Don't buy home without inspecting attic

Q: We bought a home about three weeks ago and did an inspection with my stepfather who is a contractor. We failed to go into the attic.

Two days after the closing, I went into the attic. To my surprise, almost all of the rafters and the wood that holds the shingles are burnt pretty severely. I have a disclosure statement signed by the seller stating that there was no fire damage.

I got another contractor to come out and give me an estimate of the repairs. Upon looking at the damage he stated that it would probably be around $50,000 to fix the roof.

What are my options here? Who is at fault? Is the real estate company at fault as well? What if the sellers don't have this type of money?

A: It would be hard for the seller to deny he knew that the home had suffered a large fire and he never went into his own attic. You can probably find evidence that he stored items in the attic and was fully aware of the problem.

Most states require a seller to disclose to buyers material problems with the home. If your state has a specific reference to the home having been involved in a fire and the seller failed to disclose it to you, you have a pretty good shot at suing the seller for the failure to disclose this issue.

Seller disclosure laws were put into place to give buyers an opportunity to know more information about the home, particularly information that is known to the seller but that may not be readily known to the buyer.

If your seller disclosure form specifically mentions whether the home was affected by a fire and the seller failed to disclose it to you, the seller may be deep in trouble.

However, shame on you for not inspecting the house properly before you closed. Your stepfather may be a contractor, but it doesn't sound like he is a professional or licensed home inspector. A competent home inspector would have easily found this issue and alerted you to the problem.

The whole reason to hire a professional home inspector is to avoid the big pitfalls in purchasing real estate. It's nice to know that seller disclosure laws are out there to protect buyers, but it's much better to have this kind of information ahead of the closing so you can avoid the issues you now face.

You may have saved a few hundred bucks by not hiring a professional home inspector, but now you're facing a $50,000 problem.

You should get a second, and maybe even a third, contractor to come out to your home to give you another estimate of what it will take to fix the problem. Prices may vary and some contractors (especially those who are a bit slow right now) may want to do more work to the home than just fix the problem left from the fire.

Finally, when you actually know what it will cost you to make the repairs, you can sit down with an attorney and decide how to approach the sellers. It's true that if the sellers don't have the money to pay for the fix, you'll be left footing the bill.

But the sellers may have the money and your attorney can advise you of your legal options. If the sellers have money and assets, your state laws may allow you to recover your attorney's fees in connection with suing the seller for their failure to disclose the problem.

Q: I purchased a new home and am having problems with a leaky roof, along with other problems. The builder refuses to take care of the problems. Whom should I contact?

A: If you purchase a new home, and there are issues with that house, the first thing you should do is seek help from the builder.

Your contract or some of the other documents you received at the closing should tell you exactly how you're supposed to deliver notice of any issues you have with the house. Did the builder give you a warranty? Typically, you'll need to deliver notice of any issues you have with the home in writing and deliver it to the builder by certified mail, return receipt requested or by some other means to insure that you have a record that you send the notice and that the builder received the notice.

But if the builder refuses live up to the terms of the warranty or did not give you a warranty but still refuses to fix your problems, you'll need to explore your other options.

One option is to see if you have other rights under the laws of the state in which you live.

Another option is to determine if there are any other warranties that are provided by the manufacturers of the products used in your home. See if you can find out the brand of the roof-shingle manufacturer and the name of the company that installed the roof. Frequently, the manufacturer of the roof will stand behind its product if the product was installed properly and the installer may also back its own work within a certain time after the installation. If you have that information, you can see if they will be willing to make the repairs.

For other items, such as appliances that may have a manufacturer's warranty, you can call the manufacturer of that product to see what options are available to you.

If you can't find any information on the products or the companies that made the installations, you might try to find a contractor in your area to give you an estimate to determine what it will cost you to make the repairs.

If the cost is minimal, you might decide to make the repairs yourself. If the costs are large, you will then have to decide on what to do next.

Your options include complaining about the builder to your local building department with the hope that it can put pressure on the builder to fix your issues. You can also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. If you file the complaint, at the very least, other buyers will be put on notice that this builder has unresolved complaints against his or her company.

In addition, you can hire an attorney to sue the builder. Litigation is expensive and at times it is cheaper to make the repairs than undertake the cost of litigating a problem. In some states, you may be able to sue the builder in small claims court and hope that you can maneuver through the intricate procedures of the legal system.

A real estate attorney who specializes in new construction ought to be able to help you further.

To get even more valuable advice from Ilyce, visit her Personal Finance and Real Estate Center.

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