All in all, I feel I was given information slowly and inaccurate. Enough to be like " oh okay" instead of the truth, until the truth came. Playing down the situation in every scenario, until it became a reality and was completely different than what I was told.

Sorry you are going through this. I bought a house with septic years ago, and started having issues. Called a company my neighbor recommended, not the original company that did the work, and they had to re-do some things that were wrong. But then I had no problems with it until I sold it 18 years later.

Can you speak to the owner of the septic company? What does your Realtor say about all this?

I don't think this is normal, I think someone should have told you what was wrong and what they were going to do to fix it before they came on your property.

Wow, I’m sorry you are dealing with this. I know you asked for advice “aside from contacting a lawyer”, but you also indicated that you are almost ready to walk away from the whole mess. Please talk to a lawyer before you do that. I’m not sure what kind, but I would call a real estate lawyer or a contract lawyer first to see what they say. I also think I would reach out to a different septic company to have them come out. It will likely cost you money out of pocket to do so, but they could do a soil test and then you would have a better idea if the 17,000 gallons of water made a difference. Please don’t let the thought of spending the money deter you - it sounds like this home is what you were looking for, and you might still be able to get there. Focus on getting some more facts first, so that you can make a decision based on good advice - which I do not think you are getting from your current septic company.

This will sound snarky but it is not. Since the house had flooded once it may flood again. Buy as much flood insurance as you can afford and hope the insurance company totals the property the next time.

Something that you can check but it might be easier to hire an attorney to do is to find out if the house is in an area that was on the Army Corp of Engineers listing of not being habitable. Sorry someone will know the proper term. If it is the title company, if used, should have discovered it but may not have. There are areas along the major rivers where the owners can still live in them at their peril but any houses can not be sold only the land. People still try to sell them so it is not an unknown happening.

Thank you everyone for the input, At this point everyone is just pushing everything around and trying to just say " it is what it is" trying to put it behind them. Kind of like a band of " I didn't do it, it's not a big deal, It's okay from everyone, Or I'll ask." everyone is waiting to hear from the other person, etc.

As for walking away, I Absolutely will Contact a lawyer before doing that. I just fear the expense of it, and possible reverse outcome ( like if we had to pay for their fees) The whole thing seems like quite a few " situational" things happened right after another to let this occur. Within Eyeshot, I can see 7 other septic systems ( with houses of course) the close one's I spoke with haven't had an issue, One of them being my direct neighbor, probably 50 feet away, She hasn't had a problem in 20 years with a standard set-up.

I was fortunate enough to talk to one of the people working on it today, without the " boss man" here. He was polite, listened to what I had to say, and agreed that he will do his best to fix the " ruts" in the yard from the heavy machinery, as well as leveling it out in the back as best as he could. I brought the whole thing up again with him, and he said something like, " we'll, if you were selling a house you wouldn't want this to be done before you sold it either". Insinuating that it was purposely done the way it was, because we wouldn't have made the purchase.

The House is next to the river, but about a half-mile inward, with at least 3-4 acres between us and the river.

I Want to have facts, evidence, that kind of thing so moving forward, I don't just sound like a complainer. Two things that were not told to us, that I can prove 100% that the seller knew about, Even though his discloser stated " he did not live here long enough to know of any defects".

I 100% told everyone I could like 100 times about that 17,000 gallon water bill. It took less than two weeks for that much water to go out to the leach feild. It was designed no more than 400 gallons a day from what I understand, instead it was doing 1215 gallons a day roughly.

The giveaway to me, was the health inspector who did the test. His body language, facial expressions and overall attitude change towards me immediately after that, but that is nothing provable. not even the silence and staring at each other.

The best part, the way it's installed, this new system will NEVER be used. The new "pump tank" is about 1 foot higher than the existing bed inlet ( which is gravity fed), so its only purpose is to be used when the original overflows, like the health inspector claimed.

It definitely doesn't help being entirely inexperienced in EVERYTHING involving all of this. First home, first time ever using a contractor, etc. I'll reach out to me realtor again and see what she says, just all-in-all, not cool.

