We almost got stuck with a property with an open Code enforcement, and possible water issue

My wife found some property(9600sq ft) that was clear cut and looked to be ready for building a house on it, for 85k.

When we did a check on the parcel it had a possible issue that just said "Water". We got with the sellers agent and we were told that all violations had been taken care of and there was nothing open currently. My wife decided to work with the seller on getting a deal in place. She wanted to get more information on the water issue and she was able to work out a deal in that we could get the property looked at for a septic system and any other issue that may stop us from building a house on the property.

My wife paid a 2k holding fee and a time frame to do the needed evaluation of the property.

We found out that to get a septic system installed we would need to do a two season review of the property as the area is known to to have high water table and its also near a lake.

The property owners, have had the land for about 5 years and they clear cut the land to build, and I believe they came to find out that they were not going to be able to. I also believed they cleared the land without the needed permits and we were actually told, by the agent, they(owners) took care of all their violations. The agent even asked my wife to change the agreement to reflect this, she did not.

Well yesterday, after talking to the county, we found out that the owners still have an open Code enforcement case, and they have not responded too.

After learning about this, we have pulled out of the agreement to purchase the land.

Hopefully, we should be able to get our money returned to us, since they were not honest with us about the property, im not even sure the owners agent knew about the open case. Regardless, we would have never started the process if we had known the property had issues.

Now, my wife figured it would be easier to buy property with a house already built on it then get one built.

I

submitted by /u/theboz14
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1vlqqqp/we_almost_got_stuck_with_a_property_with_an_open/