All Flipped Out: What To Be Wary of When Buying a Flip

Every week, the detail-oriented folks at Green Scene Home Inspections will give CandysDirt.com readers an education in inspection. Want to see what they see? Tune in for “Upon Closer Inspection.”

One of the things home buyers should be extra wary of when purchasing a home is a one that’s been recently flipped. As home inspectors, we see a lot of mistakes made by flippers who are either 1) trying to move too quickly to flip the home to do thorough work, or 2) not qualified to perform the work and get it wrong.

Even worse, we sometimes see shoddy or improperly done work that has been covered up by flippers, hoping the sale will go through without anyone noticing. Of course, there are some great house flippers who do wonderful work, but it’s a common enough problem that home buyers should be on the lookout.

This week’s Upon Closer Inspection is all about things we’ve found in flip houses.

#thatsafirst 

FYI, you don’t want air registers in the shower. It might sound nice to have a blast of heat during your shower, but the moisture and steam from the shower will get in that vent, and now you have a mold problem. This flipper added a shower but didn’t want to go to the trouble of relocating the register.

#wearamask 

This is a brand new tankless water heater that has been installed in an attic without the flue pipe. That means the carbon dioxide put off by the water heater is just leaking into the attic and collecting there, which is a massive health and fire hazard.

#ZenandtheArtofSinkInstallation 

This beautiful sink loses its Zen-like appeal when you run the water and it splashes in your face and out all over the floor.

#SomethingsMissing

Our Inspector noticed a few things the flipper left out of the bathroom renovation.