House buying question
 

So, today we viewed a half dozen places. Mrs. Eaglesfan loved the last one except for one thing that she wants changed in the Kitchen, but we could do that without too much trouble within the next year. For me, the house is great except for the location. It is about 15 miles to work, but is very conveniently located by the interstate and another major highway. The size is great, nice size yard (certainly big enough to add a pool like we want.) They already have a media room wired with surround sound. The home is newer like I wanted, as it is only a year old. Basically it meets all of my checklists, and the wife loves it. We were pleasantly surprised to find it on the first day looking..

That brings me to my question. I've never bought a house before. With a new house (we saw one that we liked), I understand there is very little negotiation room since contractor's need to keep their stats up. However, with a used home, I expect some negotiation room in the price that the seller is asking since they need to move due to a job transfer. As a completely hypothetical situation, let's say they are asking 400,000 for the home (that is not the actual figure but in the ball park.) My question is: Is there a standard amount or a recommended amount that I should offer below this? For example, I'm considering offering 95% of the asking price or about 380k in my hypothetcal. Do people who have experience think that is too low or too high to open with? Should I only offer 90% of their asking price.

If we offer 95% of their asking price, I was also debating between asking them to pay all or part of the closing costs. I can afford the closing costs, but obviously would have more cash in hand to start the changes to the kitchen if they paid closing costs. Also, I'm going to be asking them to vacate the house in a timely manner as I want to move in by May. We are also going to ask them to leave in the surround sound speakers in the media room and also some drapes that my wife loves. So, with those stipulations does 95% seem like a reasonable opening offer? I'm going to talk with my uncle who is a lawyer tomorrow, but I thought there might be some good viewpoints here as well.

We're wrestling with the same thing right now ourselves, and I'm not really sure if there is a "right" answer.

Talk with your agent (if you've got one, I honestly can't remember whether you have one working on your behalf or not), they should be able to help you get a better handle on how the owner will react to a low-ball offer. You don't want to be so low that you lose an opportunity but you obviously don't want to pay more than you have to either.

For the sake of FWIW, we're probably going to offer something between 90 & 95 percent of asking price for the house I described in my Wacky Ass day thread earlier, but that's almost certainly the highest we've ever considered on a house largely because it's already priced very reasonably & we don't believe there's much wiggle room built into the price. IIRC, we ended up paying something like 86% of the the original asking for the house we're currently in.

I read that thread and thought about posting in it, but didn't want to threadjack. Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated. I also don't think there is much wiggle room in this offer because it is reasonably priced compared to brand new homes in that subdivision which appears to be on the rise with plenty of beautiful homes being built..

Dola -

Already talked to my agent, and she said she isn't sure how they will react to a lowball offer, but she knows they are motivated to sell because of the impending transfer.

The New Orleans market is very odd right now so it's hard to judge what you will have to offer. My parents made an offer on two houses in the past few weeks. The first time the seller came back and wanted significantly more than the asking price. The second time, my parents had to offer a bit more than asking to trump several other offers.

Keep this very quiet, but it's not in the New Orleans area... ;)


Edit: Rather, it is not within 50 miles of New Orleans.

Well in that case, be thankful you don't have to offer more than the asking price. ;)

IF you really want the house you need to be careful about giving too low of an offer. How quickly are houses selling for in the area? If there are several other offers then you might be out of luck.

I just got a list of houses that sold in the area from my real estate agent. Most of the houses have sold between 95-105% of list price in the past year in this area. Most of the houses have been on the market for about 6 months on average.

I'm leaning towards offering 95% of the list price tomorrow, but haven't decided for sure yet.

Depends on the current market where you are looking and what you've looked at before plus, how long has it been on the market? If it has been on the market a short period of time, you might not have alot of room.. as opposed to something that has been around 6 months. (My house I saw the day after it came on the market and I roughly gave them the asking price.. shaved $500 off it and they gave me the appliances.. but, then again.. my house was only $119K so... big difference)

all depends on the market - houses all around the neighborhood with for sale signs that stay up for weeks and you can comfortably low ball.

signs come down within days you better be prepared to up the anti

I just went through the same process. Lady H_B and I just bought a house two weeks ago. We close on March 24.

