Though real talk answer is that generally you can't sue your home inspector because home inspectors make mistakes all the time and their contract limit their liability. To find them negligent it would have to be something egregious that every inspector would find. But like, going by this article, in test of 12 inspectors at the same house in this article, half missed the same stuff.
https://www.homelight.com/blog/buyer-suing-home-inspector/And to sue the seller you have to prove that they knew about these defects. It's even fishier in my case because the seller didn't live there, it was their son, so the seller had no first hand knowledge of anything at the property. You have to prove they knew or should have known about something.
How do you prove they knew about a gas leak, or stuff under the foundation, or broken sprinkler heads, or water leaks in pipes, or maybe they never used the fireplace and never knew there were big issues in it (if the inspection turns them up)?
Even if you do sue them you have to spend 2-3 years in court to get a judgment and then try to chase them down to collect and if it's an LLC (it is) they may just file bankruptcy.
Since this was my first big home purchase in my lifetime I went into this figuring the system worked. That if you got a good home inspection they'd find everything at issue and you just fix those and you're good.
Well I learned that is a recipe for disaster if you are unlucky. There's always going to be some luck involved because a lot about a house can be hidden behind paint, under floors, behind appliances, buried in outdoor soil, etc... but basically you need to be super diligent and be your own inspector in addition to the home inspector and during the inspection period, test EVERYTHING. In the future I'll have my checklist and do that.
Anyhow, out of everything wrong so far, I feel like this is the one clear cut thing with the oven having a gas leak that should be covered by the home warranty so will be calling them tomorrow and seeing if they can fix it for the $85 service call fee.
At this point, after a few more weeks and a few more things barring the fireplace inspection being a big deal, it will be ready to list and the only decision will be to list it then, or to put in a new refrigerator/dishwasher/stove and say "all new appliances", put new vinyl plank flooring in everywhere and maybe a new pretty garage door and list it for about $30-50k more. It probably makes sense to do the later in terms of money spent vs returns, but just means more weeks until can list it and really just want to be rid of it asap. Though I guess the appliances are quick switch outs and garage door is a one day job, so it's really just how long it would take to redo all the flooring. Idk, need to make that decision soon.
