COLORADO SPRINGS — Chris and Brandy Gaynor closed on a home in Broadmoor Bluffs for their family in February. "I found the history, but somebody bought it and was clearly flipping it," said Chris, discussing their house hunt from across the globe.
The history of 4525 Churchill Court is plastered across news outlets. The home was deemed as a "little slice of hell" by the former seller in the summer of 2021.
The house eventually sold for $580,000 to a couple who was flipping houses and was back on the market a few months later for $875,000.
Flash forward to Brandy and Chris purchasing the home. The military couple and their four children were unexpectedly forced to move from Germany back to the United States at the peak of the housing market earlier in 2022.
They pushed to be stationed in Colorado Springs to be close to Children's Hospital for their 4-year-old daughter who suffers from a severe heart condition.
"She's our miracle baby, we were told from the get-go 'she won't survive," said the couple.
Even though they closed on the house in February, they did not move to Colorado Springs until May. The Gaynors bought the house site unseen, a common practice at that time.
"We thought we were walking into a house that we wouldn't have to touch or do anything with for years to come," said Brandy.
After one week of noticing what the couple calls flaws in the house, including knives in the backyard which were spraypainted the same color as the exterior of the home, one of the biggest flaws had yet to reveal itself.
"One week to the day after we moved in, sure enough, the ceiling in the basement shower had collapsed. I was like, 'Well, I think we should call a plumber.'"
The plumber they hired, Michael Robinson, has a rap sheet of repairs he and his company have made on the home and says these are issues he sees frequently in homes that have been flipped.
"Military families quite frankly, we see got the worst end of the stick because of that, which is a shame. I mean these are our fighting men and women who support our freedoms and our country and they, unfortunately, aren't provided with the support they need to make the right decisions about the house they are going to buy."
The woman who flipped the home told News5 "It's unfortunate that this had to happen. I don't fix houses, I buy them and I hire somebody to fix the homes."
The Gaynors have accepted the unexpected cash they are coughing up to fix the home, but they want to spread the word so other home buyers do not make the same mistakes they did.
"I know it's a tough market, especially here, but do your due diligence."
_____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