Trying to figure out a purchase price was by far the hardest thing. We had the added difficulty of the fact that the house was never technically on the market, so there was no list price. The seller's realtor told us in advance, however, what they were planning on listing it for.

We ended up making our original offer at 90% of the asking price, they countered with 95% of the asking price and that was that. We considered dickering around with another counter offer, but figured it wouldn't be worth it. If you are looking to pay 95%, you can go in a little lower and hope for something like we got. You can always shave some off the purchase price after the inspection, though given the newness of the house I reckon there shouldn't be too much wrong with it.

A lot of the above advice is right, try to figure out the market. It sounds like you already had your realtor run the comperables in the area to get a sense of what similar houses are going for. I can't talk to the new construction stuf, because Lady H_B hates new construction. In fact, the house we bought was built in 1916 (it's 90 freakin' years old). It's a thing of beauty, though. I love it and cannot wait to move in.

Good luck with it!

As others have said, it all depends on how likely it is that someone else will make an offer on the house. If it's unlikely, then I'd feel secure offering 90%. This is assuming, of course, that what they're selling for is reasonable to begin with.

With regard to asking them to pay closing costs and suchlike, my advice would be to avoid getting complicated like that. "You'll pay for X, we'll pay for Y, etc...." There ends up being enough stuff flying around in these transactions that you don't want to make it any more complicated than it already is.

Ok, VERY stupid question here at the insistence of my wife...


Do we the buyers have to pay our agent for the purchase of the house? If so, do we have to pay at the time of closing?

I thought that our broker was paid 3% but that it was paid from the proceeds of the sale of the house, but now my wife is confusing me, and so she insisted I ask the experts on here. :)

It depends on the state laws. In Texas, the person selling the house pays the commission for both agents. In California, it's the person buying the house. Not sure what the LA laws are.

tell her she is a very wise woman and yes we have experts, we even have our own resident doctor ;)

FM

dola, got no answer for you though, as cartman's reply implies, the Canadian laws are probably different than many States laws. Fwiw, in Quebec, buyer never pays, seller always does...

FM

my baby sister (alright, she's 32) just bought her first house. The buyer pays a commission.. it goes to both the seller's agent and my sister's buyer's agent.

Here is another idea. Find out who their agent is and contact him/her. Let them know you are interested. Perhaps, you could then negotiate with agent in the cost department. Because the agent is making a profit on the sell and buying of the house, you could work a deal on the closing costs and what not.

Some states have laws, but sometimes it's negotiable. In our market, 6 percent is the standard fee with 3 percent going to the seller's agent and 3 percent to the buyer's agent. That is almost always included in the sales price. By including it in the sales price, it helps with financing and out-of-pocket costs so that you don't have to come up with a downpayment, closing costs AND the agent fee.

The percentage of asking price varies by market and even neighborhood. Right now in Kansas City, sales prices are about 97 percent of asking price. But you may have one neighborhood where people get 105 percent of asking price and another with 85 percent of asking price.

When you say "our broker," is that YOUR broker or the broker for the seller? If you are working with your own agent, they should absolutely be able to use the local MLS or whatever system is used down there to tell you what the typical sales price and percentage of asking price is for that particular neighborhood. If they don't or can't tell you, I think they are doing you a major disservice. The only exception to that would be if you are buying in a highly rural or sparsely populated area where there aren't enough comparable sales. But here in Kansas City, you can look up individual subdivisions and get the average sales price, asking price, etc.

Good luck! For all the hassle, buying a home is a great experience.

We've bought two houses in the last ten years and sold two. Six months on the market sounds like a long, long time. Though it's not as bad given that homes traditionally sell better in the six months beginning in March.

Since we're going to be selling ours late this year, I've been tracking the local market extensively. There are currently 91 houses on the market, of which 40 have been there six months or longer and only 21 three months or less.

It's hard to determine everything because a lot of people overprice their home and just leave it out there to see what comes in. Others clearly want to sell immediately. I've tracked the assessed price/sale price ratio and there's not necessarily any rhyme or reason to it. Assessments can be very political.

