Buying A Home
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
would you/did you ask for anything after inspection?
I just talked to DH who was present at the inspection for our new (old) home. It's 60 years old. He says the inspector said that everything looked fine but the roof will probably need to be replaced in the next 3 years or so. Also the wiring is original (ungrounded) and the panel is full (no room for new circuits if we wanted to add more, like finish the attic into a bedroom). But nothing is unsafe for now. Would you ask for any money towards those things or just let it go? Overall we love the house, and it already has new windows, new HVAC, and new kitchen.
DD1 5/07 DD2 9/08 mc 7/11 DS 7/12
Re: would you/did you ask for anything after inspection?
The one we just bought was built in 1929 so there was a pretty long list of problems, mostly deferred maintenance.
Out of that list, we requested:
1) updated electrical. What was there wasn't professional installed and was done incorrectly and our inspector labeled it as a safety hazard.
2) fix chimney exterior. There were issues including bricks falling down, it needed to be rebuilt and there was some issue with the flue.
We asked for a broken window pane in one bedroom to be replaced just because it was jagged and the interior pane, but they declined and agreed to the above.
Since the house already has new windows and HVAC I probably wouldn't ask for anything you listed, especially since nothing is unsafe.
***Nestie Bestie w/ TheDeatons***
Every house ALWAYS has at least 1 issue that comes up during inspection. You have to ask yourself if you?re ok with moving into a house that has those issues. If not, then you need to have the issues corrected by the seller or negotiate your offer. A roof is not a cheap thing to fix! Inspectors estimate to the best of their knowledge how much time you have left on a roof and all it takes is one major storm and you've got a major problem. I would ask for them to contribute towards the roof. As far as the wire panel that?s something that?s expected with an older house and can be updated later on. If you really love the house and the sellers aren?t willing to negotiate, I would think long and hard about what to do. If you have money to fix the roof yourself maybe then it?s a non-issue. Good luck!! Keep us posted!
Thanks. We're not going to ask for anything from the sellers. I just read the inspection report and the only unsafe things are fairly easy fixes and things I'd rather us do than ask them to do.
I would get second opinions from a roofing contractor and an electrician. I'm especially giving the side-eye to the inspector about the electrical. What you described doesn't sound like professional work, let alone safe. If the wiring is indeed original, then it may be knob and tube or AA-1350 aluminum, both of which are against code in most areas, not to mention extremely difficult and expensive to insure. If you made an offer on this house based on the electrical and roof being in better condition, then I don't think it's out of line to ask for a credit (unless the price you are paying takes the condition of these items into account).
We didn't ask for anything, since we were going to be doing quite a bit of ripping out before we moved in anyway. And we knew anything we asked for probably wouldn't be done right based on other work done in the house.
I probably wouldn't bother with the issues you've listed. Nothing is unsafe or really needs to be done right away.
It's definitely not knob & tube; we looked at the panel. I don't believe the wiring is aluminum either, but the wiring is not grounded and outlets are 2- prong. That's just what you get with a 1950 house. I would love for it to have new electrical and maybe we can do that eventually but I don't feel like it's the seller's responsibility. As far as the roof, it's on it's last leg and I'll talk to our realtor tomorrow and see if he thinks we should try to get them to contribute towards a new roof. The inspection report was clear about there being no evidence of leaking.
I wouldn't ask for money for those things. To me, that's just part of the deal with an older house. I think post-inspection requests are fine when something is discovered that's WRONG and/or unexpected, but not just because you'd really rather have the old house charm with new wiring.
The only thing we asked for was that they have attic mold professionally cleaned, and the bathroom re-vented correctly (outside, not into the attic), so it wouldn't happen again.