Bought a house from Urbane last year. While the finishes in the house are very nice - crown molding, nice light fixures, paintwork, woodwork, doors are nice as well, there are many problems that come with cutting corners on a flip.
we purchased a gutted renovation. everything in this 110 year old row house was rebuilt.
1) ONE WEEK after we closed on the house, there were plumbing issues that damaged the kitchen floors. sewage from the toilet backed up and we ended up having to rip up the brand new hardwood floor in the kitchen and replace it with tile. this ended up being several thousands of dollars to fix between the plumber and the tiler. we also had gerald's original wood floor guy come out to give us an estimate on fixing the floor, but the floor guy let us know that he has no dc license.
2) when hurricane irene hit, there was further damage to the wood floors, but this time the water came from under the front door. the wood is now warped and damaged near the front door. this is because the the door saddle was not caulked at all. simple caulking could have prevented this damage
3) the roof - i don't even know where to begin. they used Arlington Construction and Roofing - check out their website - they can't even spell their own name correctly. we've had several leaks. some coming from the skylight; several roofers have since told us that a flat skylight is the wrong type to be used for a flat roof - a bubble skylight is the proper type. we've also had water/leaking damage to our upstairs bathroom ceiling sheetrock due to improper flashing around the vents on the roof. the roofer used caulk to seal the flashing around the pipes instead of having the rubber roof come up the side of the pipe to seal it - and used the wrong type of caulk too. the roof is guaranteed for 15 years (5 for labor), but in the words of chris farley in tommy boy, you just bought yourself a guaranteed piece of shit.
masonry issue - the front fence. when we did the inspection one of the brick caps on the fence wasn't cemented down, and also the fence gate didn't line up and lock properly. these issues were fixed after inspection.
the fence latch has since broken off.
so in conclusion. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD HOME INSPECTOR and make sure to get every issue fixed BEFORE you buy from urbane, or it will cost you lots of headache and $$$ soon enough.
you may read this and think that I have buyers remorse. no, i don't. i just wish that gerald hadn't cut corners and worked with many shoddy contractors. read more