My gut instinct is that 95-105% and six months average sale time are conflicting concepts. Perhaps there are a lot of houses on the market that have been there forever and can't sell, skewing the average. At six months, I'd think 85% would be a reasonable offer.

When I said our broker, I meant my broker. The seller is actually a real estate agent and they are representing themself. However, that is even scarier if I had to pay my agent and the seller an additional 3 percent each in addition to the closing costs and downpayment. My understanding in Louisiana is that I only have to pay the closing costs and Downpayment and that the brokers are paid their commission from the actual sale money of the home, but suddenly I'm concerned that my perception was wrong..

Dola -

My agent (I keep using "our" because the agent represents myself and my wife) did give us a list of properties and what percentage of asking price they have sold at and how long they were on the market.

that's the way it is in illinois and arizona.

fwiw, 6% split in arizona, 7% split in illinois

Well, at least according to the LA-Legal website which discusses typical house buying transactions in Louisiana and issues involved with the transaction, the "real estate commission" is paid for by the seller.

Dola -

Also, I just sent an email to a friend of mine who bought a house in the past year, and I'm hoping Dutch will chime in if he has bought a place. :)

Damnit, you pinned me down!

I am no expert on home buying. Actually, I just had to contact my realtor this week to discuss selling my home because I have orders to Germany this summer.

But in any event, the seller pays for both realtor's so far as I remember. The seller paid all the closing costs as well, but that's negotiable. (3% for buyer agent and 3% for seller agent)

Keep an eye out for similar homes and see what they are selling at....(if possible). Pay close attention to the age of the house, the square footage and the selling (asking) price. See if it's comparable to what you are looking at. (That might be easier for me since I'm in a big neighborhood with the "cookie-cutter" styled homes.)

You should be able to get a home warranty on your house with the initial sale and you can re-up it every year. That may be more beneficial if you are buying an older home. But for the first year, it's good piece of mind, especially if you just sunk a bunch of your capital into a down payment.

Be prepared for the last meeting with your realtor when it's time to decide on a contract to offer. Don't get cold feet. Trust your research. When the realtor asks you how much you want to offer, stick to your gameplan.

Don't go to low. I bought my house a few years ago when the market was hopping, so I didn't have much choice. The market seems a little colder now, so I expect some negotiating as a seller.

I think more expensive homes (like what I assume you are looking for) would have more wiggle room, but I am unsure.

Anyway, what was the question? :)

Also, how long do you want to live in this home?

If you are there for a long period, adjustable rate mortgages might be a scary option. Interest rates are still low and a fixed rate should be the way to go.

Thanks Dutch! :)

I was fairly sure that the seller paid both commisions, but hearing you say that makes me feel better about my understanding.

My agent told me that I could have asked the seller to pay the closing costs, but the fact that I'm willing to do so may show that I'm a more serious buyer. Since, I'm already negotiating some on the price, I'm not going to worry about the closing costs. I actually have my agent typing up a tentative purchase agreement tonight that if it looks "correct" and my attorney uncle approves of it will be signed in the next 24 hours or so... *GULP*

Oh yeah, the seller is specifically offering a 1 year "maintenance" plan on the home. I doubt it will used much since the house was built in 2005, but you never know, and as you said it will be nice piece of mind since I'm sinking a large portion of my liquid funds into the downpayment and closing costs.

However, Mrs. Eaglesfan has been gazing at the pics all day today, and she really does love the place and I find it very nice, so we'll take the plunge tomorrow.. Oh yeah, the area is in a "C" Flood Zone which is my understanding is the best designation and all of my research shows that there has been no significant flooding in the area in the past. Also, the air quality is very good, tax rates are nice, the crime rate is SO much lower than where I currently live that it is unbelievable... basically all my last minute final research is turning up very positive. :)

We are hoping to live in this home for the rest of our lives :)

It's big enough that we could have 3 kids and live very comfortably. Since, the plan is 2 max, I'll probably always have an extra room for an office. Of course, the media room could always be converted if something very unexpected happened. I guess there is a chance we could decide we wanted something nicer in 10 years or so, but I doubt that would happen. In any case, I definitely plan on going with a Fixed rate, and I was very pleasantly surprised when I was instantly pre-approved on Friday for a rate that I'm quite happy with. I thought my rate would be higher due to some bad credit from 98-99 back when I was a financially struggling medical student..

