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Under Contract!!
We met with the two buyers real estate agents on Friday and thankfully both were good offers. Both of them had escalation clauses!!! They were willing to go $500 over the other buyers offer. We ended up in a contract with NO contigencies, not even an inspection! We're set to close towards the end of June with a possibility of leasing back for 30 days, if needed.
We put an offer in on the house with the tree roots in sewer lines issues. We're waiting to hear their counter but we're both hesitant b/c of the issues with the home....
The tree roots in sewer line
Radon levels of 4.45 and 9.6
Lead paint (half of the windows are original and after reading about lead, it seems lead dust would be sent into the air every time we opened or closed those windows).
Carpenter ants two years ago and on a contract with Teriminex since then
Damp wall in the basement with very heavy rain
Neither of us have ever lived in an older home so we aren't sure if we'd encounter these issues with any old home?
The shingled roof was replaced, new oil tank, and newer electric panel.
I'd really love to hear opinions, especially from those who have lived in older homes before. Would these issues make you run? Or are they not that big of a deal to you? Thanks!
Re: Under Contract!!
Congrats! That is exciting (and I know nerve racking at the same time) news!!
Tree roots - that would make me a little nervous. When was the last time they had issues? How bad was it? How was is corrected? Anytime you have trees near a house you can have issues with that.
Radon levels - I am not sure what levels are considered ok, but I would want a system put in.
Lead paint - all old houses will have it - Just paint over with latex paint and it should be fine.
Carpenter ants - I don't think I'd worry about that. Our house had some type of wood eating beetle and we never had any problems.
Damp wall - you can put dry-lock on it!
Good luck with everything!
Did you have an inspection done yet?
The radon limit is 4 - so you can ask for a system (just a fan/vent), it should cost the seller less than $1k.
Not sure about the lead dust when you open/close the windows. We have 100+ year old windows and are thinking of replacing them if we stay. Steve told me there are new EPA regs that are going to make it much more expensive to get them removed.
Damp basement is a given in our house (we have a stone foundation). We run a dehumidifier and it takes care of it.
The Terminex thing would bother me, what type of treatment do they use, where? Are there any pathways to you and the kids?
congrats on being under contract...that is awesome!
sorry, my home is only about 25 years old...so i don't know how to answer any of your questions. good luck!!
Congrats, Christina! That is fantastic news! And even better that they'll lease back to you, if need be, so you can find the perfect house.
The house you put the offer on sounds almost exactly like our old house....we dealt with radon, carpenter ants, lead paint, a damp wall....all except the tree roots.
As for the radon, you could request a radon mitigation system be put in if you are concerned since the levels are above 4. We had an estimate for one, and it would have cost $800. Our current home has one, too.
With the carpenter ants, they thrive in moist, dead wood. We had to find the nest (which happened to be our front porch), and get rid of that first. We replaced all the damaged wood and exterminated the nest, and once that was done, we never saw them again. I'd ask the buyers if they ever found the nest.....treating just the perimeter of the house might not be enough if the nest is inside the house already...or there could possibly be structural damage somewhere.
Lead paint - I wasn't too concerned, even though we had old windows, too. Any paint that was peeling was scraped and repainted. I did have Eloise tested at the pedi for lead after we did some major renovations though just to get a baseline. Denise is right about some new remodeling law and lead exposures. Contractors are supposed to be trained in dealing with lead, which people are speculating will drive up the cost of some renos.
Good luck in your decisions!
Thanks ladies! I appreciate your insight. We decided not to counter back to them and keep looking.
We did not have an inspection done. We planned to if we had a contract. The sellers listed all of this in the disclosure. They weren't willing to pay for a radon mitigation system since they disclosed the levels. They have two small children whose playroom is in the basement!
We spoke with someone else who lives in the neighborhood and she is having two trees cut down to try and deal with the tree roots in the sewer lines but they aren't even sure if they're cutting the correct ones down! The sewer lines are made of terracotta clay and the tree roots could cause them to shift ... leading to much bigger issues. They have Roto-rooter come every 18 months to two years to treat the tree roots in the main line.
They didn't disclose any more info about the carpenter ants other than they were under contract with Terminex. I wonder if they found the nest or if they're just treating the perimeter of the home.
Thanks for the info about the EPA standards/guidelines changing. The neighborhood lady mentioned something about that too. She was having windows replaced and everything had to be covered, cleaned, etc.
Our search continues...
TTC since Jan 07. Dx with PCOS Jan 08
Christina I'm so sorry that house didn't work out . . I know how excited you guys were. I'm a bit of a hypo and the radon levels kinda freaked me out. In a regular old basement I could see not being concerned but like you said . . they have their children's playroom down there!
I'm so glad you were able to get such a great buyer for your home. I will be sending good thoughts you find the perfect house soon.
Hope Ethan feels better soon too! Poor guy!