Our Official Home Inspection

The plumber called us and gave us his recommendations on what needed repair before anyone could move in.  It was mostly some frozen pipes that had cracked that would have an issue when the water came on. 

We met with the home inspector and had already done a background check on him with our smart phones.  He had all his credentials we had asked for and seems very knowledgeable.  Plus, he is willing to do the inspection with us asking a million questions along the way.

Tree Root Issue.

We did the outside walk through first.  Everything seemed in good repair on the structure.  There were some minor cosmetic cracks from tree roots, but the foundation looks good.  There are some strange wires that are live on the patio that needs to be either covered or removed.

The electrical bypass line had been removed and the back yard looked normal again except for some dirt that had been disturbed by the electrical company.  Grass would grow over it in no time.

Then we went inside.

We started to walk around the first floor.  Everything looked good.  We switched on the hall light and it started to flicker.  Thought this was odd since it wasn’t doing that the previous day. Figured maybe it just needs a new light bulb. 

Just then the seller’s real estate company’s maintenance person came in to do the weekly vacuuming, and grass cutting etc.  While he was setting up his vacuum cleaner, we turned on the dining room lights and they were very dim.  When the guy turned on the vacuum cleaner, the vacuum sputtered like it wasn’t getting enough electricity and the lights in the dining room got brighter.  When he turned off the vacuum, the lights got dimmer and started to flicker.  It looked like ghosts in a haunted house from an old TV movie.  The maintenance guy was completely freaked out, along with the rest of us.  He said the house was not doing this last week when he was here.  The Home Inspector said he never saw anything like it.  All of the lights downstairs randomly flickered when the power was switched on.  The vacuuming had to be done off a generator in the back of the maintenance truck.

My husband and the inspector went to look at the fuse box to see if they could find a cause of the haunted house lights.  I went into the kitchen and turned on the light switch.  The lights in the kitchen went on for about 2 seconds.  Then there was a loud pop and smoke started to come out from the microwave and the AC completely stopped working.  I switched off the light immediately as the house filled with smoke.

Before the Explosion

My husband and the home inspector had heard the pop from outside and ran back into the kitchen.  We shut off the power to the electric panel and opened all the windows and doors to evacuate the smoke.  At this point I am ready to walk on the place.  No way do I want to go through a whole house electrical replacement.  The realtor, home inspector, and my husband try to talk me out of walking.  Told them I would have think about it overnight.

On our way outside all three of us met our next door neighbor.  She was the one that had that electrical bypass to her house.  When we asked about the bypass, she gave us the rundown.

Apparently the cable company was redoing all of the underground wires to the homes in the neighborhood and had damaged the electrical line to their house.  There lights were flickering off and on.  Her TV and toaster oven and several outlets had burned up.  I nearly started to cry in relief in that we had an answer.

She gave us the contact information to the cable company and told us that they replaced and repaired all of her stuff yesterday.  It looks like they damaged our line while they were repairing hers. 

We contacted the cable company who put us in contact with the contractor.  He came out and looked at everything and promised to have it all repaired before the home inspection by the bank.  However, the appliances would have to wait until after the closing if that was ok with us.  We are good with that, as long as it gets done.