For what it's worth, this is also how it works in Michigan. We just bought a house and the seller will pay all the commission. Here there is a 6% commission of which the seller's agent gets 3% and the buyer's agents will get 3%. We pay all the other closing costs.

Dola

Apparently, as Dutch explained above, it works the same way in Louisiana.

You might also want to get the seller to buy you a one year home warranty. Ours cost $400 and it covers repair/replace of all the "big ticket items" in a house if they go bad due to wear and tear in the course of the first year.

We also wrote into our agreement that we had the right to walk away if the house was appraised at anything lower than the purchase price. That was sort of an odd provision we threw in because the house we bought was pretty unique for the area and it was hard to figure out the fair market value.

Just some more things to keep in mind.

When you sign and send in the offer it's exciting/exhilirating/terrifying all at the same time. Fun stuff.

I'm not sure of the difference in flood zones. I was initially required to have flood insurance but only the back part of my lawn is actually in a flood zone so it wasn't neccessary. (I never did figure out if it was still a good idea to get it...just in case...or if I was flood insured since it wasn't actually a flood zone.)

Anyway,

It's really quite impressive as my neighbor's entire yard is in the flood zone.

Check out these picks from Tropical Storm Rita as it crossed over Shreveport.


Most of my backyard - nice and green


Neighbor's yard...taken at roughly the same time!

Actually in post 30, I mentioned that they already have stipulated that they will buy a 1 year home warranty for us.

I got the agreement and just finished reading it. It says we have the right to walk away if the home appraises at lower than the purchase price. We also have the right to walk away if any problems that we find unacceptable show up in our independent inspection. We also can request they fix it in a timely fashion, and if they refuse, then we can walk away. There is also a standard contingency clause for if our financing falls through (despite us being pre-approved.) I'm reading the rest of it now, but it seems like our agent is being very meticulous which I like. Oh yeah, there is also a clause for us getting an out if the home is found to have any termite infestation or damage which is important down here. Alternatively, we can have them treat the house and repair any damage that has been done. However, the owner reportedly has a certification that the house has been routinely treated to prevent termites since it was built. Also, since the house is mostly brick, termites should hopefully be less of a problem here.

Wow, Dutch. Very dramatic. As you know, we were in Shreveport for Rita as well, and the apartment we stayed at had some dramatic flooding outside of it.

As far as our home, the entire neighborhood is in a Flood C zone which doesn't require any flood insurance and from all of my research is supposed to be the best flood zone possible, but we will obtain flood insurance "just in case."

That would be my question though. If you are not required to have flood insurance, does that mean your home insurance would cover flooding since it would be considered unusual?

I'm very curious how that works.

That is a very good question. I'm not sure, but I'll be researching that over the next few days.

Gotcha, I read the hose maintenance thing and just wasn't sure if it was one in the same as the warranty. Upon a closer reading, it clearly is.

Well, from my limited experience on the subject, the purchase offer as you describe it sounds pretty tight. All the important things seem to be in order. We had similar provisions, but no termite provision. Not an issue in Michigan.

We had our inspection two weeks ago. Our inspector identified about 4 things that he recommended we have taken care of immediately. We gave the list to the seller and asked that they have some repairs done (fixing stairs to the basement, replacing a rusted through pipe, etc.) and to give us a credit to replace the entire electrical system. The house is 90 years old and the wiring is all whacky and not too safe. They responded with a simple "No." Since we were in love with the house, we sucked it up and decided to hold off moving in for a bit and take care of the repairs ourselves (ie, pay someone to fix it for us).

Good luck!

That is exactly how it worked for us... in Illinois.

I wholeheartedly endorse the home warranty plan, even on a newer house. I lot of times the warranty on appliances expires when a house is sold, or just don't transfer to the new owners.

My place was built in 2001, and I bought it in early 2004. Right after I moved in, the compressor went out on the AC. All I had to pay go get it fixed was $75. That payed for several years of home warranty coverage right there. Just recently, the motor in the jacuzzi tub went haywire, and all it costs to get the motor replaced was another $75.

