With everything that’s been going on in the housing market recently, I have begun to notice some reoccurring problems regarding heating and air conditioning systems.

It seems that when a home is purchased from a bank through a short sale, the seller takes zero responsibility for any issues that the home may have. It’s like they cover their eyes and ears so as not to claim responsibility for anything that the buyer may find wrong.

Two new home buyers that I recently have helped have had this type of problem. The first buyer was able to actually get the bank to accept some financial responsibility which allowed them to be able to have the problem fixed with no out-of-pocket expense.

In their case, the blower unit in their condominium had been located above a hall ceiling. The ceiling had been a removable grid, commonly know as T-Bar ceiling tiles. Somebody actually removed the existing T-Bar ceiling and installed drywall which made access to the blower unit impossible. This unit was no longer useable and they had to have a new system completely installed.

The second customer purchased a home that had a furnace that was later shut down by The Gas Co. because it was dangerous and had not been installed properly. They were very lucky that they did not need to use their furnace prior to this discovery. Believe it or not, they had even paid a home inspector to check the home before they purchased it.

I have told consumers for many years that they should hire an electrician, a roofer, a plumber and a heating and air conditioning contractor to check the home before they finalize the purchase. In this way you will get expert information which could save thousands of dollars.

Relying on a home inspector alone may not provide you enough useful information, and expecting that any “Home Warranty” policy will cover these types of issues is foolish. They are masters at claiming that pre-existing, or faulty installation issues are not covered in their policy.

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