guess one could suspect that there might be a groundwater problem. Perhaps not, but my money says, go look at the crawl space and use the list of inspections items included herein.

Look to see if the foundation vents have actually been completely or partially blocked, or filled in with barkdust, dirt, or leaves when the foundation was backfilled, or at the time it was built, or by the present or former homeowners.

This is a huge problem with ranch homes, ( 1 level homes with crawlspaces), and the problem does not exist with this type of home only. Ranch homes most often have minimum crawlspace distance from the floor joists to the floor of the crawlspace, and that makes for terrible working conditions if you need to work under there, and a dangerous place to go period if you live in the southern United States or western states, in places where snakes and spiders of not so friendly intentions lurk.

I personally would not like to trade the discovery of the occasional possum for discovery within the crawlspace of a rattlesnake, face to face, on my belly with no room to even sit up or turn around. You are so toast. Watch out.

You might want to call a home inspector professional in some of these types of areas and save yourself a lot of problems.

If hand excavated french drains are constructed and plumbed in front of these low grade foundation vents, most of the groundwater can be collected prior to it flowing into the crawl space.

If the foundation wall is very low, and the siding extends down the concrete foundation wall so low that a recommended splash block of additional soil cannot be installed, that is not fortunate for the homeowners. Making a grade change against the foundation alone can be enough, without the installation of french drains, to stop your groundwater caused home drainage problems. Most often both are required however.

6. As I have stated above, when you are examining the exterior foundation of the home you wish to buy, look to see if the siding on the home is too low to the ground level, or touching the ground, preventing the addition of soil compacted on the foundation to create a splash block which can run overflowing gutter water and rains streaking down the foundation wall of the home prior to saturation of the soil at the foundation.

Most building codes specify a minimum of 6″ between the bottom of the siding and any dirt or celulose debris, ie. leaves, bark dust, twigs, etc. along the exterior foundation wall. It is nice if a good drainage grade exists and the minimum clearance or greater is there or can be achieved.

If you are building a home from scratch and have a choice in the matter, design and work with the architect to get an additional 10″-12″ of concrete< foundation wall put into the plans that can be used to raise the grade with compacted dirt and clay at the foundation grade level for better runoff of rainwater from the side of your home or what overflows your gutters to the inside of your hand excavated french drains.

The french drain should be located about 18″ from the foundation wall to collect that rainwater runoff and dry out the border of earth between the foundation and the hand excavated french drain all the way down to the foundation footing in time by starving that area of groundwater created by the saturation of rain water on the surface of the ground or overflowing the gutters off the roof gutter system or groundwater bubbling out of the rain drain discharges installed at the edge of the foundation which accept the downspouts.

7. Look for the presence of concrete poured right against the foundation wall. This is seldom a good thing. These areas cause problems most of the time if the concrete is not floated, ie. sloped away from the home at an adequate grade to prevent the rainwater from running against the foundation.

If the grade at the foundation is flat, or slopes to the foundation, it should red flag you to check the basement or crawl space for signs of groundwater entry.

As the concrete cures it shrinks and forms an air space between the foundation wall and the concrete, it happens in dirt too, and the space in the crack may be enough in size to allow rainwater to start the bad habit of running right down the foundation wall during hard rains, flooding the basement or crawlspace.

Look under decks built right on the home as well. Determine if the slope of the ground under the deck runs away from the home or towards it.

What does the ground look like under the deck? Can you see holes, or grooves made where the rainwater drips through the cracks in the deck and runs to the foundation wall. Does it look like there is a slope towards the foundation under the deck

Are there french drains under the deck around, installed around 18″ from the foundation wall? You may think that these items do not matter. I assure you they do matter.

I have advised many homeowners to demolish or temporarily remove their decks, to allow the compacting and grading of the soil under the deck, as well as the creation of a splash block along the foundation wall for better rain run off, and the installation of hand excavated french drains under the deck to stop groundwater entry below grade.

A couple of years ago I advised a very talented and educated former Oregon governor to remove a deck so I could plumb a rain drain discharge and install hand excavated french drains.

He and his builder probably thought me to be quite mad when I first advised it, but I got the nod anyway, and subsequently hit it out of the park.

The drainage groundwater problem in that home was that groundwater was perking up in cracks within the basement floor, even after two sump pumps had been installed by previous homeowners.

