You buy the house on Monday, and by Tuesday the upstairs tub starts leaking.

Purchasing a used home is certainly an important part of the American dream. Millions of Americans scrape together their savings in order to come up with a down payment. And when they move in, they don't want the euphoria to end.

For most it doesn't.

But while with homeownership comes the expected mortgage payments, insurance payments, and costs of home maintenance, there are unexpected exceptions.

It's the unexpected that can push home purchasers into financial distress. While most unexpected costs are beyond anyone's control, the subject of this article are those expenses that were truly unanticipated by the purchaser, not by the seller.

For some reason, upstairs bathtubs seem to be a common villain. But plumbing leaks of all types, as well as mold conditions and leaking roofs are certainly high up there. What I'm talking about are problems of which the seller knew of before the closing, but which were hidden from the purchaser. Perhaps negligently concealed, perhaps intentionally concealed.

So what of the leaky bathtub upstairs?

Repairing this will cost thousands of dollars. Sheetrock will have to be torn off, a plumber will have to investigate and identify the source, plumbing will have to be put into place, and then the entire area will have to be restored. The price of repairs will vary on how much you know how to do or how much you'll have to pay a professional. It will also depend on the cost of supplies at that time and how high end you need to go. In some extreme cases, it could cost as much as $5 to $10 thousand dollars.

This is just one example. Obviously, there are no limits to the number of instances in which sellers have failed to disclose hidden problems that become apparent only after the purchase. It might be a leaking roof after the first post closing rain fall, a leaking pipe after the first post closing bath, or the appearance of mold when lights are turned on for the first time in the attic (something a home inspection would surely catch).