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I believe a year from now you will look back and realize the monster you walked away from. This home is no longer your problem, but a noose around the seller's neck. And you could never convince me they didn't have a heads up there were such severe problems and shame on them for trying to make them your problems while living in their brand new home (with your hard earned money). You only win by walking away. Congratulations!
After a lot of strongly-worded reasoning, I was able to get my earnest money back and cancel this deal.
This was not without a great deal of stress and worry, so I thought I would write an update for anyone else who is in my situation:
The town ended up writing a vague letter to the seller saying that they would not currently force sewer hookup because of the high cost estimate (over $15,000).
The seller still insisted on putting a one-drywell system instead of (a) fixing the leach field or (b) putting in a two-drywell system so there was a backup, as we had requested per a septic expert's advice.
We got proof of oil tank removal signed off by the town but no evidence of proper soil testing, and our attorney kept insisting that this was normal in NY state. (Any thoughts on this?)
Nobody ever addressed our concern regarding the lack of proper venting above the range. This would not have been a big deal except that the range and gas line would need to be moved to an entirely different wall for the vent so it would have been quite expensive.
All things considered, we still felt too wary about this purchase to move forward.
I am hoping we did the right thing, and a new (better) house will come along.
The huge problem in my case was a crazed realtor and a weak attorney who both ended up stressing me out an incredible amount during the buying process. I rarely felt like either of them were on my side, working for me.
For future buyers, do not settle on your attorney or realtor if you can at all help it. If yours are not working for you or are wishy-washy, take the hit and find at least an attorney who will work for you. They are out there!
Thank you to everyone who replied respectfully and asked questions in a genuine way (as the majority of you did).
Congratulations on walking. Smart decision.
What I learned from home buying experiences is if you're struggling that much to buy a house, going back and forth and it has expensive problems to start with the price better prefect the imperfections.
My next move would be to fire the Realtor and the Lawyer. Start interviewing for both a realtor and a lawyer. Make sure you go and get a release or kill the agreement between you and agent so she can't claim commission off your next purchase.
PS there is no way any homeowner does not know the shape their house is in. If they say they don't theire lying
After a lot of strongly-worded reasoning, I was able to get my earnest money back and cancel this deal.
This was not without a great deal of stress and worry, so I thought I would write an update for anyone else who is in my situation:
The town ended up writing a vague letter to the seller saying that they would not currently force sewer hookup because of the high cost estimate (over $15,000).
The seller still insisted on putting a one-drywell system instead of (a) fixing the leach field or (b) putting in a two-drywell system so there was a backup, as we had requested per a septic expert's advice.
We got proof of oil tank removal signed off by the town but no evidence of proper soil testing, and our attorney kept insisting that this was normal in NY state. (Any thoughts on this?)
Nobody ever addressed our concern regarding the lack of proper venting above the range. This would not have been a big deal except that the range and gas line would need to be moved to an entirely different wall for the vent so it would have been quite expensive.
All things considered, we still felt too wary about this purchase to move forward.
I am hoping we did the right thing, and a new (better) house will come along.
The huge problem in my case was a crazed realtor and a weak attorney who both ended up stressing me out an incredible amount during the buying process. I rarely felt like either of them were on my side, working for me.
For future buyers, do not settle on your attorney or realtor if you can at all help it. If yours are not working for you or are wishy-washy, take the hit and find at least an attorney who will work for you. They are out there!
Thank you to everyone who replied respectfully and asked questions in a genuine way (as the majority of you did).
Congrats on getting out of that deal; you definitely walked away from a money pit and will be happier for it.
Next time you interview an agent (really, several agents, and you should look for recommendations from family & friends), ask for 2-3 references from their past 2-3 sales, as well as 2-3 from past sales; this should give you a good idea of what the agent has done in the past re: customer service, as well as what they've done most recently. A good and responsive agent should have no issues with clients willing to vouch for them.
As for the oil tank removal, in NY state, there is no legal requirement that the soil must be tested BUT almost every bank mandates an environmental test if you're trying to sell the house; it is NOT normal in NY for those tests not to be conducted, so your instincts are spot-on about that being fishy.
Septic problems are BIG and rarely simple to resolve. I'm surprised your agent did not advise you to walk. I would have, especially since the seller seemed to only want to put a bandaid on the problem and let you assume a huge risk.
Get another agent AND another attorney next go around. Ask some of your friends/relatives/coworkers for recommendations.
I believe a year from now you will look back and realize the monster you walked away from. This home is no longer your problem, but a noose around the seller's neck. And you could never convince me they didn't have a heads up there were such severe problems and shame on them for trying to make them your problems while living in their brand new home (with your hard earned money). You only win by walking away. Congratulations!
Congrats on getting out of that deal; you definitely walked away from a money pit and will be happier for it.
Next time you interview an agent (really, several agents, and you should look for recommendations from family & friends), ask for 2-3 references from their past 2-3 sales, as well as 2-3 from past sales; this should give you a good idea of what the agent has done in the past re: customer service, as well as what they've done most recently. A good and responsive agent should have no issues with clients willing to vouch for them.
As for the oil tank removal, in NY state, there is no legal requirement that the soil must be tested BUT almost every bank mandates an environmental test if you're trying to sell the house; it is NOT normal in NY for those tests not to be conducted, so your instincts are spot-on about that being fishy.
Thanks for the advice on this - I appreciate your thoughts!
This sounds like a huge headache with red flags popping up everywhere. Is the house that spectacular that it is worth all of this bother? Don't make concessions to anything. Make all of your concerns be addressed. This is the seller's problem for now - don't let it become yours!
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