The home was a new acquisition for my friend our former governor, and an addition had just been completed. I designed the drainage systems, as I have described within this article, and two sump pumps mounted ever so professionally looking, encased in concrete cylinders in the basement concrete floor never ran again, and groundwater never came up through that floor again I am told.

8. Look to see that the downspouts are plumbed into black abs pipe discharges above ground, and not some other type of pipe like ads flex or solid pipe, or perforated pipe, or pvc pipe.

If the home is older, look for the presence of the old concrete or clay tile downspout discharge systems. You will see the top of them standing next to the foundation with a downspout in them.

These types of old style downspout to rain drain discharge systems, either in clay, concrete, or cast iron, are probably plugged and overflowing at the foundation wall due to the spaces that exist between the 18″ long tiles, in the case of clay and concrete tiles, and cannot be replaced or cleaned out.

Dirt plugs them because dirt is backfilled over them when they are laid and the entire system consisted of pieces of pipe with spaces between them to begin with.

In time these clay or concrete tile systems plug and fail.

Connect the rain drains with new solid black abs and ads solid pipe and vent them to a daylighted vent or drywell to protect your crawlspace or basement from groundwater damage caused by roof water running through downspouts unable to vent, and backing up along the foundation wall.

Look for a cavity in the dirt at the ground level of the foundation, behind the rain drain discharge, that has formed behind the downspout location and shows evidence of the overflowing downspout running water over the rain drain discharge, as it is plugged.

9. Look for a white horizontal chalk line along the base of the exterior foundation wall, and look for white horizontal lines in the basement or crawlspace as well.

This is called effloresscense, and it is the lime that was forced away from the concrete in the foundation wall, due to groundwater lying on the foundation or running down the basement or interior crawlspace walls.

The evidence of effloresscense is a direct result of groundwater damage that causes foundation deterioration and groundwater running below grade.

In time this effloresscense is identified by a white powder that comes off to the touch.

The loss to the concrete itself, of the lime strength in the mix, through the loss of lime as effloressence, will actually weaken the concrete in the foundation wall to the degree that, over decades, the foundation will crumble to sand literally.

Extreme cases of foundation damage like this cannot be repaired. If the condition is caught in time, and hand excavated french drains are installed, a home drainage contractor/mason can reconstruct the basement or crawlspace foundation without having to jack and hold the entire house up, while a new foundation is poured under it. This is very expensive work.

This may seem like much to consider about the home prior to purchasing it, but if a clean bill of health can be given to the home as a result of the satisfaction of these concerns, your money is likely to stay in your pocket in the future. This is especially true if the home has hand excavated french drains that are properly constructed and plumbed.

Many homeowners who become sellers are aware of the condition of their home in great detail. These homeowners know that there is a state required home disclosure that is required to be given to the prospective buyers of the home by the sellers. This home disclosure asks specifically if the homeowner is aware of any groundwater drainage problems. It also asks what was done to solve the groundwater problem.

Some sellers tell the truth and will offer the history of their procrastination that has brought the condition of the drainage to the present where it is evident that a groundwater problem has existed for many years.

Other sellers will not disclose these seasonally evident home drainage problems, and will swear to the bitter end that they know nothing about any groundwater entry at all.

The home inspection indicates groundwater evidence and these sellers dig in their heels and profess complete ignorance. These types of homeowner/sellers are the ones to watch out for.

They are easily discovered in the process of doing your due diligence.

Unfortunately there are lots of these types of non-disclosing sellers out there. Beware, be smart, ask questions, and make informed decisions. You can tell the sellers that do not disclose what they know, as they weasel around the issue and have answers to your questions that do not make sense.

This information is also offered on the web site, as a PDF download e-book, for those home buyers that wish to print it out and take it with on home showings.

Just keep asking questions, and the facts will come out. This information is designed to flush out non disclosing types of sellers, who have had a home drainage history with the home, and will not disclose it, even if the law requires it, and they know good and well they are legally responsible to disclose all issues, be it failed or succeeded.

Using the home buyers check list will leave you with a healthy home and produce a fun home buying experience, lacking any drama attached to home drainage issues during the closing of escrow on the home.

Stop home seller non-disclosure of drainage problems.

