Thread: Flipper Fraud?

I recently inspected a 1984 flipped house out in the country with a crawl space. A young couple was thinking about buying it. Like a lot of people they don't have a lot of extra money. There were many other major deficiencies and hazards in the house but the final straw was just what I found in the crawl space.

If one makes a casual observation by just bending over and peeking into the crawl space, there's insulation. Great! And it looks new! (pic 1). It's installed upside down - if the person peeking in there actually knew the difference. It looks like the whole floor is newly insulated. What you can see by casual observation is about 10% of the floor area.

The remaining 90% of the floor space had NO insulation (pic 2). What insulation had been here was pulled out as evidenced by bits of pink fluff stuck on nails and other things.

I sort of lost it. I've seen the same type of excrement from this same flipping company over and over again.

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Allowing the condition of any property to make you say you "sort of lost it" makes me think you should seriously consider a different line of work. You are being paid to report the condition (good, bad or neutral) of what you see, in an unbiased and impartial manner, and not for getting emotionally wrapped up in it. Doing so could well cloud your judgment during the remainder of the inspection, resulting in an inaccurate and/or incomplete report.

Your clients deserve better than that.

Good catch Stuart.
Glad you care about your clients.

Originally Posted by Bob Elliott

Good catch Stuart.
Glad you care about your clients.

Ditto.

I tend to expect stuff like that when inspecting flipper houses. Usually I can smell them when I pull up to the curb. If it has a pretty wrapper, I get extra cautious and dig a little deeper, almost never disappointed.
Don't get upset though, just think how much job security they provide to the home inspection industry!

Nothing wrong with caring about your job, wanting to see things done right, and not see people get screwed. I keep myself in check but when I see one rehab after another where the seller has tried to cover things up and screw somebody, it gets under my skin.

Originally Posted by BridgeMan

Allowing the condition of any property to make you say you "sort of lost it" makes me think you should seriously consider a different line of work. You are being paid to report the condition (good, bad or neutral) of what you see, in an unbiased and impartial manner, and not for getting emotionally wrapped up in it. Doing so could well cloud your judgment during the remainder of the inspection, resulting in an inaccurate and/or incomplete report.

Your clients deserve better than that.

I understand what you're saying but that's not what happened. I knew the house was flipped and I am very experienced with this particular company. I knew what to look for but this was the first time I saw something this blatant. By "lost it" I meant that I was sick of seeing that type of crud as a whole and I was ready to go home and retire.

There were many other problems with the house. Some from the flippers, some from the original construction, and some from what appears to be structural "repairs" in between.

Stuart,
Did you have a "Holmes" moment. ??????

Originally Posted by Garry Sorrells

Stuart,
Did you have a "Holmes" moment. ??????

Come to think of it, I guess I did. I would have liked to have told this young couple to RUN LIKE HELL! You REALLY REALLY don't want this house.

When the young lady got the report she sent the following reply: "Thank you so much for your thoroughness and honesty while completing our home inspection!"

I've only "lost it" once with a scumbag shyster realtor seller. The buyer thanked me, but I could tell that the incident bothered her. I never heard from her or her agent again. I learned my lesson. In my opinion, it simple isn't professional behavior no matter how justified.

Where I've lived, the term "lost it" usually means to lose control of one's emotions, to the point of wanting to kick the nearest dog, or at least throw the clipboard (or laptop, maybe?) on the ground while stomping back and forth, screaming as loudly as possible at anything and everything. Probably analogous to what Lon experienced, whose client was clearly bothered by his behavior. Conversely, your client sending you a nice thank-you note indicates you actually didn't "lose it." Poor choice of words, maybe?

IMHO, "sick of seeing that type of crud and ready to go home and retire" isn't even close to "losing it." In fact, a large majority of working people I know fit into the former category, and don't look forward to getting up each morning to face the same dreary job. Most of them dislike their work/jobs to the point of being willing to retire tomorrow if they had the means. I consider myself extremely fortunate over my 45+ year inspection career, having liked the work to the point of being constantly enthused about it, and truly looked forward to facing the challenges each day had to offer.

A couple hundred dollars in missing crawlspace insulation wouldn't even make it close to the top of my report. Not when I've got flippers running screws through the sides of the dishwasher tub to anchor it to the cabinets and connecting Cat I and Cat IV appliance vents together.

That house has floor joist issues as well. Maybe the missing batts is a blessing - easier to inspect the sistered joists and the flaky blocking at the posts.