They knew.
They didn't say a word.
The people who sold us this house knew that there was an unfixable flaw in the foundation, and that the house leaks.
The neighbors knew. They had watched her husband desperately try to dig trenches to keep water out.
None of them told us they knew until afterward.
Many years afterward, when the previous owners were long dead.
That is all bad enough, that we are stuck with a house that cannot ever be sold and will have to be torn down, and that we will lose every penny we've ever put into it.
What bothers me the most right now, as the rain has built up and i am again wet vacuuming water from my home, is that the real estate agent had to have known, too.
Oh, maybe our agent, the buyers' agent, didn't know. She was just showing us the house, and maybe hadn't even been in it before.
But the sellers' agent had to have known. They had the house on the market, in a great neighborhood that was very popular, and in the best location in the neighborhood, for two years, and couldn't sell it.
He had to have known why. It rains a lot in south Louisiana, he had to have been in the house at some point when it had water in it. He probably was very careful to never show it to prospective buyers when there was enough rain accumulated to have a problem.
On days where i have to vacuum water, he's the one it takes all of my strength to forgive.
The owners were bad enough. They, though, were elderly and desperate, and to an extent i understand desperation. They also both died, very unexpectedly, within a year. They never got to live the ideal life they were trying to create elsewhere.
The neighbors, well, i never got a chance to talk to them until it was a done deal. Yes, they could have come over while we were poking around and said something, but it's not their responsibility, and i didn't have enough sense to really go meet the neighbors and check things out.
It's the selling agent i still struggle to not hold accountable for much misery in my life. He knew, he had to, and he didn't make them disclose it on the papers.
Today, Sunday, i will pray again for strength to forgive. Because every part of me wants to find him and make him go through some of what i've gone through over the years.
Today is
Anne Hutchinson Memorial Day -- Portsmouth, RI, US (honoring Anne Marbury Hutchinson, co-founder of Portsmouth, in 1638)
Aphrodisia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (bathing festival of Aphrodite and Peitho [Persuasion]; through tomorrow)
Dornach Commemoration Day -- Dornach Battlefield and nearby city of Solothurn, Switzerland (victory in 1499 which ended the Swabian War)
Festival of Boredom and Reverie -- Fairy Calendar
Hammock Day -- don't know who came up with this one, but at the height of the dog days, it seems appropriate
International Childbirth Education Awareness Day -- can't find confirmation on this, but if you're going to have a kid, it's not a bad idea to get educated about what to expect!
King Father's Birthday -- Swaziland
National Penuche Fudge Day
Parent's Day -- US
Pi Approximation Day (22nd day of month 7; 22/7 is the approximation of Pi)
Ragbrai / Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa(TM) -- Iowa, US (the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world; through the 28th)
Ratcatcher's Day -- celebrated by the British dating of the Pied Piper story; celebrated June 26 in Hamelin, Germany
Revolution Day -- The Gambia
Spooners Day (Spoonerism -- Named for William Archibald Spooner, English cleric and scholar who once fussed at a student because "You hissed my mystery lesson," told a groom it was "kisstomery to cuss the bride," and once accidentally referred to Queen Victoria as "the queer old Dean.")
St. Mary Magdalene's Day (Patron of apothecaries, contemplative life and contemplatives, converts, druggists, glove makers, hairdressers and hair stylists, penitent sinners, penitent women, people ridiculed for their piety, perfumeries and perfumers, pharmacists, reformed prostitutes, tanners, women; Anguiano, Spain; Atrani, Salerno, Italy; Casamicciola, Italy; Elantxobe, Spain; Foglizzo, Italy; La Magdaleine, Italy; against sexual temptation)
Stilt Dance Day -- Anguiano, Spain (a special stilt dance performed on the Feast of the city's patron, St. Mary Magdalen)
Valencia Fair Battle of the Flowers -- Valencia, spain (conclusion and highlight of the Valencia Fair, with a parade and thousands of carnations thrown from floats, making a magical carpet of petals for all to enjoy)
Birthdays Today
Madison Pettis, 1998
Selena Gomez, 1992
Daniel Jones, 1973
Rufus Wainwright, 1973
Shawn Michaels, 1965
David Spade, 1964
Willem Dafoe, 1955
Alan Menken, 1949
Albert Brooks, 1947
Don Henley, 1947
Danny Glover, 1946
Estelle Bennett, 1944
Bobby Sherman, 1943
Alex Trebek, 1940
Terrence Stamp, 1939
Louise Fletcher, 1934
Oscar De la Renta, 1932
Orson Bean, 1928
Bob Dole, 1923
Amy Vanderbilt, 1908
Alexander Calder, 1898
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1890
William Archibald Spooner, 1844
Today in History
King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk, 1298
The Swiss decisively defeat the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I in the Battle of Dornach, 1499
A second group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony, 1587
Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada, 1793
In the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Rear Admiral Nelson is wounded in the arm, and part of it is amputated, 1797
Death of Josef Strauss, Austrian composer, 1870
First ever motorized racing event is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The race is won by comte Jules-Albert de Dion, 1894
Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world traveling 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes, 1933
Dezik and Tzygan become the first of Russia's Space Dogs, making a sub-orbital flight, which they both survived, 1951
Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during WWII, 1976
Martial law in Poland is officially revoked, 1983
The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, 1997
Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, on government buildings in Oslo and a youth camp at Utoya, 2011
First Full Week in November
6 hours ago
So sorry for the situation you're in. We also bought a house with flaws that someone in the process MUST have been aware of and I tell people about it every chance I get so that real estate agent won't get any business realted to us anymore. I don't understand people like this but it appears the world is full of them. Best of luck - I'll be thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteThat would be hard to forgive. Was there a house inspection done? It's hard to believe this could have gone unnoticed. We ended up paying thousands of dollars to have an old oil tank removed from our yard that we'd been told was removed twenty years earlier. It hadn't been removed, and we were forbidden from selling our house until we paid through the nose to have this done. Like you, I'm still trying to forgive.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gigi, i hope your situation works out better than you could ever have hoped.
ReplyDeleteStephen, yes, there was an inspection, but inspectors know better than to tell you the truth, if they ruin a deal, they get blacklisted by the realtors and get no more work. The inspections are useless because of that. It's not easy, is it?
inexcusable-I am so sorry to read this. The house we purchased recently was insepected etc and "no flaws" found-but there are flaws, none as serious as yours, but regardless the realtor and owners knew and did not disclose. Money will fix our problems and I hope somehow good comes out of your home purchase.
ReplyDelete