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This is a blog that I decided to start so people can benefit from the wisdom of my experience.....ENJOY!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Beware the Trojan Horse

Ahhh the Trojan Horse.....

History is full of "Trojan Horse" references.  Just to keep some people up to date if they are unaware this reference refers to the Trojan War, when the Greeks were fighting the people in the city of Troy.  Legend has it that the Greeks were trying to seize the city for 10 years without any success (they were very determined apparently).  They decided that the best way to get into the city was to create this huge horse with their army hiding inside.  They staged a retreat, leaving the horse as a gift at the city gates.  The Trojans took the horse within the city walls.  Late at the night, the Greeks emerged from the horse and took over the city of Troy, thus winning the Trojan War. Yes, I know I'm a geek, but history is my thing.

Anyway, this was the reference that came to me after we read  the inspector's report. Last week, I went with my mother to meet with the inspector.  When you are in the process of buying a house, you have to have an inspector come in and make sure that the house is up to code and that there aren't any underlying problems with the house.

I went through all 4 floors with the inspector, including the roof.  We started at the top and made are way down. At the beginning of the inspection, things didn't start off too well.  Certain water fixtures were extremely loose, the siding of the house wasn't complete, and there was a small sign of possible water damage within the house.  I started to panic because we really loved this house.  Everything was brand new and we didn't think that anything major could be possibly be wrong with it.  WELL......as we descended down the the next few floors, things were popping up everywhere.  Some things were small, some things were major, like loose concrete on the second floor ledge.  I started to text Dan that things were looking bad.

At the end of the 2 hour inspection, things looked bleak. I felt defeated.  We saw many houses and this was the first one we saw that had the potential to be called "home." I decided to wait for the entire report, which was promised by the end of the day.  On the train ride home, I kept thinking about Dan living in a cardboard box or worse living with me and my mom in that tiny apartment commuting to Philly.

When I got home I anxiously waited for the inspector's report. I felt like one of those women waiting for a man to call.  I checked the internet connection and I was constantly looking to make sure I was signed on to the proper account. Around 11pm, we received the report. ALL 23 PAGES OF IT!! We began reading and as we started going through the pages, our little dream home started sounding like that horrible home in "The Money Pit" (I highly recommend that movie if you want to laugh).

As the scene of electrical fires and bathtubs falling through the ceiling slowly ran through my head...we both looked at each other and realized, we have to keep looking.  Dan emailed the report to this father and when he called the next day he said, "What a report!" So it wasn't just us!

I called Stephanie and told her we wanted to pull out and to get our money that we had in escrow.  Note to people: when you put your money in escrow please put in that you have the option to retract it when you have the inspection done, that way you can get your money back.  We did!! :)

Enjoy a scene from the movie!

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