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Well, house inspection is today at 4 PM. I will hopefully get some good pics of the house, as well as (hopefully) pics and dimensions of that room above the garage. I'll start a thread on it tomorrow night with my current ideas and hopefully you guys can chime in as well. I'm going to have to be super creative because actual working space in the room is going to be extremely tight.

Hopefully we don't find anything seriously FUBAR today.
 
Congrats, Dude. Now if the housing market would just tank so I can find something affordable in southern CA. At least here in LA. I hope your's doubles in value. :p
 
Dude said:
Well, house inspection is today at 4 PM. I will hopefully get some good pics of the house, as well as (hopefully) pics and dimensions of that room above the garage. I'll start a thread on it tomorrow night with my current ideas and hopefully you guys can chime in as well. I'm going to have to be super creative because actual working space in the room is going to be extremely tight.

Hopefully we don't find anything seriously FUBAR today.

How'd it go?
 
todd_k said:
How'd it go?

It went okay. Saw some things that we need to work out before we go further. I brought my father-in-law along, who is much more versed in looking for warning signs. He's insisting the roof needs to be replaced. Various other little things as well, such as some outlets don't work, and we'll have to replace the kitchen countertop. Some of the appliances are pretty old as well. I still think we are getting a pretty good value--but we'll have to make sure these things are taken care of.

Being a neophyte at this stuff--I'm not sure what the next step is, but we meet with the realtor again tomorrow after the official inspection results come in.

As for the garage, I took some measurements of the upstairs. It is an approximately 12 x 20 room--with some drawbacks because of the slope of the roof. It has serious potential, I just need to maximize it--which is my worry. I'm going to start a separate thread and post some pics and some ideas I have.
 
How handy are you? Handy enough to install a dormer in the roof?

Where you go from here is to negotiate for $$ off the deal because it needs a new roof. That's a serious thing, you can ask for them to either fix it or take some money off so that you can fix it. It's all still negotiation at this point you aren't locked into the price you offered. Very, VERY good that you had the inspection done, I always cringe when I watch shows on HGTV where people have purchased a home without hiring an inspector.
 
only cheap people don't get a home inspection, why wouldn't you? A new roof is pretty serious and you should get mucho dinero taken off the price to get that fixed. Don't let him pick the guy to fix the roof either, he'll get his cousin Vito to do it half-assed. Also, I'm not an electrician or anything close to that but the dead outlets would worry me too. Maybe there's a bigger problem behind those walls. How old is the house?
 
Well, we got a rebuttal back about the maintenance we wanted done before we go further. The current owners are refusing to replace the roof or have it certified by a professional roofer.

Also some other minor things they won't replace. One issue is there was some condensation inside the sliding window due to a broken vapor lock. Also a missing screen. The owners are refusing to replace (or even fix) the door.

We sent back a response today--either fix everything we asked for or we are executing a release. I don't want to do that, but maybe it is a sign.

I know they don't want to spend any money--but I'm going to get value.

Kind of makes me wonder what they are trying to hide.

Todd_k--to answer your question, the house was built in 1972, so it isn't that old. The "dead" outlets aren't dead as far as no power getting to them, they just need to be replaced.
 
Its a fine line ya have to walk..... I guess it all boils down to how much you really want the place. By telling them fix it all or we walk you have to accept the fact that they may say - get bit. Personally, if I really like the place and it was mostly minor, I would have let it be. Now the roof is a different thing..... It can be quite expensive to replace. It may be wise to see if they will take a few grand off the price seeing that it needs replacing. Sorta a middle ground. But if you really feel that it needs to be replaced by them, they may say no if they feel that they can sell it without that as a term. Don't get me wrong.... its a nerve racking thing selling/buying a house. I'm not saying that you are out of line or anything. I hope it goes well for you Dude.
 
Yeah, their refusal to budge makes you wonder. When we had our home inspection done they found that one of the basement walls was slightly angled, meaning it was moving a bit on it's foundation (the house is 80 years old). We asked the then-current owners to fix it and they did. The house was jacked up while one basement wall was excavated, removed, and completely replaced while they were still living in the house.
So now our basement has three small brick walls and one cinder block wall.
 
I agree with what has been said, and will add this- if there are issues that make, or can make, the house unlivable, or will take the work of a professional or an experienced homeowner over multiple days, to remedy the issue, aka, it is not "elective" surgery, then it should be covered by the seller. My first house was new construction, but punch list dealing is somewhat the same thing, and I went back and forth for a while. When I sold it, I was in the used house seller position. There were some issues that they found that, though I was meticulous with the house, I had missed, and I remedied them happily. There were some issues that were more "wants" on their part, and I refused.

The issues that you are speaking of seem valid. You never want to deal with a bad roof, unless you absolutely knew it going in and are seeking remedy or value and like you are trying to do. The vapor lock on the glazing of the door means that it needs to be replaces, as that door is no longer providing thermal protection. It is difficult to determine the value of older appliances, but match what you think they appear to be against what they were listed as (aka-nice recent dishwater actually is handcrank...)

The sensitivity of the market, I think, is what the owner is suffering from. The owner still thinks that it is a sellers' market, and thinks that he/she will be able to get full price without negotiating. Are there any other interested parties? How long has it been on the market for? What is the risk that the house will be gone the next day if you walk away? Walking away is often a powerful negotiation tool. I walked away from the table on both house purchases, and ended up getting both houses. It sometimes serves to motivate the seller.
 
I feel your pain, but the seller's are being unrealistic.

I paid $300 for a house inspection which added weight when I brought the repair, etc., to the table. I estimated all the repairs and made an offer 18K less than what they were asking. They came back up 6K so I saved 12K.

I got locals to do the roof. I purchased the supplies, they put it on. Total prive $5400. Siding cost 7K.

I've redone almost every room myself. Paid the house off in 2years, 2 months. More work to follow.

Hang in there. If they NEED to sell then you'll be better off.

Good luck.:D
 
We had a similar situation when we bought our current home. The septic was condemned, and the old owner had to escrow $12,000 for installation of a mound system. The owners of your dream home will probably have to face facts and realize that they're going to have to do something similar in order to sell their place.
 
We have another one in mind--it is in an even better area and more of a fixer upper, but cheaper. Also no garage though. I'd have to buy/build a shed to at least have a brewery. No bar though. :(

SwAMi75 said:
What did the actual inspector have to say?
As far as?

In the inspection report, they recommended quite a list of things. We proposed a seriously whittled down list to the owners, but specified we wanted the work done by certified roofers/plumbers rather than "handymen". They balked at that. We are waiting to hear back from our rebuttal, where we remained firm on our list.

Makes me wonder what they are trying to hide.

EDIT: Oh, herrroooo..... LOL.... :D
 
Just started stopping by again and saw this post.

Congratulations Dude, That garage certainly is a home brewers dream.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
Just started stopping by again and saw this post.

Congratulations Dude, That garage certainly is a home brewers dream.

Kai

Welcome back bro--let us know how you are doing. Settled in yet? How's the job? More important, are you brewing yet? :)
 
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