You don’t need to buy a home drainage problem, and these sellers don’t need to get away with it, and be taught bad habits.

]]> http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/123/feed 0 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/159 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/159#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:04:08 +0000 DL http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/159

Homeowners should call for a free groundwater drainage assessment, in their part of the world, prior to listing their home on the market for sale.

This can save everyone a lot of money and time, as well as… prevent complications when new home buyers are anxiously trying to get the home financed to meet a closing date specified in the earnest money agreement they signed to buy the home.

Home sellers, in this example, have likely bought another home too, subject to them getting money from the first home escrow closing to pay for it.

These sellers can be left with nothing, if they drop the ball and wind up losing the home transaction, which eventually prevents them from closing on their new home purchase as well.

This can all be prevented of course, if pockets are packed deep with cash, but still not the way the buyers would have liked to have purchased the property. Sure, they can do the repairs, and then put a loan on the home, but that is something perhaps they do not wish to do, unless they absolutely need to, in order to save the home deal.

If the lender won’t finance it with the existing home drainage conditions, and no one has the money to spend on it, the deal is over.

If you are a home buyer, inspect the home you wish to buy for home drainage in mind yourself, and do it early, before you are under pressure and writing an earnest money agreement.

Identify areas that will likely be written up during a pest dry rot and structural home inspection using the information that you get from this site, before you determine if you want to write that earnest money agreement to buy it.

This is very smart logic, with results both in the short term and the long term.

Home inspectors don’t miss much when it comes to inspecting crawl spaces and basements.

Statements that some, if not most home inspectors make about home drainage while performing inspections, or within their home inspection reports themselves should not be taken seriously.

Home inspectors often come up with non-sense that further detracts from a home buyers home drainage problem reality, as it applies at the home they are looking at to buy, and they often produce unsolicited advice on groundwater drainage solutions as well.

These home drainage spouting home inspectors should not be listened to, what so ever.

They are many times trying to steer business to their pals, the sump pump guys.

They work quite well together, and together can become a powerful home drainage revenue builder, for the sump pump company, if he has lots of home inspectors working for him, in the manner I further disclose in future articles on this site.

In general, home inspectors in Oregon are articulate, kind, informed professionals, who crawl around in crawl spaces for a living by choice, doing us a great service.

In some climates home inspectors are subjected to creatures that can hurt them as well, further insulating those homeowners from harm.

As a group, in my opinion, Oregon home inspectors are to be respected and appreciated for their hard work.

They sometimes have work loads that take time to catch up, but due to the home inspectors well documented, every time, planned information delay, again they fall short of someone to be trusted with the funds of widows and orphans to say the very least.

I have addressed some of the problems I have with the way they operate in many articles on this site, because it is necessary, not because I am out of material to write about.

Enough is enough. This crap has been going on for decades. Do these guys think they are the New York Mafia? I know some of these guys to be very bold and stupid, from my perspective.

This problem of a hidden agenda existing between conflicting interest parties, the sump pump installers and the home inspectors, who want to keep it quite too, is really a smelly affair in my opinion.

The addition of this subject to an article on why you should inspect home drainage prior to marketing your home seems odd to some, I am sure. However, this subject is the cat that will be let out of the bag to ransack your mind and finances when the deal is in escrow, and you find yourself locked into buying a home with a home drainage problem no one can afford to solve.

The lender says ok to the loan in the end, after the buyers sign off on the conditions, and the buyers perhaps get a few bucks back in their pockets at escrow closing from the home sellers, to compensate them for buying into, and getting stuck with, through the home homeowners not knowing about the problem prior, a home drainage problem that will continue forever.

That can be a long time I hear.

]]> http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/159/feed 0 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/206 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/206#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:30:17 +0000 DL http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/206 The pest dry rot and structural inspection is probably the single biggest hang up for sellers and buyers in the home selling process. Lots of beautiful homes get written up during the sale process, while in escrow, by the inspector who say there is evidence of former groundwater problems, or actual groundwater in the basement or crawlspace.

Most sellers are caught like a deer in the headlights, somewhere between anger and fear.

They tell the buyers that they have never had a groundwater problem and they just can’t understand why that mean old home inspector would say such a nasty thing about their beautiful home.