Reach out to the broker, the agent’s boss. It’s the broker’s license on the line if misrepresentation were made to you. The sellers of our house had to replace the entire septic system and it couldn’t be done until spring. We were shocked at the mess made in the process, but after grading and seeding the huge area of our yard by the septic company, our yard has recovered. It was unpleasant while it grew in, but we have a completely new system that should last for years. I am sorry your experience has been so disheartening, but after the yard is repaired and you are playing with those kids on your lawn, these memories will be behind you.

Thank you Remodeling1840.

The title company does happen to have the Escrow at the moment.

The issue isn't Exactly with the septic company though, It's mainly the breakdown in the communication, Sure, They showed a few things I didn't like ( like burying their trash in my yard) and having very poor communication, but at the end of the day, they did what they were paid to do. More than likely, They came here knowing not to speak to me. The seller has been harassing them for 2 months to get it done so he can get his money.

The agent, ( My agent) Is married to her Broker. She was very nice, and this would have been the 3rd house we tried to purchase Like papers signed, lenders found some reason or another to request some sort of repair that was just unheard of and the sellers refused. We tried 5 different lenders. Most of them involved expensive testing to verify the foundation,etc. when no apparent reason was present.

. It was always this or that with the home, that the seller would refuse to deal with that made us drop out. After 3 years, It was exhausting, So I think everyone involved at that point was just done with it, and ready to move on. We were.

The other agent, in my opinion, was "lacking". The whole firm she works for ( small company) has single-handed raised the prices in this area in my opinion. They work on 10% total commission, and generally only sell houses that now range from 250,000-1,000,000. Somehow, they have taken over the market over here and almost every listing is by them, except the houses under 100K. The listing agent treated everyone with disrespect and looked down on us as a whole, since, we aren't buying one of those expensive houses. What they do, Is they list houses methodically above the appraisal. Once it's all said and done, and the closing is set and the actual appraisal comes in, people are happy to pay the " max" or out of pocket for a lower, but still over appraisal price. Done over and over again, in a small area, prices skyrocket. This home was 130K, And just wasn't in her radar at all. She barely made it to closing to give us the keys.

What I mean by that, The listing agent didn't even know it had a septic system. She didn't know it flooded in 97. She didn't know much of anything, other than a picture of the home from the outside- and 2 sentences in the listing description. We were the one's that pointed out it had a septic system, from doing a property search with the state to see the property lines.

When it comes down to the break-down in communication, Everything goes through your realtor, then out to where it needs to go. I sounded like a broken record trying to tell EVERYONE of these discrepancies, the actual research, she was even here when we found the water on and the 17,000 gallon usage leading to this problem. I just don't know if she told anyone, she said she told the listing agent, who didn't seem to care. She's the one that said " hey, they are getting a new septic system, what is there to complain about" . I know the reaction I received from the health inspector and the septic company, pretty much confirmed they didn't know. Had that been said, and taken seriously, no one would be out anything but a retest .The $1,000 water bill had insurance to pay for " that type of error". The seller may have even walked away with $16,000 more in his pocket.

The property also has plenty of spots that would have never even been noticed if that were placed strategically, (the leech bed). So they loaded it up in the middle of the most used part of the yard, without so much as a head nod to it's location.

the work has been done for a few days, And I've calmed down a bit about the unprofessional-ism of the company, which puts my focus back on the people who should have been in communication with us the whole time. Those people, in my opinion, are the one's responsible.

I didn't get a new system as We were told, and in the escrow it says " replacement" not " added field".

no type of communication about what was needed to be done, or what, if any, options were available to us( like placement of the field, or paying out of our pocket on top of the original costs for a different set-up).

I don't really know how it works, But If I sold something to someone needing repair, I would 100% be telling them their options. Even after the sale. Given, it fit without the amount of the original estimate, and agreed upon repairs before closing. " Hey, so the health department came back with this, and this is what they said needed to be done, if you want to get a land survey and have it placed somewhere specifically, or discuss with the company any other options etc. And this is the plan of action as of now".

Which is what was originally portrayed to us. I'm still going back and reading all of the emails, and texts, and documents. None of it matches up to what has been done. Of course, we only speak to our realtor, so it's then deciphering who is at fault for those discrepancy's leading to us, which is just plain out finger pointing at that point.

At the end of the day, you are right. You know, People make mistakes, some people are scum. But If it devalues our home significantly, more than a couple thousand, I feel someone needs to take care of that, at the very least. Because in reality, the work was not disclosed correctly before or after closing, and after closing we should not be paying more than the appraisal under the conditions of the repair if they devalue the home.

