A New Home’s Skeleton in the Closet

I sit around thinking from time-to-time about the story of our homes prior to us living there. In my first home, which we still own and generate rental income on, I was not the first owner. The house had a history as a one-story, one-room bungalow that was eventually knocked down to the basement and rebuilt upon as a colonial. Another couple bought and owned the home prior to me purchasing it years ago, and I only knew the prior history based on what they or the neighbors told me. I enjoy tracking down and hearing the history behind things that I own if they were not purchased new, and I always wondered who lived here and what might have taken place prior to my arrival.

The same questions go for our current home. The neighbors have told me some information that they knew based on their experience with the previous owner; however, they did not even realize the home had an irrigation system until we had it tested. So there was some potential for some definite gaps in the timeline. For a house that was constructed in 2006, what follows is some information that I acquired that I was not aware of based on the homes short history.

The other day I was at a meeting with my local City officials to go over a new project from my full-time career. I was talking about being a new resident and the area where we are located with the officials. After the meeting, the one building official recalled the name of the builder, who is no longer in business because of the economy. As we continued to talk, he asked me which house we had purchased, and I gladly obliged. The Building Inspector knew exactly which house, which surprised me with the home being located in a suburban development of many houses.

As everyone around us laughed worrying this building official must know something wrong about the construction of the house, he proceeded to tell us the story. When the house was originally constructed in 2006, the purchaser made a lot of upgrades on the home, skyrocketing the purchase price to over $400,000 (in 2006 home valuation). Prior to construction, the purchaser had placed a sizable deposit on the home to secure the start of building. Somewhere during the construction process, the purchaser got busted for drug dealing and was hauled off to jail, losing his deposit, and the home remained in the builder’s hands.

The home sat vacant for approximately a year while the builder tried selling. By the time they sold it to the gentleman before us, the builder broke even after keeping the original purchaser’s security deposit. Then eventually he lost the home to foreclosure after sticking a boat load more money into the home by adding on an expansive deck and finished basement. When our offer was accepted on the house, we knew we struck gold, but never knew exactly why until now.

I write this story not to brag. Rather, I am documenting for my own reference in the future before I forget (yesterday’s article on Chase credit cards is the perfect example). However, it brings up an interesting point about city governments and the importance of asking questions before the information is lost. I was in the fortunate situation of getting to talk with the building inspector that reviewed our house during construction, and luckily the house is newer and he could recall the history from his memory.

City officials do not always stick around forever. If you want to know something about your property, ask questions from your local government. Sometimes one might just get lucky and score some interesting information on a property that might otherwise be lost in the history books. The story of our home would not have been filed away in a public record somewhere. It was in the minds of those that worked on the home.

Have you been able to locate any interesting tales about your homes and previous history?