This story was submitted by Anonymous from PA
We were experiencing a dry spell during the time I was negotiating the sale of this house for my Buyer. The Seller had disclosed that "on occasion" they got some water leaks through one wall in the basement.
My Buyer was particularly nit-picky throughout the course of this sale, but surprisingly made no issue of it when it was brought to their attention. Although my Buyer had driven the Seller to the point of threatening to pull the sale several times.
I was finally getting to the end with the final inspection scheduled.
Of course, the day of the inspection the heavens opened up with torrential thunderstorms. As I walked into the house with the inspector and buyer, I could hear considerable activity coming from the basement. My heart sunk. Down in the basement the Seller was operating a shop-vac and standing in about six inches of water. The water was cascading in over the top of the foundation wall. I've never seen anything like it! Apparently, the Seller had laid down wood chips in the backyard right outside the basement wall, and the water sheeted over it into the basement.
The Seller came over to my Buyer before we could reach the bottom of the stairs and said, to my horror "I'm sorry. As you can see I can't sell you this house".
My Buyer reacted with "You have to sell me my house!". I never breathed such a sigh of relief. I could also see that the Seller knew exactly what he was doing.
Later after the closing, the Seller said to me; You know the timing of that couldn't have been more perfect. Should all of that water have poured in sometime after we closed, the Buyer could have come after me with a legal claim. But, with all of those witnesses, no worries.
