[Cainde]

I am a single female. I was taken advantage of when I bought my house 10 yrs ago. I heard there had been water problems with the house, but the previous owner & the realtors all denied it. Shortly after moving into the house, I found that there are serious water problems, and they have worsened in the past few months, as we have recently come out of many years of drought. Every time it rains, my crawlspace floods, water stands at least a foot deep under my house, and ruins my furnace, causing mold, mildew, etc. I have never missed a mortgage payment, never been late, but I am going broke and ruining my health with these water problems. No one can tell me where the water is coming from, how it's getting under the house, or how to remedy the problem. I want to just give the house back to the bank, and count my losses. Would it ruin my credit if I gave the house back under these circumstances? I should never have purchased this house, but everyone lied to me about the problems with the house.

[Fr_Chuck]

First while it is often called, "giving it back to the bank" the bank never owned it, you did not buy it from the bank, so what you are wanting is for them to take it for what you owe them, You can't really give something back if they never owned it to start with.

But why should the bank do that, you owe them the money, very few banks ( actually I don't know any right now) that are taking the deed for what is owed, they don't want houses, they want money.

And it is not the banks fault you did not have proper house inspections done before buying, so why should the bank take the loss. When they do, it is my money and others money that is being loss.

So you can ask the bank if they will take it back but do't expect them to.

You can merely stop paying and they will foreclose, the bank then can if they want sue you for the balance of what you owe and what it sells for. They normally don't but they can.

If they "lied" then the owner has to give you a disclosure on the house, if this written paper work ( that they are required to give you) is a lie and you can prove they knew about it, you can sue them in court

[letmetellu]

If I were you I would start a search about the history of the house when the other people lived in it. Thinks like companies that might have worked there doing the things that you are complaining about. If you can find anyone then you might have a foot up on the people that sold the house with known problems.

[ballengerb1]

I am surprised you are not working on a fix for the problem, you will have bigger problems trying to "give it to the bank." You need to have a sump pump pit installed about 3' below you current crawl grade. Pump the water outside as it begins to seep inside. Isn't your insurance company doing anything?

[Cainde]

I have been working on fixing the problem. Another problem is getting someone to do the repairs. You can't even pay anyone to work anymore. And, no, the insurance company is not doing anything. I work for the insurance company, and we have always told people in our area that they do not need flood insurance because we are not in a flood zone. Well, we may not be in a flood zone, but what I have hear under my house, is a flood, so my regular homeowners insurance will not pay.
I came on here to ask for help, because I'm desperate, but the answers all sound rude to me, rather than helpful. I don't have a lot of money for repairs. All of my money is being spent on mortgage, for a house that the previous owner did not disclose water problems. The law requiring disclosure did not go into effect until the year after I purchased my home.

[Cainde]

I sit here now freezing, because the water has ruined my furnace for the second time in a month. The furnace is under the house, so when the water comes in, it ruins the circuit board, thus, money being spent to replace this once again.

[ballengerb1]

I apologize if you think our tone is rude, it isn't meant to be. Your damage does not sound like flood insurance is needed, it sounds like you have had water damage, not flood, which should be covered if you file a claim. My comments were worded to try to get the insurance company to bear the burden for which you have been paying your premium.

[letmetellu]

I too am sorrry if I sounded rude. I meant it to sound as if you might get some compensation from the former owners if you had some proof that the former owners knew that there was this problem before they sold the house. I also suggested that you might find someone that had worked on the problem and they could prove the other owners knew. One way to find out these things is to talk to neighbors that lived in the neighborhood before you, they might know about the problem.

Again I am sorry if I sounded rude.