Home Buying Nightmare- SOS Mike Holmes!

I'm Jennie, a small business owner and writer based out of Hamilton, ON. Four months ago, I bought my first home, contingent on a home inspection, and am now facing financial ruin. I've always believed in the power of community and the importance of supporting those in need.

I am hoping to raise $45 000 to help with:

I'm also actively trying to get Mike Holmes to help with my home, so if anyone has connections to either the Holmes family or HGTV, support with that would be appreciated.

It's difficult for me to be on the side of needing help, but right now I am. I know this is a very challenging time for everyone and appreciate any help, including sharing.

Thus far, I've spent:

1) Well over $10 000 on plumbing, electrical and contracting costs to try to make the house safe. The electrical and contracting costs are ongoing, unfortunately.

2) $19 080.00 on legal fees and over $8 986.00 on engineering costs. These are also ongoing at the moment. I'm hoping to get a lawyer either pro bono or on contigency for the next phase of this journey as my savings are depleted.

3) Nearly $3 000 on a Mike Holmes home inspection, the fee to take away the nearly 3 000 lbs worth of construction material piled up against the damaged foundation wall under my deck, testing for mold throughout the home, and the replacement of HVAC components (the latter was supposed to be serviced as part of the purchase of sale and was not done).

This is on top of new eavestroughs, taking down a dying and unsafe 60 ft tree, buying a new hot water tank, fixing a cracked chimney cap and other issues that were identified in my report and, thus, were expected costs (the tree and eavestroughs were not in my report)

These are just some of the issues I'm faced with:

-completely unvented plumbing on all three levels with s-traps: this was causing the house to fill with sewer gas regularly and I was becoming ill with headaches and dizziness

-unpermitted electrical rewiring, several live, cut wires in the basement, dangerously spliced old wire with new, incorrectly wired GCFIs, an obsolete and unsafe panel, double-tapped and broken breakers...and, more recently, still more live cut wires and even a missing bond between the main service switch and the electrical panel, old knob and tube everywhere that we've had to test to be sure it isn't live....the list goes on

-the main floor framing in the basement needing to be shored up the first week of November due to continued movement as structural changes to staircases and the removal of a supporting wall by former owners (since 1985 onwards) has likely resulted in the cracked floor joists (someone put glue on these), structural movement and damage to the main beam of the house that is evident: the inside of sections of the house were deemed to be at risk of collapse by Tacoma Engineers on October 30th

-the unpermitted construction of two dormers on the second floor

-a front porch roof that was actively leaking as well as large gaps in flashing and fascia over the front of the house. The porch roof structure was found to be completely deteriorated, causing the repair to go from a $4 500 job to well over $10 000 due to the need for BCIN drawings and a complete rebuild. On October 30th, I was told to either stop using my front door and porch and block it off or shore the porch roof up immediately by Tacoma Engineers; there are 3-4 layers of shingles on the rest of the roofing of the house

-a newly-built, unpermitted deck that is not built to code (some of the wood posts are directly in contact with the soil and are thus splitting and sinking)

-repeated, significant water infiltration during heavy rain from the sump pump room due to a badly damaged foundation wall under the newly built deck. I paid nearly $800 to have 2 600 lbs worth of construction material that was placed in a small area under the deck (up to the floor boards) directly in front of this wall. This damage appears to be the result of the partial, unpermitted removal of an attached concrete porch after 2016. I also am repeatedly dealing with significant water infiltration from the lead pipe replacement, which was done by my sellers in 2018

-unpermitted and structurally unsound staircase to the second floor of the house as well as to the basement

-an improperly placed and unpermitted sump pump put in an old cold room or coal cellar that has been dug out below its footings and left unvented without any moisture barrier to protect the subfloor and floor joists

-unpermitted and structurally deficient extensions that are lacking insulation

-improperly installed windows that need replacement and/or have broken hardware and cannot be opened

What has happened to me could happen to anyone in Ontario's housing market, especially with the economic downturn (which will result in more DIY work) and the very problematic state of the home inspection industry in this province. Read on to find out how my home-buying experience went horribly wrong despite doing everything buyers are advised to do, including having my offer be contingent on a home inspection and having an "experienced" Hamilton realtor. I did not buy a flip- the previous owners lived here for 8 years.

MY STORY:

On July 10, 2023, my life changed drastically. I moved from my condo in Toronto’s Distillery District to a century home in the Crown Point West neighbourhood of Hamilton. I was excited to have a yard and was looking forward to spending time in nature to try to deal with the vicarious trauma I was experiencing due to loss of many of my former students to gun violence and suicide. My new business helping students with dyslexia was set to expand and I was looking forward to finishing some significant writing projects. I suffer from chronic auto-immune issues and was also looking forward to a quieter neighbourhood than I'd been living in in Toronto.