Sometimes the sellers are just fibbin’, and other times they actually are not aware that there was a groundwater problem. Most sellers do not notice groundwater problems or the damage they create. Groundwater problems and general dryrot problems may be evidenced by foundation footings that sink, floors that warp and creak, doors that close hard, windows that jam and break, cupboards that stick or will not close, and bathroom floors that are spongy and dry rotted to name a few. Smells that homeowners have become used to and do not notice and other evidence of groundwater problems in the home could have tipped them off to the drainage problem if they were informed sellers on home drainage issues and their legal responsibilities to find them and disclose them to home buyers.

A groundwater and dryrot problem certainly has the propensity for being out of site, out of mind. You can protect your home and your nerves by having the home inspected every 2-3 years to look for signs of groundwater problems. This will go a long way to preserve the value of your home and give you time to fix those home drainage problems that can cause your home transaction to go on the rocks when the chips are on the line.

Being angry at the home inspector or home drainage contractor won’t remove the groundwater problem. Most often home sellers do not have extra cash at the time they are selling the home as they are also purchasing another home, and even need the cash from the former to finance it. Home sellers can really make a mess out of this situation. Give yourself a break if you are the seller. Look around and under the home prior to selling and fix those home drainage problems prior to setting the sale price and hiring an agent.

Install hand excavated french drains to protect against damage from groundwater saturation and leaking into crawlspaces and basements. You will be glad you did.

I spent over 25 years as a commercial-investment and residential real estate company owner/ broker prior to starting this company many years ago. A stitch in time says more than nine folks.

]]> http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/206/feed 0 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/218 http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/218#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:26:25 +0000 DL http://aaahomedrainage.com/archives/218 Can you inspect a home for signs of groundwater problems? What should it tell you if you are looking at a home to buy, and the home has a home groundwater problem in the crawlspace or basement, and there is already a sump pump installed? It should tell you that the sump pump isn’t a solution to the problem.

If the groundwater is still entering the crawlspace or basement, would a reasonable mind assume that the sump pump is a solution to the problem, or a bandaid?

Let me put it to you this way. If you owned a boat, and the boat was taking on water when put into the ocean, would you install another bilge pump to remove the water, or find out how to patch the hole that is letting in the water?

If you miss that question on the test, you are likely the person to conclude that the sump pump installation is the first thing to do just because it is likely cheaper.

You are just throwing your money away by installing sump pumps and thinking they will solve your groundwater problem.

Perhaps you are the seller of the home, and you just want to con the buyer into thinking that a solution to the groundwater problem has been created.

One of the major points of home drainage logic that I continue to drive into the minds of home buyers is to recognize the sump pump home sellers ploy.

Thousands of home buyers are bilked each year of hard earned cash with sump pump installations without a prayer of changing the groundwater entry problem into their crawlspace or basement.

When those new buyers become sellers, many of them are just plain pissed off and blame their ignorance of the subject on who ever sold them the home. Some sue the sellers and prevail, and others just try to pass on the home drainage problem to the next buyer.

When the groundwater problem becomes an issue again, when disclosed in a new pest dryrot and structural inspection during the sale of the home, the sellers have an expensive home drainage problem to deal with.

So, what’s the answer? Wait until the post beam structure supporting the home and the groundwater problem has caused home damage, and has caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of reconstruction work, or install hand excavated french drains to prevent the groundwater from entering below grade in the first place?

The answer to this home drainage groundwater problem is, to not buy a home with a groundwater drainage problem. If you buy it, have the seller, or you, install hand excavated french drains to solve the drainage problem.

If you do not take advantage of free information on the subject of groundwater removal and hand excavated french drains, expect to be a home drainage victim. It’s not a possibility, it is a certainty.

The home drainage problem won’t just go away. Oh, it may go away for long enough to allow you to mellow and forget about it for a few months, or maybe even a year if we get no hard rains, but eventually it will be back, only worse than before.

Take control of the home buying process by inspecting for the signs of groundwater drainage problems during the first viewing of the property.

Write home repair clauses into the earnest money agreement to obligate the sellers to pay for any repairs, including groundwater issues, prior to closing, or pass on that home, and find another home to buy. It is a buyers market totally.

Read this web site and learn how to protect yourself from home seller fraud with respect to home drainage problems. You will find the answers you need, and will never need to hire me to solve your groundwater drainage problem.

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