If you don't mind me asking, what is there that you need to fix that the seller/investor didn't do or did just crappy?
I'll go through a list. But the people we saw working on the house the days prior to closing, it was clear they were not skilled labor. I can only assume that the rest of the labors were not skilled either.
1. Refinished the wood floors, but didn't clean when they put the protective coat over it. So we have weird textures from left over dust and paint underneath this coat.
2. Half of our basement is finished divided by the wall. They put laminate flooring down as this will a mud room as the garage is on the same level. They put the wall dividing the finished and unfinished part of the basement on top of the laminate flooring. So if we need to replace this flooring, that wall has to go. Also there is some paint on the flooring too.
3. There is new plumbing in parts of the house around the kitchen and bathroom, however, what they did was not good or wrong. Some faucets had hot and cold reversed. They hooked the hot water to the dishwasher when only the cold needs to. The area where they put the washer and dryer hookups was also not good. Primarily the drain for the washer also drained in to the same pipe as the kitchen sink/dishwasher. That pipe was too small for the washing machine, sink, and dishwasher. While this is something my wife could have done, we decided to hire it out to get it fixed right away; we had moved in the previous day and was able to get a plumber out there the next day. We paid $1,600 for them to fix the plumbing issues described above, solder a copper pipe that was leaking (something my wife didn't have the tools for), and install a utility sink next to the washer that includes a pump (washer and dryer are in basement below the main drain pipe). Most of the cost came from the utility sink.
4. We found out quickly that the bathroom tub and toilet were reused from the house. So we replaced the toilet ourselves. The tub was just painted over and is already peeling. So we want to replace the tub with a new one. Also the grout in the shower/tub is coming out in some areas. We didn't like the tile and paint color in the bathroom to begin with, so we had plans to redo it. This just reinforces the crappy work. Also, I'm pretty sure the fan in the bathroom is too small for the space.
5. We have a new septic for our house. Apparently for our septic, we need to have a service agreement with a company to come and inspect it twice a year and let the city know who we use. Got this letter from the city on Friday asking for our service agreement. Monday, we call the company who installed the septic. Long story short, the septic was never turned on. Our tank is lower than our leech field, and thus requires a pump to do that. Nothing in the control box was turned on. So the company who installed it came out to got everything working, but we had to pay $230 to get the tanked pumped to a level that would be acceptable for it to work properly. The seller of the house hasn't paid the company who installed the septic, and with the seller rushing to close on the property was not following up on his work (he was fairly absent). So there is currently a lien on the house, in which we have $20,000 in a hold back to cover the cost of the lien for the seller and the septic company to work it out in 60 days. So I assume that the work to finish the install of the septic never occurred because drama behind the scenes.
6. We have a cheap garage opener. When we were doing one of our multiple final walkthroughs we saw the people installing it. The opener doesn't work right in that it looses its memory and does this thing where it will close, and then open back right away. The manual says that its a program error and to unplug it and plug it back in. Additionally, one of the bolts used to hold the opener in the ceiling has come out, so it probably was not in a stud.
7. We have this open staircase that goes from the main level (we have a single level house that goes in to a hill. So from the front it looks like a two level, but from the back only a single) to the basement. The craftsmanship of this is poor. The spindles are not solidly in place, the stain is inconsistent, and the wood work has splits in it when it should be a single piece. There is a wooden board that is stained that takes up the space between the floor joists. The city made them extend this a little to allow for more head room, so rather than use a single piece of wood, they just added to what they needed.
8. They installed a water line for the refrigerator, but it was the wrong kind of hose. Luckily, when I bought the refrigerator, I purchased a hose.
9. A lot of the interior doors are new, but they are shimmed correctly as the doors stick in certain places around the frame.
10. The kitchen cabinet doors and drawers were never leveled.
11. They installed a fence outside. The posts are already wobble in certain areas. Its only 4 weeks old. They should have used concrete for the posts, but they didn't, just dug a hole and added dirt. The latch they used for the door doesn't latch properly. It's good enough for now to keep our dog in, but will need to be replaced at some point.
That's what I can think of right now. Again, we made the decision to follow through with this house, but we were on the desperate side and got taken advantage of because of our situation. Also, the seller pissed off everyone he worked with. He had two lenders who were ready to foreclose on him, the septic guy is suing him for the money owed, he told his agent that she sucked at her job and reinforces why he should never use female agents (we saw this text with our own eyes).
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