I don't want this to bite me in the butt 20 years from now when we sell it, or move on in life. I hate to think we will just walk away when our time here is done " if it's not worth it" due to the valuation differences, or the "hard to sell" aspect due to its placement.

I know deep down, I spent over 7 years busting my a$$ to save up to purchase a home so we could just enjoy what time left we have with our kids. not to fight this. But, It's also a hard pill to swallow, knowing that you just got taken for, and all that hard work, at least in part, would have been for someone taking advantage of us. When I say hard work, I mean working 50-70 hours a week non-stop, away from my children, even through the holidays. It's not a comparison, i'm sure others work much harder for less, but in my eyes, My time away from my children is worth something. In those 7 years, I feel my body has aged at least 20, how do you just lay down and accept that?

I am definitely not a "professional" or have the slightest experience in any of this. But I did do all the research I could before closing. I'm tired to the core, So I'm not sure if it is worth fighting over. all of this is 100% new to me.

All I know is, There was a discrepancy ( two actually). One being this system, the other, the ( I can prove) previously known flood in 97 that wasn't disclosed because he signed a non-disclosure form stating " he didn't live here long enough to know of any pre-existing problems or issues). When I looked this up before, people said this doesn't mean anything, that he is still responsible for issues that may be there, if I can prove without a doubt were known.

The original owner ( he lived here for 20 years) stopped and talked to me. This guy ( a foot doctor) purchased it at a sheriffs sale, flipped it to us and lived here for 14 months while doing it. The original owner has no problem in saying it in court. he told the guy that this place was a lawsuit waiting to happen if he didn't disclose these serious defects. He said he was outraged that the "doctor" ignored him and told him to Buzz off, that he was going to sell it how he seen fit. So, he has made it a " personal" thing to make sure the buyer knows he was made aware of it if we wanted to sue over that issue as well.

It's just literally mind-boggling.

Mike:

It's definitely lawyer time. Realtors have gargantuan obligations for disclosure these days. This could be resolved fairly quickly, depending on your lawyers rhetorical skills.

It is hard to believe that there was no discussion on the details and specifics of what exactly the "repair" was going to be, prior to closing. This is probably going to be the first question any attorney will ask.

Hey, one year we had to put in a back up septic field when the original field "overflowed". Then about 3 years later sewers came down the road and because our property was on the road we had to hook up. Add an extra $20,000 for the hook up to the cost of the septic field! Life sucks sometimes.

We live on a lake now and quite a few septic fields are raised around here.

It's long past real estate attorney time. Write a check for an hours time. It will save you in the long run. Knowledge is power.

If it had been me, I would have thrown the septic company off the property until every detail had been discussed to my satisfaction. You didn't do that. You also didn't mention if the utility companies had been called out to mark utilities. If they weren't, the contractor was responsible. The damage is his to repair.

It looks as if this goes back to the inspection phase and the failure to turn off the water. Mr. Septic man may be at fault. So is Mr. County Inspector, but he will skate. This is why you need an attorney to make some phone calls. Mr. Septic man will need to fix his damage. It is possible that reinspection will reveal that the tank only needed dumping and all the rest of the new installation is bogus.

What do you do today? Immediately send an email to the closing attorney advising him that the installation is sub-standard and not satisfactory. Notify him that he should not disburse the escrow funds pending your meeting with an attorney. Then, meet with an attorney. Have the attorney talk to the closing attorney about the situation.

Further, don't fell bad about making enemies. Nobody but you and the attorney you hire is out to defend your interests. If the seller is pissed, he should have hired a competent septic installer. Tell him to pound sand until this is all straighten out to your satisfaction.

"When the septic was tested, I was told it needed replaced, and the estimate would be put into Escrow with our title company."

You are saying that the seller is responsible for installing the septic ; your final payment to seller will not be made until the septic is completed to code and your satisfaction.

Your title company is going to expect the seller to comply. If seller does not, he has a big adversary. If seller wants escrow money back, he has to act in accordance. Estimate is a guesstimate.

We had an issue with a new home and had to talk to a lawyer. We're not the most experienced in the bunch either, but the lawyer asked us the right questions, talked to the other party, and settled the issue. Totally worth it.