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When you bought your house, how did you deal with inspection items?
I'm just curious, when you bought your home (or multiple homes if you have changed) did you ask for a lot of $$ off after an inspection showed issues so you could fix things yourself or did you ask for the fixes to be completed by the owners?
I'm not sure what to ask for now after our inspection on the house we are trying to buy. It needs an electrical box update and a few exposed electical wires run in conduit, a bathroom vent fixed to vent outside instead of in the attic, a few small items changed, and possibly a radon mitigation system for low radon (very common in our area of town). I'm not sure if I want them to fix everything, if I want the owners to put $$ in escrow to fix these items, if we should just ask for a lower asking price and do it ourselves, or if I should ask for a combination.
What did you ask for after your inspection: work completed prior to moving in, money in escrow, or a lower asking price? I know they can always say "no", but the sellers are motivated and I think are willing to upgrade some items or give some discount to sell and move.
TIA
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Re: When you bought your house, how did you deal with inspection items?
When we sold our house, the buyer asked that the items found be fixed. 95% of them were VERY minor and easy for DH and I to fix ourselves. The other 5% we had to hire someone to do, but still easy and relatively cheap.
When we bought our house now we built, but had we bought an existing one, I would have asked that the major items be fixed or for the money to fix it after we moved in.
Depends on how you want it handled. We bought a new construction home in Bozeman and it had numerous issues. We asked the builder to fix all of them and we reserved the right to have the inspector come back and re-inspect (which we did). That worked out pretty well for us as we got a house that passed inspection and we didn't have to deal with hiring the contractors (and we didn't have to figure out how much it would cost to fix).
Regardless, I'd ask them to fix anything that's a safety issue. I'd also have them deal with the Radon. Radon is pretty common in MT and they'd be hard pressed to sell the property to someone else if it has a known radon issue (which they would be required to disclose, now that they know about it).
This is what I am struggling with. The items that need to be fixed are not quick and easy and at least two big ones require a permit and design. The design of the electrical isn't too bad, we'd just ask for a box to be moved outside (so about 6 feet from where it is), but if they wouldn't move it, we'd rather have the $$ to put toward having it done ourselves. The other tricky part is the location of the radon mitigation. Since we'll be remodeling the basement at some point in the future and we want some say on the location of the sump for sub-slab access, where the vent-pipe runs through walls upstairs since we're planning to remove some walls upstairs also, etc.
Is it snotty to ask them to install them with caveats as to where the piping/electical is placed in the house?
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
Since you have specifications that in no way relate to how they might do the repairs on their own, I'd ask for the money. But I would also submit quotes from contractors so that you don' t look like you're pulling it out of your rear...
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
When we bought, we had sellers fix a broken beam in the roof beams, and had a few electrical things fixed, and they gave us $800 for installing a radon mitigation system (that has languished un-done for 4 years...we're getting it done next week).
The house we sold, we gave them money for a rotting wood beam, on the sun-room they wanted fixed (about $3K total), because we just didn't want to deal with the hiring of contractors, and we were motivated to get the deal done.
If you're picky about getting the work done a particular way or if you don't trust the seller to do it the way you want I'd just ask for the $$ and have it done yourself.
I think you need to check with your lender first. I was under the impression you were doing an FHA loan? Sometimes they'll allow you to escrow for repairs after closing some require it to be done before closing it just depends on what kind of issues and if they are truly health or safety related.
If we are talking about a conventional loan and you will have the money to do them down the road, I would ask for a price reduction.
We did both. Well we asked them to fix things, low radon, flashings on roof coming up, structual engineer to acess property-due to cracked bricks, and change the ventilation system in the kitchen and main bathroom. We also asked for furnance and vents to be cleaned, AC to be serviced and carpets professionally cleaned.
They did all of it but the radon system and the ventilation. They gave us towards those. We put in new ventilation right away but 3 years later we have yet to get the radon system put in. We also got recepits and a warranty on the work they had done-at our request.
We are asking for all the FHA ones - radon is not one, oddly enough. As for the electrical, it's acceptable amprage for the age, so it will likely pass FHA appraisal inspection, but we still want it updated for safety reasons since it is not up to current code, doesn't allow any expansion or a whole-house shut-off, and is located in a kid-friendly room at about waist high. I could totally be wrong, though and the FHA appraiser could say it was a no-go as is, but that is just what our inspector thought.
I'll call my lender for more info.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
You know, you just never know anymore. I would hate for you guys to get back the FHA inspection too close to closing and be delayed...
For our first house (townhouse), we asked for everything and the seller agreed.
For our current house, it was a short sale and we bought it as-is. Fortunately, there really weren't any problems.