On Jan 28, 8:41 am, wrote:
On Jan 27, 12:28 pm, Big_Jake wrote:

We are landlords and manage a house similar in age to what you have,
with very similar issues. The owners successfully sued the seller of
the property and are waiting for the Spring thaw to get started on the
work, which is going to cost about $15K. The court case took about 18
months. Here are some thoughts:

I'm just curious as to the definition of success. The repairs are
going to cost $15K. Unless the buyer was awarded attorney's fees,
which I don't believe is usual, then the buyer had to pay an attorney
to pursue a case that took 18 months. Around here, that would have
consumed most, if not all of the $15K. Which is why it doesn't make
sense, unless the amount is a lot larger, especially considering you
could spend a lot on legal fees, expert testimony, etc, and still
lose.


This wasn't a skyscraper, it was an 860 sf house. Expert testimony
cost less than $700, and the attorney's fees were less than $3K. In
the end, they settled and dismissed the case. I believe that their
attorney's fees were part of the settlement. I don't know where you
live, but in civil cases where I am, in WI, the loser often has to pay
the winner's attorney's fees.

JK