However, shortly after moving in on July 10th, I started to notice serious issues with the house, such as floors pulled away from walls and very saggy, bouncy floors and bowing walls that were nowhere in my inspection report. Over the next four months, my home-buying experience swiftly turned into a nightmare beyond anything I could’ve imagined. In that time, significant structural, electrical, roofing, water infiltration, foundation and plumbing issues were identified by professional contractors.

Obviously, I don't have the money to repair all of this. In fact, my savings are now depleted. During my initial inspection I was told some grading, a cracked chimney cap and the installing of a window well were the immediate and most pressing concerns from the inspector. I would never have bought this house if I'd been made aware of any of the issues listed above. As a small business owner and a single, female entrepreneur, my financial future as well as my business are now at risk. I work from home and, if I go bankrupt, I will lose my business and everything I've worked for since I was very young. The intense stress from this experience is impacting my physical and mental health. As many of you know, my long-term partner of over 8 years lives in LA and this is also impacting our relationship as I do not have the money to go to see him. Currently, my lawyer is helping me approach title insurance with some of the above-mentioned issues.

I would never have bought a house if I thought it could ruin my life. I do NOT want this to happen to anyone else.

I looked for a home for over a year and a half in order to avoid this sort of situation. I was even quoted in The Hamilton Spectator newspaper during my house search: (https://www.thespec.com/business/real-estate/interest-rate-hike-not-enough-to-cool-hamilton-housing-market/article_24b24747-62ad-56b9-9551-c6bee82c9c31.html)

There are many parts to this that cannot currently be made public, but I do have media interest in my story and I believe it is VERY important for people to know just how little protection there is for buyers of resale homes in Ontario.

The MLS listing for this house described it as "updated". There were no disclosures and I was told (via my agent) that there had been absolutely no issues with moisture or water in the basement while my sellers lived there and that the ducts were "fine". The sales listing prior to mine stated that the new updates included electrical, plumbing, windows, roof and insulation.

I had no reason to believe that everyone around me in this process would not uphold their legal, contractual and fiduciary responsibilities.

I can't sell my house even if I wanted to right now due to the condition it's in. This is incredulous, considering it was sold to me in July of this year. I bought this house only FOUR months ago.

There are some definite takeaways from this:

The 2017 Ontario Home Inspectors Act needs to be put into force.

It's safer to buy a used car that a resale home in Ontario.

There needs to be stronger and objective oversight of both realtors and home inspectors.

There are so many people who've been helping me through this difficult time, most of all my parents and my partner, Robbie. Thank you to my friends in Toronto and Hamilton and further afield in places like the UK (including a middle of the night message from Gail Porter!), who've given me support in my darkest hours. A special thank you to Tiffany Elton (who has been through hell and back with her own home buying nightmare in Canada- https://www.gofundme.com/f/tiffany-elton-needs-help-for-her-home?member=15156375&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer). Your kindness will be passed on. I promise you that.

Any money above and beyond what is required during this process will be donated to Human Beings of Hamilton to support unsheltered people in this city. I will be updating this often and showing exactly where your donations are being spent.

Special thanks to:

-Steve and Tanner at Gibson Contracting

-Steve Blayney and Bonnie at Mike Holmes Inspections

-Milestone Electrical and Jen Snyder at Van Herc Electrical Solutions

-Andy at Otres Plumbing

-Tacoma Engineers

-Boonstra Heating and Cooling

-Rob Roche at One Fine Home

-Ed Gravely at Basement Technologies and GJ MacCrae Foundation Repair

-Christine Brown, architectural technologist

-Michael Carlson at Carlson Associates

-Steven Sheppard at Sky's Eavestroughs

-Darryl Jennings at The Work Works Inc.

-Jordan at Canada Pro Roofing

-Doug Lahie at Kennedy Stairs

(My apologies if I've missed anyone)

Part of the badly damaged foundation wall on the west side of my house. This was buried under over 2 600 lbs of construction material up to the deck boards in about a 3ft by 3 ft space. The rest of the deck was clear. You can see holes and cracks. Spray foam is not waterproof!

This is one of the many gaps in the fascia and flashing at the front of the house. Water would have no barrier from getting into the envelope of the house. This was not on my inspection report.

Another photo of what we discovered under the small area of the deck directly against the damaged wall.

More of the damage....

Water infiltration from the sump pump room into the main area of the basement.

Glue placed on cracked floor joists....

More flooding around furnace, hot water tank, etc.

Another water incident during a storm.

-The condition of the roof over the front porch. There were visible patches that were a different colour than the rest of the roof and active leaking. No disclosure and not mentioned at all on my inspection report. The porch has recently underwent significant renovations.

Patches

Dangerously spliced old with newer wire in basement.