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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Question re home inspection
Hi girls!
So we're in the process of buying our first home (yay! and yikes!). We just had our inspection of the house we'd like to purchase. There were a few issues that I'm not really sure how they're typically addressed- some structural stuff, roof repairs, the roof not being up to fire code, and other smaller items that need repair. I emailed the realtor with my concerns and questions. We aren't using a seperate buyers agent.
Can you give me your experiences & advice on addressing issues that came up during inspection? I'm not sure if I'm just being overly cautious and risk averse as is my nature.
Thanks!
Re: Question re home inspection
What exactly do you mean by "structural stuff?" That comment and the roof issues are huge red flags IMHO. Personally, those are all things I would want taken care of prior to purchasing. Alternatively, I'd research how much it costs to make the repairs, add on 5-10% for wiggle room, and knock down your offer by that much. I might prefer the latter, actually, to make sure they don't do a cheap fix. You are not being paranoid; these are the kinds of things that can break deals.
Out of curiosity, why aren't you using a buyer's agent?
Thanks so much, Rock! This is helpful. The "structural stuff" is evidence of a sagging floor. Supports had been put in, but not everywhere which seems weird. I've asked for a history on this.
We didn't have an agent when we originally went to look at this house during an open house. We asked the selling agent to be our agent because we hit it off, but ended up wanting to make an offer on this house. Maybe not the greatest decision, but up until now everything has been great.
I'm with Rock! We bought a fixer-upper, so we knew we were going into a purchase that required a lot of work. I am lucky because my father has a construction company, so he could easily tell me exactly how much money we'd have to put in, and which projects we could wait on. I would definitely find out exactly how much these will cost and adjust your offer according (or ask the seller to repair the problems that need to most immediate attention, like the roof, before closing).
Good luck!!
"Structural stuff" and roof repairs are big red flags. We bought a fixer upper and we knew going into it that there was going to be a lot to do, but we would have walked away if it was not structurally sound.
If you want to go forward with it I would call a few people to come in and give you some estimates so you can decide what to take off of your offer.
What year was the house built?
Yikes. We walked away from a house with structural issues. It broke our hearts but it was just too big of a risk for us. It sounds similar to your situation - they opened up the first floor but didn't properly support the second floor while they were working, so the floors upstairs were extremely unlevel. It might have been fine, but we just weren't willing to take the risk.
If you really want to continue, you should hire a structural engineer to come in and inspect the house. You should also get an estimate on roof repair costs and ask for that amount to be taken off of the price of the house, or ask the sellers to cover your closing costs so you will have the cash available to do the work right away. If you are running out of time on your inspection period before you can back out without losing your good faith deposit, then ask for an extension (in writing).
Good luck! House hunting and buying is such a roller coaster.
When we had our inspection, just a couple of things came up and we said, "fix it or we're not buying it" and the sellers fixed everything within 30 days.
We didn't have things like structural damage though- I'd need more info on that. The roof issues should be addressed and any electrical problems also need to be addressed (ours were electrical issues).
GL!!
Another thing to think about is your loan. We're in the process of buying our second home and we're buying a bank owned home that needs fixing. So we're getting a renovation loan that'll cover those costs. It's called Homepath Renovation if you want to look it up.
But most loans require that all the systems in the home be in working order in order for them to loan to you. Depending on how bad the structural damage is they may not want to lend to you.
If you do decide to go through with it make sure you get the seller to either fix things before hand or give you a credit back at closing.
Also just to give you an idea... the place we're buying has a weird floor beam that messes up the floor. We got a contractor estimate and he said to jack the house up, take the beam out and replace it was $1500. For us since the home is such a deal bc it's bank owned it's worth it.
GL!