Hmmm, somebody at work just told me that the buyer pays for their own realtor fees (which kind of makes sense) but I never remember paying my realtor anything? I assumed it was all included....

So I'm confused now.

Darn. I'm hoping the person at your work is wrong. My friend hasn't replied to their email yet, but you don't seem to remember it, and the LA-Legal website says that the seller pays "the commission" which I assume is split between both brokers.

I think you're making more complicated on yourself than you should be ;)...

Assuming VA is like most other states (which I think it is)... the money for the seller and the buyer comes out of what you agree to pay for the house. Various people THINK of it various ways, but what it comes down to is if you put down a contract for a $100,000 home and the commission for both realtors is 6%, the seller is walking away with $94,000. So some people say you're paying for it because it is out of the money you paid them, some say the seller is paying it because it comes out of their bottom dollar.

Either way I think your concern is that you will have to come to the table with that commission money, you won't. I just bought my house a year and a half ago. The only money to come to the table with is your closing costs and then your mortgage "check". That's it...

Now again, that's if it is the same as VA.

Wade Moore, I think you are correct. I just polled 4 co-workers who have all bought houses in Louisiana and they all say the same thing. The money comes out of the sale price. It's a matter of perspective of who is paying it, but ultimately it is the seller who is getting the sale price - the commission of both agents.

My only concern was: Do I have to make an extra payment besides the downpayment and closing costs. The answer appears to be no, which is good :)

If it's any consolation, I just asked the exact same question myself about 2 hours ago. That's how I thought it worked but figured I better be sure rather than sorry.

That is consolation. Glad I'm not the only one who was confused/concerned about this. :)

Dealing with FEMA and flood insurance has EASILY been the most frustrating part of my homeowning experience. It's frickin' ridiculous. I could vent for ten pages, but I'll digress, for now.

Zone C is one of the zones that either has less than a 1% chance of flooding in a given year, or is protected by levees (must ... hold ... back ... rage). You may still purchase flood insurance, but ONLY if your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (I'll just go ahead and assume most places down there do).

To answer Dutch's question, your homeowner's policy DOES NOT cover flood damage, even if you are not required to have it.

We made a formal offer at 7:00 PM tonight. Now, we are in the long 24 hour waiting period to hear their response...


I finally just asked my agent even though I felt kind of stupid asking that question, and she told me it is standard that the seller pays both agents in Louisiana from the sale price of the home. I don't have to pay any other fees besides downpayment and the closing costs.

Keeping my fingers crossed that our offer is accepted (we finally decided to go with a offer of a little over 95% and asked for a few things to be left such as the surround sound in the media room and drapes, curtains, and such.

Best of luck - hope it all comes good for you :D

Thank you! Now I don't feel like I'm losing my mind. I've been wandering around here wondering if I gave my realtor cold hard cash....and forgot I did that! Now I know that I didn't. Whew... :)

Good luck btw. :)

Glad to clarify it for both of us.

Thanks to all those wishing us well. I got a call from my agent that the Husband portion of the couple is out of town, so that is delaying their response somewhat as he has to find access to a fax, but we should hear something by tonight. :)

Good luck, EF27.

I'll be going through the same thing in 6 months or so, so this has been helpful to me to get ideas of the questions I should be thinking of as the time gets closer.

Hope the house is all the home you want and need.

Remember that the pressure is almost always on the seller. Time is money to them, and a good buyer can be hard to come by. Work on your schedule, not theirs. Take your time to ensure you have a proper inspection done.

Very good advice. Our proposed closing date isn't until the end of April which should give us plenty of time to schedule all of the inspections we want done. According to the offer we sent them, the house has to be ready for any inspections we want done within 10 days of the acceptance date.

Every contract is different, so YMMV but having just went round-and-round about the wording of this on our own offer and what it all really means, it might be worth looking over your own offer again to make sure.

The language of our offer (which was straight from boilerplate templates) basically says that we have to COMPLETE our inspections WITHIN 15 days of the offer being accepted (we went 15 instead of the standard 10, mostly because of the lost weekend days). The seller is required to be cooperative & make the property available for inspection, but the time limit really applies to the buyer more than the seller (in other words, if we're going to invalidate the offer because the house failed inspection or whatever, we must do so with the 15 day time limit).

