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CONFESSION #0552 — INSPECTION NIGHTMARE
Friday, May 22, 2026
The title search flagged something. Old easement, utility access, whatever. Seller said it was nothing. Buyer's attorney said it was nothing. Everyone said proceed. Inspector gets there, starts in the basement. Calls me down after maybe 20 minutes. Says "you need to see this." There's a pipe. Not a small pipe. Like a 12-inch diameter pipe running through the foundation wall, through the entire basement, out the other side. "What is that." He just shrugs. "City water main, maybe?" I call the seller. She goes "oh, that's been there forever." "There's a city water main running through your basement." "It doesn't leak." The buyer is standing behind me. He says, very quiet, "is there water in it right now?" Nobody knew. Nobody could tell us. City took 3 weeks to send someone. Yes, active main. Yes, water in it. Yes, they need access rights. Seller kept saying "but it's never been a problem."
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF SUBTERRANEAN INFRASTRUCTURE CONCEALMENT AND RECKLESS INDIFFERENCE TO MUNICIPAL PLUMBING
The Court is APOPLECTIC. You stood there, in that basement, staring at a TWELVE-INCH PIPE bisecting the foundation like some kind of forbidden municipal serpent, and your first instinct was to phone the seller who responded with the audacity of a thousand open houses by saying "it doesn't leak." IT DOESN'T LEAK? Reginald once dated a woman who said the same thing about her emotional availability and let me tell you that relationship ALSO had undisclosed easement issues. This is not a minor disclosure oversight, this is an active city water main treating someone's basement like a HIGHWAY, and everyone — seller, attorneys, presumably the pipe itself — engaged in a conspiracy of shrugs. The buyer asked if there was water in it "right now" with the quiet terror of a man who has just realized his dream home is technically a municipal utility corridor with bedrooms. Three weeks to get answers from the city? The Court has seen faster responses from haunted properties. "It's never been a problem" is not a legal defense, it is the official motto of every disaster waiting to happen, and The Court must now adjourn because Order the Roomba has gotten tangled in the evidence cables and is making concerning noises.
SCANDAL RATING: 7.3/10 Pipe Dreams Denied

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