First time for everthing...

You never want to hear 'This is the first time I've ever seen or heard of that' from your doctor, dentist, car mechanic or home inspector. Under 'there's a first time for everything' category for me, a young couple cancelled their home inspection appointment because the house they wanted to buy was condemned the day after they went under contract. After nearly 8000 home inspections, I've never had a house condemned before an inspection.

The inside story is the young couple were doing things properly. They contracted to purchase a house in a 'historic district' and wanted to make changes, so they stopped by the local Building Department to make sure they were allowed to perform the work and see what permits were required. They found out the current owner had performed a lot of work without permits and was in a losing fight with the Building Department. To paraphrase the Department Manager, " I sent my Enforcement Officer out this morning to put the condemnation notice on the front door".