Again, yours may be worded totally differently, but I figured I ought to say something just in case what I think you were emphasizing had some other ramifications on you (the buyer) too. With so many details, it's really easy to get bit in the butt without ever realizing it.

Thanks. I'll re-read it again to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. Either way is fine with me. I'd actually prefer to have it inspected sooner so I know if there is a major problem that will hold up the deal, and if I need to look at other houses.

Roger that, I just would have felt like crap if I didn't say something & then found out later there was some problem on this very issue.

From past experience, a couple of things I'd suggest (if you haven't already):

1) Pick out your own inspector. Get recommendations from either your buyer's agent, your lender, your friends, somebody that's at least likely to be on your side. I mention this only because earlier this week I actually heard the words "I'm sure the seller's agent could recommend someone to do the inspection". Umm ... no thanks. I don't let the IRS do my taxes & I don't want their inspector doing my inspecting.

2) If you don't have a relationship with the inspector/inspection service yet, as soon as you identify a prospect(s) for the job, contact them to get a feel for their schedule. Don't book them before you get an accepted final offer, just don't get pinched by them being booked-up & find yourself scrambling to
find somone at the last minute in order to beat the 10 day clock either.

Again, very good advice that I plan on following. Thank you, it is very much appreciated.

We just got the counter! I'm quite happy that I didn't burst in offering 100% as their counter offer is 1/2 between what we offered and what the sales price was saving us a good chunk of money. They also agreed to leave almost everything that we asked for except the speakers in the media room. However, they will leave all wiring which is built into the walls already...

I have to talk to Mrs. Eaglesfan this afternoon/evening (she is at work and isn't answering ) but I suspect that we will accept the offer as they wrote it. I think any further haggling probably becomes too petty at this point, and I'm happy they met us halfway between our offer and the sales price. :)

sounds good! :)

FM

Woot !

Way to go EF & Mrs. EF.

Congrats EF27

Thanks guys. I'm very excited and can't wait to talk to Mrs. Eaglesfan. Also, they are offering to have all of the windows and carpets professionally cleaned which we didn't even ask for :)

way to go, EF. a big congrats from a fellow league member :)

Trying to make up for the sound system stuff perhaps. By golly, I believe you've got this sewn up, just a few i's to dot & t's to cross now.

Fingers crossed that I have the same good fortune (and would particularly love to get a counter that lets us put this to bed sooner rather than later)

Congrats!!!

Thank you and thanks to everyone else as well. Mrs. Eaglesfan should be off soon and I should have a break to call her..

Jon, I hope things go as well for you and your family. :)

Dola -

Mrs. Eaglesfan and I have chosen to accept. We verbally notified them today via our agent, and we will fax the offer tomorrow. We are waiting til tomorrow in part because Jon was right. I misread that clause. We have 10 days to get the inspection done, and I'd rather buy us an extra day, but it sounds like one inspector that a friend likes could do it as soon as this Tuesday. However, we might as well give ourselves the extra day just in case.


We are so excited now! :)

pix plz k thx

Great news, EF!

Very soon. :)

We don't have inside pics since the sellers were still living there and I thought that would be rude, but outside pics will be coming soon and inside pics in a few weeks hopefully :)

An update on my chase is now posted :)
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...1&postcount=54

I just read your update and that sounds great, Jon. I hope things continue to go smoothly with the process.

I just hired an inspector that my friend was very happy with when she brought her home and I figure is as likely to be as good as anyone I would pick randomly. The only problem (and my friend warned me of this) is that he is booked up. The only time he can do it is a day I have to be at work, so I won't be there to watch in person. However, my agent will be there for me and according to my friend he prepares an EXTREMELY detailed report that will be ready for my review by Thursday morning.

Congrats!

Man, if ever there was a day to call in sick, this would be right up there with birth of a child, etc. You gotta figure out a way to go, even if you trust this person a ton.

Steve,

My wife is going to be there (she is going to take off work) and I have to admit she knows as much as I do about houses. If she wasn't going to be there, I would call in sick or otherwise make sure I was there too.


