Quote:
Originally Posted by Slowpoke_TX
Don't buy a house that's not up to code. You'll never get a mortgage, or a homeowner's insurance policy.
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I've bought and sold two houses in Western Pennsylvania, where the OP is, and my mother also sold hers recently. Many issues in all these houses were not up to code and the houses not only sold but we had insurance and the new owners got insurance. In old cities, houses with K/T aren't seen as the freak out they are in places west of the Mississippi.
Both my PA houses had K/T. I left one alone (which was mortgaged through a city program). In the second house (which I paid cash for) I was adding a new kitchen, a home office, and whole house air, so I
had to redo the electrical. It was a HUGE mess because it was a two-story 3-bedroom Craftsman built in 1927. The electrician had to hire a CHILD to pull wires in the crawl spaces. (I don't even want to
know if that's legal.) The electrician was very experienced, though, and got the job done so it passed Duquesne Light's inspection with flying colors and it only cost me $5,000 nine years ago. (As people have pointed out, costs for things like that in Western PA can be much less expensive than they are in other cities. You can often get a union craftsman to do the work as a freelance job.)
It WAS, however, a huge mess. The lath and plaster walls were basically destroyed in some places and had to be replaced with drywall. That enabled me to improve the insulation, though, so probably a blessing in disguise, running the air for less.
All that said, I would hold out for the seller coughing up at least half of whatever a qualified estimator says this will cost in your neighborhood. The sellers
know it's a problem and they're going to have a tough time getting another buyer, so I can't imagine they won't negotiate. (Personally, I would walk if they refuse to budge.)
But what I want to know is: why are you paying a Realtor if she is incapable of negotiating this
for you? Does she work for an agency? If so, call her boss and tell them her/him you're not getting the support you need and you expect the company to assign someone to assist her. I did that once and I got what I needed in a day. She is not qualified for this job if she can't advise you intelligently on this. It's a very common issue in your area. She should have been prepared for it the minute she saw the lack of info on the disclosure statement.
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