I had a plumber come to my home and he did a repair. He did not arrive in a company vehicle, but a Jetta with no indication of a company name. After the repair when I asked what do I owe he said “we will bill you”. I was uncomfortable with that answer. I signed nothing to even indicate he was here. There was no paperwork whatsoever which I have never encountered. So I need to have an idea of what is reasonable in case there is a problem. He fixed a toilet leak and took approx 2 hours. Upon arrival he asked ME if I had a ladder and a flashlight, which I thought was weird. I have never before been asked if I had tools. I also had to run outside and turn the water off and on. I didn’t mind, but again, I have never had a repair person request tools and services from me. Thanks for any info.

The man was approached and told of his vocation. His name is ‘Sam’ and if he was working as a plumber for a licensed man, and did not know his job, he would not be working long. Even a license does not make a person a pro. People with all sorts of certification, ***** us all the time among them lawyers, doctors, but seldom hair-dressers,or any other trades person. A registration is all that’s needed, and the market itself will weed out the incompetence. A certain amount of risk is necessary for progress, that is what brought us to the moon. We have a fine police force that are well trained, yet they can not keep you from crime, and are overwhelmed in solving theft and homicide cases. A bad plumbing repair or installation will be noticed by almost any idiot that hires them, just to save a ‘buck’

I recently purchased an apartment building in NY.

The attached property condition report has been found to be intentionally misleading. As a result, I purchased the building with a leaking sewage system. After taking possession of the building I found raw sewage leaking into a tarp, bucket and plastic bowl propped up in the rafters above one of the apartments. Once full the sewage would overflow into the apartment – this is how I found out about the defect.

There is a clause in the contract that states “The seller warrants to buyer that: All plumbing (including septic systems)…will be in working order at the time of closing.” Given the tarp, bucket and bowl full of sewage in the rafters, this is clearly not the case. Do I have a case in small claims court to recoup the cost of the repairs?

The closing for this property was in November 2007.

Thanks in advance.

For the past 3 weeks I have major plumbing problems. My sisters (who live out of state) and I together own a small trailer park. For the past 3 weeks I have had major plumbing problems. We dug a 10 foot long trench and found we have orange berg sewer pipe which is beginning to collapse. I finally got one plumber to come and take out a piece that was bad and put in a patch which he did a poor job on and its leaking so all I have is a tench full of water and sewer. I called him to come back and repair it but that was almost a week ago and he never came back. I have been told all the sewer plumbing needs a burst … and I have called everyone that is in the plumbing business. They are either too busy or don’t return my calls. The cold freezing weather is fast approaching and I need this repaired!!! What can I do? Is there any agency that can help me? Should I go to the health department? Would they be able to convince someone its an emergency and health hazzard?

My husband and I are first time home buyers and are using the VA for financing. We are trying to purchase a lender owned home that has been vacant for quite a while. We had an offer accepted on a house and proceeded with the home inspection.

At the inspection, the hot water was turned on. It is connected to a solar panel on the roof. When it is on, it sends water up to the roof and it leaks heavily. Within seconds of turning on the water heater, there was a waterfall coming off the roof. This is not a big deal, the solar just has to be taken out of the connection and the hot water will work just fine. Because of this, there were also other minor plumbing issues that need to be addressed.

Also, the permit to have the power on is temporary. The electrical does not meet city standards. There are missing GFC protectors and the fuse box is not labeled correctly. We did not need an inspection for this, the failed permit is sitting on the counter when you walk in.

Also, the furnace does work.

There are other minor things wrong with the house but those are the biggies. Well, we ordered the VA appraisal when we signed the contract on Jan 07. We sent a BINSR report to the lender after our home insect on Jan 14 letting them know what we wanted repaired. The lender told us that they would not agree to any repairs until after the VA appraisal so we let it go and waited.

We finally received the VA appraisal 02/09. Per our lender, these appraisals are only expected to take ten business days plus five more for the underwriters. We have been in constant contact with our lender asking for the appraisal. We have gone past our closing date and because of that, the seller is keeping our earnest money. During this past month, the listing agent never received a call from the appraiser asking for the key code to get into the house.

Now the appraisal has come back and they have said that no repairs need to be made to the house. Our lender said that she has never seen a house come back clean. So the seller is refusing to make any repairs to the house and we are stuck with a house that has no hot water and no heat.

My question is, it is obvious that the VA appraiser never entered the house. If he would have turned on the hot water heater, he would of seen a waterfall off the side of the house. The furnace does not work. There is a pool in the back yard and the fence surrounding it is completely dilapidated. What options do I have? Any experience?
Of couse we have an appraisal contingency, it only applies if the house appraises for more than our loan, which it did not.

You may have been an underwriter, but you have obviously not dealt with VA appraisers and property.
If you have not dealt with a VA appraiser, don’t answer the question. I cannot get funding if the VA does not approve of the house and yes, they do inspect the HVAC. The house has to meet certain VA standards before they will fund the loan. Look if you don’t know and get a little smarter.

http://www.vba.va.gov/ro/Roanoke/rlc/forms/APPRAISER%20GUIDE%202005.pdf

The Seller refused to make any repairs before the VA came through because the VA ALWAYS demands certain repairs be made. Like I said, our lender told us they have NEVER had a house come back needing no work when it went through a VA appraiser.

Seriously, if you do not know, don’t answer. Of course we knew the house needed work but so did the seller. They knew that repairs would have to be made when they agreed to accept VA financing.

Maybe read the link I have posted so next time you answer a VA appraisal question, you sound a little smarter.
“An appraisal IS NOT THE SAME AS A HOME INSPECTION AND NEVER STATES WHETHER REPAIRS MUST OR MUST NOT BE MADE ON THE HOME…an appraiser IS NOT a licensed inspector.”

This statement right here makes it painfully obvious that you do not know what you are talking about and are not, in fact, an expert realtor. VA appraisers make repair demands all the time. If you don’t know, don’t answer.