As far as the pic request, here are a few:


An unflattering shot of me from behind. The left side of the house got cut off, but it isn't too much cut off. The agent is opening the door for us:







A pic of the house from behind showing part of the backyard (which is big enough for a decent size pool):





And a final picture of a small pond in the backyard with a very small fountain that my wife inexplicably LOVES. So much so, that she forgot to take a picture of the lake across the street from us with the large beautiful fountain:

Looks like a winner!

Beautiful house, EF27.

Thats not a house ... in England you have to have a title like Lord or Lady to own a place like that ;)

That's a sweet looking house EF, very beautiful! Congrats again!!! :)

Maybe none of my business, but that little pond, as cute and harmless as it looks, will have to be secured the moment you two start thinking about having kids. They scare me since I read about a kiddo drowning in one about a quarter the size of that one last Summer... Other than that, great house!

And also, only a year old I think you said, it looks almost brand new. Great find...

FM

Thanks guys. I absolutely agree about the pond FM. We plan on adding a swimming pool too for the kiddos, but even the pond will be secured before we have kids. Also, we are going to have take some safety measures with the stairs before we have kids as well. And yep, the house is only a year old and it looks like new. Even the walls inside all look brand new despite the previous occupants having kids there.

that's cool, and as I said, not much of my business. If you remember, we have an in-ground pool and I made sure it was enclosed in its own fence, instead of having it whole backyard fenced and the pool available straight from the house. We were very happy we'd done that last Summer as Matthew (2yo) was running around, even though it was never necessary when Andrew was playing around the pool, but an accident happens way too fast...

FM

I'm glad you mentioned it. I'm never bothered by good advice :)

Delayed Dola -


My wife was there for the inspection (on Thursday - it had to be delayed a day), but I just got the official written report today. The house came through the inspection with flying colors. One socket had some slightly abnormal readings from it and our inspector recommends that an electrician come and fix it. The owners have already agreed to do so verbally. We are still sending the official request in writing. The inspector will go back and look at the house once they have fixed that. However, no other problems :)

good show! :)

FM

Now, by professionally cleaned, do you mean by a doctor or lawyer, because frankly I didn't realize that they'd have the time.

10 points for anyone recognizing the movie this came from. :)

I'm not sure what movie that came from.

I just finished reading the report twice. I'll read it again twice more tonight at least. Besides the aforementioned electrical problem, the only other issue were general maintainence things. They notice some slight foundation cracks at the corners which the contractor says are standard and that these cracks are nothing to worry about as they happen in almost all homes, and that they aren't a functional liability. That is the only other thing in the report that is even slightly concerning.

Oh yeah, my agent informs me that the home owner has already had an electrician fix the problem with the outlet, and my inspector is welcome to go out there and check that it is fixed.

Brief sidetrack -- our inspection is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, nothing significant expected to be uncovered (i.e. there's nothing that I'm particularly worried about or anything).

Agreement is done, bank stuff is all done, inspection is scheduled & we're waiting now to get the date for the appraisal (bank formality) and then we'll set a convienient date to run our contractor through so he can start planning the work we've going to have done. Otherwise, pretty smooth sailing expected between now & closing on 4/21.

Congrats, Jon. I hope everything continues to go smoothly for both of us.

Didn't see this before, but that place looks awesome. Congrats, you've worked very hard over the last several years(school, et al) and you definately deserve something like this to come of it.

From the sound of things I'm about 3-4 weeks ahead of y'all and, unfortunately, the process, since signing the offer sheet, has not run as smoothly.

We had the inspection about 2-3 weeks ago. The inspector seemed to know what he was doing and came highly recommended from the realtor. He inspected the house on a Saturday (Feb 25) and wrote up a report right then and there on a laptop in his mini-van.

The house we are buying is old. It was built in 1916, so it was bound to have a few issues. And it did. Nothing was too serious, save the electrical system. There is a shower and toilet pretty much in the middle of the basement. They both are unused, the toilet has gone dry (which is no good) and has the wrong valve. We want both removed. The struts of the stairs leading to the basement from the first floor are coming away from the treads. Need that fixed. There was also a bit of dry rot on one beam in the roof. Need that fixed too. And the electrical system, the entire thing, is shot. It's old. It does not pass code. There is a lot of wiring in the house that's been jerry-rigged. It's not good.

