‘Terrible ending’: Engaged couple learns hard lesson while house hunting

CHARLOTTE — Patrick Barry and Rachel Kenney love the outdoors, but it was their indoor plans that really got their heart rate up.

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“We had seen a lot of houses, but this one in particular was just one that had caught our eye,” Barry told Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke.

The soon-to-be newlyweds fell in love with a house in a Matthews neighborhood.

“I looked at everything except one room and that room was the garage,” Barry said.

They weren’t too worried, Stoogenke learned. They say the sellers gave them a disclosure form, promising no defects with the foundation, interior/exterior walls, and more.

Plus, the couple knew they’d get an inspection and felt that would reveal all.

So, they made an offer and won. They were under contract and hired that inspector.

“I was at work and so I texted him and I was like, ‘How did the inspection go?’ He said, ‘Not good,’” Kenney said.

Remember the garage they wish they’d checked?

“We saw a lot of cracking in the walls, pretty extensive cracks in the drywall, and the ceiling, around the perimeter, the brick foundation. And we also saw what appeared to be a five-foot wide hole that had recently been patched in the floor,” Barry said.

So, they backed out.

“This is not how we wanted this to end. This is a terrible ending,” Barry said.

North Carolina is a buyer-beware state, which means it’s up to the buyer to investigate the condition of a property before buying it.

The seller must disclose -- what are called -- latent material defects they know about, and you can’t reasonably find on your own. If the seller doesn’t, you could win in court.

“It’s devastating because we lost the house that we thought for sure was going to work out for us,” Kenney told Stoogenke.

They didn’t just lose the house. They lost money, the main reason they contacted Stoogenke to warn you. They say they had put down $5,000 earnest money and another $5,000 due diligence money.

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