Hello and thanks for stopping by, if you have a moment let us tell you why we're making this GoFundMe.

On April 29th of this year, we closed on our first home! Yayy!... Except not.

The seller was given a post-occupancy until June 15th, so basically, they still got to live in the house, rent-free and mortgage payment free for over a month and a half. We also paid all of the closing costs (buyer and seller), and we paid over what their asking price was.

We did have a full, thorough, inspection, and the inspector noted a lot wrong with the home.

While the seller is living in the home still we repaired a few big-ticket items, such as the water heater (it was swelling and needed an expansion chamber), the furnace (the blower failed to turn on), the electrical panel (the home has an unpermitted addition (didn't find that out until after closing,) and all the electric work was DIY'd to the point it was dangerous and an immediate fire hazard to keep) and lastly a radon test, which failed (we were at a 10.9, and they recommend anything over a 5.4 be mitigated,) so we had to install radon mitigation in the crawl space. Little did we know, when we'd finally have a chance to check out the house without the seller (or their belongings) in it, we were in for a world of hurt.

Fast forward to when the seller finally leaves (beginning of June, so a bit early.) We're ecstatic. We rushed right over to ensure they didn't leave a bunch of crap behind and that they cleaned the house as they were supposed to in the contract... They didn't.

They also broke the post-occupancy agreement contract by removing the utilities from their names and sticking us with the bill.

The garage was FULL of junk. The carport was full of junk. The backyard had so much trash, concrete, logs, and bike parts in it we had to rent a 30yd roll-off for it... And each and every room in the house had stuff left in it and wasn't cleaned at all.

*Small rewind* Before we purchased the home our realtor told us that the house had a terrible smell in it. However, when we went to look at it, and during the final walkthrough, the home smelled fine. So we thought they took care of the issue. Continuing on

We also had to tear up the carpet throughout the entire house because a horrid smell of dog poop and urine was coming through now.

We also had to take up the kitchen "counters," if that is what you can call floor tile glued to some wood with the worst grout job ever done. And refinish some of the kitchen. Easy right? WRONG. The kitchen had sections of drywall put over drywall put over drywall, and beneath the second to last piece was nothing but mold. The wall, the upper cabinets, and the lower cabinets were all so rotten we have no idea how they even held themselves up. Secondly, the stove was broken and wouldn't even turn on, and the fridge had issues with the touch control panel (all the buttons would press themselves over and over again.)

So we ended up having to redo the ENTIRE kitchen.

On top of that, the soffit on one side of the house is rotting off and allowing water in, and our gable vents are either missing or boarded up with plywood.

No big deal, we had saved up money, for this reason, so we got the kitchen done, and new flooring down and the carpet ripped out and thrown away. We were planning to do the gable vents and soffit next.

By taking out the old kitchen, the carpet, and all the junk they left throughout the home and property, it quickly filled our 30yd roll-off dumpster. So we had to get another.

At this point, we're about $25,000 in repairs and fees on this home, and we haven't even moved in yet. (We were STILL paying for our rental AND paying our home mortgage, as the sellers had until June 15th to leave, so we had to have the rental until July at the latest)

We finally got the kitchen and floors finished and we start moving in. Things were going great, and we were happy.

Then, because of our amazing Kile luck, the gas company randomly shows up for their "once every 5-year random inspection" and says we have a natural gas leak. They red tag our meter and turn our gas off. We had to hire a private utility line locator company, as Fountain, CO utility companies will not do locates on your property because they consider it "private property" and everything after the meter is our responsibility. We also had to rent an excavator over the weekend to be able to get the digging done within a reasonable amount of time and get through all the tree roots throughout the yard. A week later, without hot water and no gas, and after spending ~$2,100, we finally get it fixed.

Then, during a rainstorm, the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom starts dripping, and then pouring water, and then falls in. The seller said in the property disclosure they replaced the skylight in 2021 along with the roof, but we called the contractor she used, and it turns out only the roof was replaced, and she has lied about the skylight. We had to wait over 3 weeks for another skylight to come in, and after replacement and installation, the cost was over $600.

During this time, and during that same rainstorm, we also had some water come into our basement from under the baseboard.

Coincidentally the contractor who the seller had to do the roof was also a general contractor, and she complained to him about water coming into the kitchen (exactly where all the moldy drywall and cabinets were,) and also water coming into the basement (where we saw water coming in at,) and she also complained about the skylight leaking and had the contractor caulk around it, as he recommended replacement but she didn't want to pay for a new skylight.

So, now that we have water coming into the basement we take down the drywall and faux wall that was put up in the basement. To our surprise, we find 1" cracks (and larger in some areas) horizontally along the ENTIRE length of the basement walls. Literally everywhere. On top of this, due to the heavy rain, water was POURING into the basement. It was like someone took a hose, stuck it through the wall, and turned it on full blast.

You can see most of the damage here https://youtube.com/shorts/qM-9gFyT85E?feature=share

So now, we call a foundation repair company (a few actually,) and they come back with ~$43,000 repair quotes to fix the basement.

So here we are, sleeping on the couch for weeks, unable to use the upstairs bathroom because our contractor hasn't been able to fix the drywall and water damage to the ceiling yet, unable to use any of the basement, and well over $25,000 into repairs, and now we have a foundation to repair on top of it all.

Not to mention we have to regrade our backyard because when it rains the water all runs towards the house, and it floods our indoor patio, basement, and crawlspace.

We're at the end of our rope with finances and have used up all of our resources and savings. The only option we have for any reimbursement from the seller is to take her to court and file a lawsuit for the repairs, which we are working on, but unless we win we have to pay all legal fees and court costs upfront.

The entire fiasco has caused a crazy amount of stress on the family and is causing us to not be able to unpack, or live normally whatsoever. We have had to take everything out of the basement twice now, and are literally living out of trashbags of clothing, and boxes. We can barely keep up with laundry and dishes, so to save money we are trying to do as much of the work as possible (such as digging the entire trench for the gas line replacement, digging around the foundation to be able to access the cracks from both the inside and out, and more,) and on top of it all we still have to work in order to be able to pay bills.

Also, we've contacted our home warranty company, our home insurance, and the VA, and have been told by each one that what is happening is either not covered, or isn't something that they can help with.

The seller knew about all the issues we have had and are still having, failed to disclose them, and instead covered them up to hide them (which is why our inspector didn't see some of the issues.)

We aren't able to just sell the home and buy again either, as we'd have to disclose all these issues, and probably wouldn't get enough to break even, and if we were to buy again the interest rates are so much higher our monthly mortgage payment would be much higher.

If you can help in any way we would greatly appreciate it and it would mean the world to us and our kids. This isn't how buying your first home should be going, and we are living in our own personal hell every day since the beginning of June.