The First Month in a New House: The Calls That Come In

Why this matters

In the first few weeks after closing, new owners find things. The air conditioning nobody ran in March, the water heater that held on through a vacant winter and quit under a family of four, the slow drain the staging hid. They call a shop, and they usually call upset, with a theory: the seller hid it, or the inspector missed it. Whatever you say about that theory, they will repeat, to the seller's agent, to their own lawyer, sometimes in a demand letter that quotes you by name. The repair is ordinary. What makes these calls different is that you are being asked to be a witness to a dispute you know nothing about, and your notes may end up as evidence for one side.

What these calls usually are

Most first-month failures fall into four groups, and naming the group helps the owner more than any opinion about blame:

• Systems that were not used. A house sold vacant or in the off season can go months without the furnace, the air conditioning, the irrigation or the guest bath being run hard. Use reveals what idleness hid: a seized condenser fan motor, a dried-out seal, a sticking valve.
• Wear that use finishes off. An old water heater or a worn pump can work fine for one person's light use and fail within weeks under a full household. It was old at the sale; it failed after.
• Things no visual inspection reaches. Inside walls, under slabs, inside sealed equipment, under stored belongings the seller had not moved yet.
• Things that were reported, but not read. The inspection report or the disclosure mentioned it, often in a sentence like "near end of typical service life" that nobody took as a warning.

Why "the inspector missed it" is rarely the whole story

A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive look at accessible systems on one day. It is governed by a standard of practice: in states that license home inspectors it is usually written into the licensing rules, and elsewhere it is the professional association standard the inspector follows. Those standards typically exclude what is concealed, what cannot be operated safely, and what is shut down. Many inspectors will not run air conditioning when the outdoor temperature is too low for it, commonly below about 60 F, because it can damage the compressor; the report then says "not tested due to temperature."

So "the inspector missed it" is sometimes true, but more often the item was outside the inspection, or was described as functional on the day, or was flagged in words the buyer did not register. Before agreeing with anybody, ask to see the report. Read the line about that system. See related: Reading a Home Inspection Report as a Trade.

Your job: witness to the condition, not judge of the dispute

Say what you can observe. The condition, the failed part, the age from the data plate, the mechanism of failure where the evidence shows it. "The tank is leaking from a rusted seam at the bottom. The data plate puts it at about fourteen years old" is a statement of fact.

Say what you cannot determine, plainly. You usually cannot tell when a slow leak started, whether a seller knew, or whether an inspector should have seen something on a day you were not there. Do not guess, even when the owner pushes. "I can't tell you how long it's been like this" is an honest answer and a protective one.

Do not volunteer blame, even sympathetically. "Wow, they must have known about that" feels like kindness and reads in a demand letter as an expert opinion. The same goes for "your inspector should have caught that," which may also end up in a dispute with a professional you will work alongside for years. See related: Working With Home Inspectors Reference.

Write it the way you said it. Your invoice notes should carry the same observed facts and the same "cannot determine" where it applies. If the owner later asks for a letter for their lawyer, it should match the invoice word for word. See related: Writing a Findings Letter Buyers, Sellers and Lenders Can Use.

Here is how that sounds on a real call:

OWNER: The inspector said this heater was fine.
  Did the seller just hide it from us?
TECH: I can't tell you what anyone knew. What I
  can see is the tank's leaking from the bottom
  seam, and the plate says it's about 14 years
  old. That's past the usual life for a tank.
OWNER: So the inspector missed it.
TECH: Can I see the report? ... It says
  "functional, near end of service life." That
  means it worked the day he tested it.
OWNER: Can you put in writing that it was bad
  before we bought it?
TECH: I'll write down exactly what I found today
  and the age. When it started, I can't say, and
  I won't guess in writing. If you're talking to
  a lawyer, that's what they'll want anyway.

The seller's home warranty

Sellers often buy a one-year home warranty for the buyer as part of the deal. Two things matter on a first-month call:

• The warranty company usually has to be called first. Most plans dispatch their own contractors, and if the owner pays you directly, they may not be reimbursed. Ask on the phone: "Did the sale come with a home warranty?" If yes, tell them before you dispatch that calling us first may cost them coverage. See related: Working a Home Warranty Dispatch.
• Pre-existing conditions are commonly excluded. Many plans exclude failures the company decides existed before coverage started, and an invoice that says "clearly failing for some time" can be what they rely on. That is another reason to write what you observed and not what you suspect.

When the owner asks about going after the seller

You will be asked. The answer is not yours to give, but you should know why it varies so much. Seller disclosure law is state law, and the states sit far apart: California requires a detailed written transfer disclosure statement covering known defects, while Virginia has historically been close to "buyer beware," with a disclosure form that largely tells buyers to investigate for themselves. Most states fall somewhere between, and the outcome turns on what the seller knew, what the form said and what the contract said.

So the honest answer is: "That depends on your state and your paperwork. A real estate attorney can tell you in one meeting. Bring your purchase contract, the seller's disclosure form, the inspection report and my invoice." This is not legal advice, and you should not offer an opinion on the strength of the claim. See related: Your Findings and the Seller Disclosure Obligation.

Worked example: day 19, a water heater

The call. The owners closed 19 days ago. The house sat vacant for 4 months before sale. They are a household of four. The gas water heater is leaking onto the garage floor, and they want to know if the seller knew.

The visit. Before anything else, the tech shuts the gas valve at the heater and the cold supply, and keeps the owners and their kids away from the pooled water near the garage outlet. The tank is leaking from the bottom seam; the data plate puts it at 14 years old. There is a dried mineral trail on the pan below, under the fresh water.

The temptation. The mineral trail suggests the tank had seeped before, possibly long before. The owner sees it and says "so it's been leaking for ages." The tech's answer: "Those marks mean it has seeped at some point before today. I can't tell you whether that was last month or two years ago." That is what goes on the invoice: "Mineral deposits in pan indicate earlier seepage; date cannot be determined."

The warranty check. On the phone, the office had asked about a home warranty; the sale included one. The office told the owners to call the warranty company first. They did; the warranty company dispatched its own contractor the next day, and the shop's visit was billed only as a diagnostic, which the owners had agreed to before the tech left.

What happened next. The warranty company denied the claim citing a pre-existing condition, pointing to the inspection report's "near end of service life" line. The owners hired the shop to replace the heater, then took the invoice, the report and the disclosure form to an attorney. The tech's notes were exactly what the attorney needed, because they separated fact (age, failure point, earlier seepage) from what nobody could know (when it started).

What would have changed it. Had the tech written "obviously leaking for a long time, seller had to know," the warranty company had a stronger basis for denial, the seller's side had a reason to depose the tech, and the shop was now in a dispute it had no stake in.

Checking your write-up before it goes out

Read the notes as the seller's lawyer will:

• every statement is something you saw, measured or read off a plate;
• every "when" or "who knew" question is answered with "cannot determine," not a guess;
• nothing names the seller's or the inspector's knowledge;
• the warranty question was asked before dispatch, and the answer is recorded;
• if a letter is requested later, it repeats the invoice rather than adding to it.

These calls are also the start of a relationship with a household that does not have a shop yet. Handle the first one carefully and it is often the last time they search for one. See related: Turning a New Homeowner Into a Long-Term Customer.

References

• Your state's home inspector licensing rules or the inspector's stated standard of practice
• Your state's seller disclosure statute and disclosure form
• See related: Reading a Home Inspection Report as a Trade
• See related: Writing a Findings Letter Buyers, Sellers and Lenders Can Use
• See related: Your Findings and the Seller Disclosure Obligation