Perils of older home purchase (2014, lender, how much)

[Rhapsodie2014]

To continue the thread on home inspections;

1. What about asbestos...?? Older homes having this in insulation....Friends in MA were ready to purchase a home (quite pricey) in desirable community.....older home (not sure how old), found asbestos, It could not even be removed due to the type of asbestos..........
If so many homes hove this....how do they sell?? It must be disclosed?? Or will be found upon inspection anyway?
2. Mold....black or otherwise...how common in Maine homes, mostly basements??
3. Leaking basements?
4. Bad plumbing, old lead pipes...
5. Bad roofs, leaking??
6. Vinyl siding.....anyone see the HBO special quite a few years ago; on Blue Vinyl...
7. I would not buy a flip either....why???

These are things that would really concern me when looking at older home (which most of them are).....

More thoughts..........always must look at what lies beneath....
On the other hand,,,,the beauty of the craftsmanship, hard wood and ornate decor.......how to balance that?...that would not find in new home.

[mainebrokerman]

most purchases require inspections that will highlight most of your concerns

if really concerned you can have many inspections prior to purchase or the outcome is contingent on purchase

if the home is listed with an agent there will be a disclosure,,, and if home is before 1978 , you will be given packets of information... lead paint



some things are much worse than others...

if you are really concerned have many inspections,,,
particularly if the home has been vacant-

if you still don't think the inspectors are good enough,,, (this is what they do) then hire a reputable home builder to walk the home and make a list of concerns


note (my personal opinion) asbestos ... if not flaking may not be a concern,,

I grew up in an old colonial with asbestos, and lead paint (as did many families before us) with no issues

[Rhapsodie2014]

Thanks MaineBrokerMan

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Rhapsodie2014

Thanks MaineBrokerMan

mold is the biggie, if an abandoned house with water damage , this is a red flag- you cant just wipe mold up with bleach,,,you have to have the mold and mildew removal companies remove it


and have a water test for arsenic

[RMoore007]

My sister still toughs it out in our old 1850's farmhouse back in Dover. I have tried to convince her to close it up in the winter and get a smaller more efficient place in the cold months but she's a Mainer and won't listen to me. She does close the upstairs in the winter and has only the one floor to heat. Plus my next door neighbor brothers do all the shoveling and plowing anyway so she 's not too crazy I guess.

As for buying an older house, yes there are perils. And I'm all for more modern 1950's houses and up. But if it's been in your family for over 150 years, we all kind of feel we're stuck with it and we've all drivin' it into our children that they're all stuck with it too.

[slyfox2]

You've been watching HGTV, haven't you? Admit it!

Most buyers these days employ a home inspector. I did. And the person who bought my 25 year old bi-level in PA back in 2011 also did.

Most of these things will be seen by an inspector.

People get too wiped out on homes by watching way too much HGTV. The Property Brothers and Love It or Leave IT are paid to find horrible things wrong with houses, otherwise there would not be much of a show. They have to be able to fix the nightmare.

[maineborzoi]

Our home was built in 1853. The house is so well insultated that not once during this past winter did we have to run the oil furnance !
Think about it- the age of an old house- they had to stay warm. Frankly, having lived in older homes in the past, this home- be it 162 years old, is by Far the most insultated home ever owned.
Please do not discount a home due to its age.

[WhoFanMe]

There is no such thing as a perfect home and those who have commented previously are right on. Your buyer agent can help and your building inspector will uncover things that the seller was not aware of and did not disclose on the typical 3 page property disclosure. The inspection is your chance to discover safety hazards, code violations and things that will cost you money after your purchase. I'm in the middle of negotiating a failed leach field and radon mitigation system where the readings came in at close to 100 pci/L (should be 4 or under). Most every problem you'll find can be fixed, it just depends on who is responsible and how much it will cost. If you are financing, the lender may also have a say.

Asbestos is most commonly found in the basement as used to wrap pipes and oil burner (a.k.a. snowmen). It can be wrapped with a non-toxic material or removed (depending on budget), but it's not cheap and needs to be negotiated with the seller. Many houses are sided with asbestos, which should probably be left alone, although that can also be covered or removed.

You didn't mention wells, almost every well I've tested has come back with something wrong, sometimes a quick fix (shocking with bleach for coliform bacteria), but also higher than safe levels of arsenic, magnesium, nitrites, uranium, etc. which require expensive fixes that must be negotiated with sellers.

If any of those bother you, your buyer agent can limit your search to houses with public water and sewer or limit it by age, etc.

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

There is no such thing as a perfect home and those who have commented previously are right on. Your buyer agent can help and your building inspector will uncover things that the seller was not aware of and did not disclose on the typical 3 page property disclosure. The inspection is your chance to discover safety hazards, code violations and things that will cost you money after your purchase.

But the seller can hide many things that you won't find for many many years. And when you do, the statue of limitations on the house will have long passed. But builders of new houses can do the same.

There is no perfect situation. An environmental once in 25 year event can make things happen that would never normally happen. In the spring of the year we put the house on the market, It rained every other day for 6 weeks. It was a nightmare. The half basement concrete block walls seeped water into the paneling because the outside water table was almost at ground level. There is no way to keep the water out unless your outside and walls and flooring were designed as a swimming pool. No one does that.

So a week after we put it on the market we had to rip out the paneling on half of the room, put new Dry Lock on the concrete and seal it all over again. Would this stop another 6 week deluge with the water table at ground level. Nope. But this never happened in 25 years. It had been bone dry for 25 years. Property Brothers on HGTV would have required us to backhoe the whole foundation and put new sealant on the outside, something that would have cost $3000 at least. It was dry as a bone when we sold it because the sun came out and we had normal weather again.

After we bought our house up here the same thing happened(four years earlier). The whole basement was wet. We covered the basement floor with plastic. And now the basement is bone dry again. God only knows what bizarre procedure Love it or Leave It on HGTV would have required.

[WhoFanMe]

This is true, you never really know until you're into the home. Life is all about risks and taking the proper precautions can help reduce, but never eliminate them.