u/Loobastank

Location: West Virginia

Hey everyone- sad to be here, but hoping to get some advice.

My husband and I just bought our first home. We bought it as is, with contingencies and right to terminate after inspection. Now, throughout this process, we asked the sellers how old the roof is. We have two small kids and buying our first home has been expensive, so we wanted to be sure no major repairs would be needed immediately upon move in. When asked the age of the roof, they told our realtor who told us it was replaced in the last 12 years.

Now, a few days ago we had a rainstorm and noticed wet spots on our ceiling... Including some that had previously been painted over. None of this was mentioned to us by the seller, and it's not anywhere in the property documents where they're supposed to disclose previously known issues in the home. We contacted a roofer who came to look, and he told us it's an original roof, so it's actually about 20 years old, and has never been replaced. But needs replacing. Despite what the seller said. (our inspector didn't find any of this either)

Our realtor is telling us there is nothing he can do, and that we need to contact an attorney. We were hoping he could at least help us work something out with the seller, but he is being pretty dodgy and seems to want to be done with us now that the sale has finished. Money is tight, so we're just lost on the best course of action.

What should we do?

Edit: Thanks everyone for all the tips and advice, we sincerely appreciate it! We're reading and talking through everything. I'm on kid duty today so I won't be able to respond much more, but thank you again! This has really been helpful.