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Can a home be a lemon?

On Behalf of | Oct 6, 2022 | Real Estate Law

When you’re looking to buy a new car or a used car, you may be worried about getting a lemon. This is a vehicle that just constantly breaks down, needs repairs all the time and was clearly a bad investment. Many people call these cars money pits, others call them lemons, and there are specific laws that can help those who feel they’ve been defrauded by a dealer or a manufacturer.

But what about a house? If you’re in the market for a new home, should you be equally worried? This is a major investment, and you do not want to make any sort of serious mistakes.

A home definitely can be a lemon

As you may have guessed, this is a very real problem that a lot of people face. A home that is in poor condition could certainly be a lemon. You could move in and find that it’s not what you thought you were buying at all.

For instance, perhaps the owner just covered up a lot of issues. Instead of fixing the leak in the roof, they painted the walls to hide water damage. Instead of fixing the dying heating system, they just did minor updates so that it would work during the inspection.

But after you close, you could find that you have all sorts of issues with water damage, constant leaks, broken systems and appliances, and much more. With a house, this can be even more expensive than it would be with a car. Some of these repairs are going to cost more than the price of a new car on their own.

As a result, it’s very important to understand exactly what you’re buying, what to look for and what legal options you have during this process.