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Vent: that $350 sewer scope before closing saved me from a $9,000 mess in Parma
Bought a house on the west side of Parma last spring and the inspector said the pipes were "probably fine" from what he could see. I paid $350 out of my own pocket for a camera to go down the main line anyway, since the place was built in 1952 and the trees out front are older than my dad. The scope showed roots pushing through a clay tile joint about 18 feet out, plus a low spot holding water. Seller wouldn't fix it, so I walked away and lost my $500 earnest money, which stung at the time. The next house I looked at had the same setup, so I scoped it too, and that one came back clean. Six months later my old neighbor from that first street told me the buyers who took it paid $9,000 to dig up the front yard and replace the line in October. If you are buying anything older than 1970 around here, get the camera in the ground before you sign, not after. Did your realtor try to talk you out of the scope like mine did?
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dixon.iris12d ago
Check whether the city has any records of a prior repair permit on that line, because a seller who already knew about root trouble and stayed quiet is a whole different problem than one who just got lucky. Your $500 loss might have been the cheapest part of that whole deal.
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