Flipped House

**Stuart Brooks** · 05-24-2010, 08:30 AM

I had an inspection on a 1960 ranch style home Saturday. It was flipped by a Real Estate agent who has set up a separate business entity to flip houses. It was very obvious there was a lot of new work that required a building permit and it was very apparent that little detail was skipped. When I get a house that has been flipped , especially by a REA, my "WARNING" antennae go to max gain. Some days it's just great to be a home inspector! To get the opportunity to burn a REA and contractor on one match! WoW!

Everything was done to make the house look good but whoever he had to do most of the work didn't have the faintest idea of what they were doing. I advised my client to request a copy of the building permit and inspection sign off sheets, off which there won't be any. A QUALIFIED - Master Electrician, Master Plumber, HVAC contractor, and roofing contractor to assess the modifications to the house and perform repairs as required. There was a LOT of screwed up electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work including a NEW gas furnace and AC system that was DEAD - not functional, i.e., the circulation blower didn't even run.

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**Nick Ostrowski** · 05-24-2010, 08:54 AM

Pics?

**Stuart Brooks** · 05-24-2010, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by Nick Ostrowski

Pics?

Yes, in some cases.

1) New Microwave over new gas range. Idiot "hacked" out a whole in the bottom of the cabinet to connect to an exterior vent pipe - None there. Left the fan blowing into the cabinet.

2) Flue pipe at the new gas water heater, which didn't work BTW. The pilot light would not stay on. The flue pipe barely made into the universal elbow leaving a gap at the joint. Same for a Furnace flue joint. Virginia requires a building permit for gas water heater installation, new or replacement. The wording of the regulation points directly at flue pipes as the primary purpose.

3) No TPRV Drain tube

4) No drip pan under the new gas water heater. Not required to install

5) Main water shutoff - standard rotary valve, moved to behind the furnace and access blocked by the water heater

6) Screwy problem with hot and cold water at all single lever cartridge type faucet controls. Turn off the hot water supply and there was NO water cold or hot at any cartridge faucet. The dual faucet control of the basin in the master bath had cold water and when you opened the hot water control - Water was coming out of the kitchen and master shower faucets. May be due to a mixing valve hidden somewhere in a wall.

7) New Ducane gas furnace and AC system did not function - DEAD, nothing, nada and yes, I checked breakers, emergency switches and disconnects.

8) Furnace flue above roof - no storm collar, piece of stainless steel pipe, looks single wall, stuck onto B-vent - no fasteners. To be fair, this was existing stuff but nobody bothered to look

Electrical - bunches

**Nick Ostrowski** · 05-24-2010, 09:28 AM

Yep, looks like the average flip/rehab around here.

**Matt Fellman** · 05-25-2010, 08:26 AM

I can't believe people are still trying to flip houses.... 5 years ago you couldn't lose money, today you can't make money.

**Nick Ostrowski** · 05-25-2010, 08:33 AM

I looked at a rehab yesterday which was actually done fairly well. It was my 2nd inspection for these buyers. They said they originally looked at it back in December/January but it was out of their price range. The seller recently dropped the price by $30,000.

**Stuart Brooks** · 05-25-2010, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by Matt Fellman

I can't believe people are still trying to flip houses.... 5 years ago you couldn't lose money, today you can't make money.

The market prices have fallen at 30-50% in this area. A little cleanup, makeup, and all you have to do is find a sucker who says, "ooooh, it's so pretty!"

**Darrell Covington** · 03-11-2014, 02:27 PM

Does anyone charge extra for flipped houses? I usually spend quite a bit of extra time noting deficiencies on the flipped ones.

**Markus Keller** · 03-12-2014, 08:04 PM

Yes, charge extra, the report always takes longer and is more of a PIA.
Did one today, another joke of a rehab. Looked great, all staged and everything.
Roof shot, porch shot, stairs shot, electric crap, probable flooding, non-compliant bedroom, etc.
We were hired to do a real inspection after the buyer already paid a check box guy last week for an inspection.