# Just Word of Caution



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Ok I have bought several places and you need to look over every thing close people will do things that no one would ever think of.

Me and my wife was talking over our last place. It was 5 acres on Prairie old Dairy Farm. We looked it over had Fescue about waist high. Thought it should have Best Top Soil we ever had.

Well after we bought it found the Guy we bought it off of had skimmed every inch of Top Soil off it and planted the Fescue. The ground was Clay and Rock.

Now who would have ever thought of anyone ever doing this? What other things have you found after buying you would never had expected?

big rockpile


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

The first house my mom bought had a fill dirt yard. All the topsoil had been scraped off and sold. It happens in every housing development.

I found out that you need to buy the zoning regulation book before you buy the property. Saves a lot of heartbreak later.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

A friend bought a house that has serious foundation settling. The seller hid the uneven floors by putting furniture in all the low spots. Nothing surprises me. You're lucky they only took it away and there wasn't a toxic dump hidden in the grass.
I guess you need to start building that soil up. At least that is doable.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

I would have never expected that 15 years later after every winter and hard rain that I'd still be picking up the previous owner's trash. You have to wonder how long before the last layer finally comes to the surface.


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## Jan in CO (May 10, 2002)

We too have found trash and more trash buried here. A house I had long ago had a leak under the sink, and we discovered the sink was plumbed with a car tail pipe! Young and stupid and didn't look closely when we bought it.

Another thing you don't see, at least here, are houses sold as escrows, where you pay the bank, they distribute the payment to all the previous owners or banks who have an interest in the property. Now, the credit union or banks want their money out when you sell, and the new buyer has to get a loan. Made it easier for young people to get a house in the past that way.


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Went to rototill up a garden....found there used to be an inground pool! That wasn't so bad, but they filled it full of trash--old furniture, metal, etc. before they lightly covered with soil. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I had the huge mess and a ruined tiller! Afterwards, the "oh so sweet" neighbors...."Oh, we could have told you that. We watched them empty the house into the pool." Seriously???


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## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

FarmChix said:


> Went to rototill up a garden....found there used to be an inground pool! That wasn't so bad, but they filled it full of trash--old furniture, metal, etc. before they lightly covered with soil. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I had the huge mess and a ruined tiller! Afterwards, the "oh so sweet" neighbors...."Oh, we could have told you that. We watched them empty the house into the pool." Seriously???


I would always suggest talking to the neighbors before buying a property. The house next to us sold and the previous owners were stinkers....we would have been more than happy to tell what we knew they were doing.....but in most cases as a neighbor you never meet the new owners/buyers until everything is a done deal.

Just one example the previous owners (of a very old farmhouse) drilled holes in the walls so they could blow insulation in, then capped the holes. Told everyone the house had just been insulated.....problem was they skipped on step....the insulation. Yep they drilled the holes and capped them, that's all. New owners were shocked at the heat bill that first winter. Well the guy that did it mentioned it to my husband, we assumed they made it right before the sale....if anyone would of asked us we could have suggested that they check that.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I tried to tell some people looking at a house in this area about the problems they would have with it. They didn't listen and have whined about the issue since. 

This house has a serious water issue in the basement. It would have been a deal breaker had we known about it. We did visit the house the day after a hard (several inches) rain. No water on the floor but we noticed the basement was unusually warm. That should have been the tip-off that they had brought heaters in to dry the floor.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Problem with neighbors you have some just wanting to cause problems like here. Neighbor got mad because we wanted our property.

He went told the other neighbors we would steal their property and he didn't know why we bought this place, it was trashed and ceilings were falling in.

Neighbors came to visit, were surprised how good of shape the house was. Completely discredited all he had to say.

We sold one place Guy said he had to remove Top Soil by order of DNR because of our Compost Bins and Raised Garden Beds. Compost Bins were composting Grain Cleaning and Manure.  Yes the Guy was Full of It! ound: I'm sorry I couldn't help it.

big rockpile


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Property lines and easements can be a big one. The last property I bought I almost got in a bad way over. I made an offer and the lady accepted. I went over and was walking around the property and a neighbor came over and ask if I was going to buy it. I told him I was, that is when he told me the lady had refused to give up land for the road or the utilities right of way and had no easement to her property. He had very smartly placed the road that ran next to her property 20' over on himself. I went back to the realtor and withdrew my offer. Eventually I made a deal on my own to get an easement with the neighbor and made a lowball offer to the lady and bought it. The realtor is a friend of mine and she had told him nothing when she listed it with him. She had it listed with other places before and lost sales when they were told by the same neighbor about the easement issue. So she knew the whole time she did not have a legal easement.
Just because you can drive to the property and look at it, does not mean you will have a RIGHT to drive to it when you buy it. Make sure you have a legal written easement and you know where the lines are and the neighbors are in agreement with those corners and lines.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Generally including "contingent upon home inspection" takes care of a lot of issues. But it would not catch buried trash, removed topsoil, or easement issues. Also, a home inspector might miss the fake insulation - wow that takes a lot of nerve!


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## Raven132 (Mar 3, 2013)

There was a lovely little place next to my grandma's house. Only problem was every spring it turned into a swamp. We have had to reject several places due to water issues and mold. And if it's on a gravel road ask the neighbors if it gets maintained properly, this varies greatly county to county in our neck of the woods.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

We bought property from a person on this Forum, said they would maintain the road to where is was passable by Passenger Car. They never did, you was lucky to be able to make it with 4WD Pickup. Plus he said he would pay to have Electric run back to our property, not to our house but to the edge of the property but he never did it. The deal on the road was in the Contract.

big rockpile


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