We asked for the current tennants to remove the toilet/shower in the basement and have someone repair the stairs and the beam in the roof prior to us moving in. We also asked for a credit for the electrical system overhaul.

Their response? No.

They refused everything. The would not do a thing. We thought long and hard about this and decided to go ahead with the deal anyway. We were pissed and frustarted, but the cost of the repairs did not out weight our desire for the house.

The next issue was the appraisal. The house is pretty unique for the area so the appraisal was going to be tricky. The first appraisal came back at around $20 grand less than what we offered. They had a second appraiser come in and the appraisal came back at $5 over what we offered. We thought long and hard about this too. The bank accepted the second appraisal and that was good enough for us.

Also, the seller's realtor (who works in the same office as our realtor) asked permission to put a sign up in front of the house (we made the offer before the house ever went on the market). Apparently, the seller's realtor has been getting numerous calls a day about the house and has been asked to draft up some back-up offers. This gave us a little more comfort with our offer. We feel that we could easily get any money out we put into the house if things don't work out. As mentioned earlier, we plan on staying there forever, so hopefully that wont be an issue.

We close in a week, March 24. We take possession then, but wrote into the deal that we will allow them to stay at the house, rent free, for up to 5 days. We have asked the current occupants to allow our contract to come in, so we can get an estimate on the cost and time of the repairs. The idea was to get an idea of the cost and then have the contract and people come in, after the current folks moved out and before we move in, and take care of all necessary repairs. They continue to be very difficult (see: assholes) and have, once again, said "No." Their realtor has tried to make them see reason and the manager of the realty office has even intervened on our behalf. We are waiting to see if they see reason.

Regardless, I've had about enough of these people. We have the right to a walk through 24 hours in advance of the closing. We are going to bring ourt contractor with us and he'll give us an estimate then and there. On March 24, at closing, we, as their new landlords, are going to give them reasonable notice that repair folks will be showing up on Monday, March 27, to begin, what we consider, essential repairs to our property.

Man, hope it works out but what you are describing should send up more red flags than at a may day rally in Peking. :eek:

I hope it works out for you H_B. Those people sound like world class assholes.

h_b, i'd be running away from that house...

it has the feel that there may be something else wrong.

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. This thought has crossed my mind. Other than what we mentioned, the inspector told us the house was in amazingly good condition, especially given that it's 90 years old. Based on my layman's opinion, I would have to agree with him. We took a look at alot of older houes (Lady H_B has an almost violent aversion to new construction) and this was in as good a shape as we've seen. These people may be assholes, no, they are assholes, but the woman is a German engineer. She's anal as hell and it shows.

Also, we're both deeply in love with the house. It's pretty much perfect in every respect. The location, the design, the craftsmanship, the backyard, the interior, everything.

The big ticket item is the electrical system. It currently has "knob and tube" wiring which is pretty dated and is not supposed to touch anything. At some point insulation was added to the house and the wiring is completely surrounded by the stuff. There are also live wires that just sort of well... end. Not good. I'll feel very happy and comfortable with the place once that's upgraded and taken care of.

In a word, YIKES.

As you know, this work needs to get done ASAP, and it's not going to be cheap. I'm also curious how they were able to get past the local municipality selling a house with electrical not to code.

Good luck, HB.

Hmm, German, shower hidden where a shower shouldn't be. What does this remind me of????

Hmm, if you notice an unusual smell RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

HEH!!!!

Thanks! We were told by the inspector and realtor that it would cost around $5,000 or so for the over haul. I agree about it getting it done ASAP. I have no desire to live in the house until that's taken care of.

As for getting past the local municipality, I'm not sure. I'm no real estate expert by any means, but I think you can sell a house "as is" pretty much. The house is ancient and was probably up to code when it was built and up to code when the current wiring was installed. I think, for the most part, a house only needs to meet "code" when it's being built. If the code changes, I don't think homeowners are under any obligation to make the necessary repairs/alterations to match it. Even if they plan to sell it. Again, I could be wrong on this.