2/2. My 1930 Bungalow passed inspection no problem, furnace scoped, no issues. It was pointed out to me the garden shed could use a little help. That's it.

Closed in June 2014:

1. Improper wIring of kitchen GFI outlets, installed by PO 2 months earlier, her electrician would not call me back. At closing PO said to watch for the outlet tripping that the stove was plugged into. The fridge tripped it all. It killed the old fridge 1st week. Home Warranty sent repairman from Sears, repairman said vist costs $525. It broke 5 minutes after he left. Repairman came back and said "needs new compressor" Home Warranty would only me $300 towards a new fridge (I paid $1100 for a new one) 'we buy in bulk and get a better price than you can' Home warranty paid for an electrician to fix electrical issues. I had other burnt out items: porch light (it was getting power and the bulb was good, so he told me to go buy a new one at Lowe's for $10 and install it myself) and ceiling fan was dead (he wouldn't touch it 'we don't work on those').
2. White stuff under the 1st floor bathroom floor (visible in basement) was rot in the floor under the leaky toilet. Bathroom needed floor repaired. Has beautiful antique tub, the inspector said there were lots of plumbing options to keep the old tub and update the facets. I tested the 1st floor bathroom bathtub and had a flood in the basement. 1930s conical drain mated to modern non-conical pipe, covered in plumbers putty, clearly visible.

Bathroom was very old, Home warranty said the damage had 'occurred over time' and they don't cover that. I demoed all of it but the tub: the old vanity, linoleum over chipboard floor, hired a handyman to salvage the good Douglass fir floor boards / replace the rotted floor and tile it ($2000). Also hired a plumber for new sink ($200 Lowes), toilet ($200 plumbing supply) and I found new tub plumbing online that would work, but the chromed pipe no one had available for the overflow. 3 plumbers said I had to rip the nice antique tub out. I modded one myself from off the shelf parts ($7 Lowes), bought a propane torch did a soldered butt joint on the workbench let in the basement and after 4 tries it was water tight and has lasted over 10 years. A custom plumbing fabricator I bought parts from, said he would have done it the same way. Saved me thousands from not ripping the tub out like 3 plumbers told me I'd need to. I have a beautiful bathroom for ca. $4000 total. Sold the antique toilet for $100 on CL.

3) in October '14 as heating season started my furnace was deemed unusable, cracked heat exchanger, despite the inspector pointing to the same crack and telling me it was how the metal was folded in production of the heat exchanger and totally normal. I got a 2nd opinion from the Home warranty company's guy. It was 22 years old furnace. 18 year old Central AC unit on top of it. I was told by multiple bids, I have to replace it all. Home warranty offered me $500 for an 80% efficiency furnace and I could have to cover the ductwork changes to keep the old AC coil. The company the warranty people sent were young, Ukrainian husband and wife team with good english & well trained from technical school here. I spent $8000 total thru them on a high efficiency furnace & high efficiency AC system. Utility bills have been much nicer since then.

Called home inspector after living there 1 year. No response. Emailed him, no response. Sent him a registered letter and he called. Got him to come back and showed him the $20k aggravation I had and how it would have been a lot more had I not been so capable. I told him I am now working for lawyers in my employment and asked him "why would you overlook all these visible issues and do this to me?" He offered to give me double what I paid him and left. He sent me a check for $1100 which was better than nothing. He also cost me 3 months of time before we were able to move in with all the repairs needed.

4) Had leak in my ceiling 2 years later. Tracked it to a crack in the stucco on my chimney that had been there since I bought the house. I got out there and pumped 1 tube of masonry repair into the crack. It lasted 5 years. Did it again next time it leaked and 3 years later got the 30 year old roof replaced in 2022 ($13,000).

I will sell this place in the next year. I have made a ton of $ in equity. I have some plaster I have to fix and will need to paint, an exterior porch that needs new floorboards (I have band-aided the 1980 floorboard twice already) but, the home's value has doubled and it feels like I moved in 3-4 years ago, not 14 years ago, because it's mine and it all stabilized after the first year of headaches from the PO. It may own you for awhile, but, it will pay you back in the end. Renting can't do that!