Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but its pretty much going to cripple my ability to save $ for the next 5 years and I figure this community may have some insights into real estate laws that other forums may not.
First, let me preface by saying that I know if someone has to ask if its worth talking to a lawyer, it probably is. I likely will be doing that either way. I'm mostly just looking to see if anyone has any experience with this problem/potential lawsuit and if so, if you have any pointers or recommendations about how to proceed. Sorry for the long post but the details are fairly important.
Fiance and I bought a stucco twin house built around 1996 in a Philly suburb in September 2016. At the time, we were not aware that stucco, especially stucco installed between the late 80s and early 2000s, and especially in PA and other places in the Northeast, is known to have been largely installed incorrectly (insufficient or nonexistent window and other penetration flashing, insufficient or nonexistent window sealant, insufficient/incorrectly installed house wrap/tar paper, not enough room for water to escape and therefore gets held behind the stucco causing rot, and just general corner cutting).
We did have a home inspection, the inspector mentioned that some stucco had been known to have problems, but said he didn't see any red flags and generally didn't seem to think it was a big deal, so we just kind of brushed it off.
The sellers did disclose that water had been leaking through the powder room window, but that it had been "professionally repaired." It had a big patch of different colored stucco over it so we definitely would have noticed it if they hadn't mentioned.
So, we settled, moved in, and everything seemed fine for a few weeks. Then I noticed some articles and news specials about stucco problems in our areas. Still wasn't too worried, didn't notice any issues. Then I started to see houses in the neighborhood having the stucco ripped off and there being huge patches of rotting wood, under windows and in other locations. The wood was then replaced and vinyl siding put up. About a month in, a neighbor saw me outside and came over to introduce himself. About the second thing out of his mouth was "do you know about the stucco?" He pretty much repeated what I listed above.
Then I started inspecting the house more and more and found evidence that a lot of the windows had been repaired/patched/band-aided with plaster, paint, caulk, etc and also found water damage to the wood sheathing of the house where it meets the foundation in the basement. Some of this damage had spray foam applied over it. Slowly but surely, these fixes have failed and now I have paint bubbling, visible moisture wicking in some corners, loose wooden sills, etc. to some degree on virtually every window in the house, plus some other evidence of moisture beginning to cause some paint issues in the basement. And as of last week, the "professionally repaired" powder room window began to split from the drywall and leak from the top and around the sides during rain.
All this, and the sense that everyone in the neighborhood seems to at least know somewhat that this is a systemic problem, lead me to believe that the sellers knew.
Then this week we had the same contractor we have seen other neighbors use come in to evaluate the leaking window and quote us on stucco removal, wood repair, and vinyl siding. Comes to about $25K!!! We're inclined to bite the bullet and do it so that we can sleep at night and enjoy the house we invested so much in already.
What is most interested to me, though, is that this contractor corroborated my suspicion that most of the owners are well aware and he said he would not believe that the sellers didn't know. He also said that when the first house in the neighborhood had the siding put on (approximately 4 years ago), those owners sent an email around to other owners advising them of the problem they too likely had. I'm going to go knock on some neighbors' doors this week to see if I can get my hands on that and see if our sellers were recipients of the emails.
So, has anyone else experienced a similar nightmare? And does anyone have any advice about whether we might have a case to get some sort of restitution from the sellers? I don't want to waste money on a lawyer fighting a case that I'm likely to lose, but if there's a good chance of getting substantial out of them to put towards this massive $25K remediation bill, I would be inclined to pursue it.
Thanks for any input and help!