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Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
4,640 posts, read 11,932,465 times
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I would run from this house. You really don't know what to ask for because you don't know extent of repairs to make this house livable. There are far too many unknowns.
This house has been vacant for who knows how long. Houses require alot of maintenance just to keep them in basic shape. A house that hasn't been serviced or checked on for even a year would concern me. The fact that no one else wants this house is a huge red flag.
I have experience with polyblu pipes. As someone else said, they are notorious for pinhole leaks. As much as the pipes would worry me, you have no idea the water damage that could have been done by these pipes. And then possible electrical and roofing issues?
Exactly what are you buying? Walls and a foundation? Land? I'm quite serious, you should really decide exactly what it is you're buying and use that to negotiate. Because this house is not a viable shelter at this point. Even if the sellers agree, I'd seriously worry about banks approving a loan for this.
We live in southern Arizona so it's not cold or humid, quite the opposite, hot and dry most of the year.
They acquired the property in July. Do not know for how much, trying to get that info today.
We sent an extension to the sellers agency who hasn't responded in a couple days. It's been extremely difficult working with them even before we had a buyer agent (we searched for a house we wanted before getting an agent) so I'm not shocked they are being difficult with our agent too.
Going to have further plumbing inspected and get estimates there as well as estimates for the electrical GFCI outlets that are broken and unsafe.
The original inspection is licensed to inspect pools and knew a great deal about them. Unless we completely drain it we can't inspect it further. We spent about 45 minutes messing with it and checking the various filters and pumps and I felt pretty satisfied with it. Not a pool expert myself by any means but there were no red flags and the inspector seemed pretty impressed with the shape it was in to be honest.
There has been so much great input here. Not sure if we'll proceed with house or not yet but I feel better equipped for making an informed decision here as well as any future houses.
...We sent an extension to the sellers agency who hasn't responded in a couple days.
If they don`t get back to you right quick ask your agent to notify them the deal is off unless they get cracking. Telling the other side you plan to walk often gets their attention.
This property seems to need a lot of work so unless you are getting a very good deal on the price and can find a reliable contractor to do the repairs this deal can end up costing you a lot more than you expect.
We did have some more inspections (1 general, 2 roof, 1 plumbing, 1 pool, 1 termite). The pipes have been completely redone with CPVC, which although isn't the most ideal, isn't polybutylene and we were given the go ahead there. I was present the entire inspection and feel confident in the guy I found through great reviews online with many years experience. There are no signs of water damage from anything other than the cheap replaceable parts under a sink anywhere in the house, not even the entire crawl space. The kitchen faucet and disposal were already replaced and show no further signs of leaking and no damage from long term leaking. The toilets are old and 3.5 gallon flushers but still in good enough shape. The drain was only slow due to the hair stuck in it the plumber cleaned out. The sewer lines are in great shape. There was zero signs of mold and the plumbing guy did not recommend a further inspection and our climate doesn't promote it usually anyway.
We do plan to replace cabinets as I said before, add ceiling fans, recaulk some places around the showers, add screen doors, update toilets, and eventually get double pane windows. But none of that stuff is in need of immediate work, just needs updating and will be a big improvement from where we currently live.
So at this point the only things that are real issues are the patio roof ($1,050), the fireplace cement piece ($500-$600), and the couple electrical outlets that need replacing. We also are now asking for the first year's initial termite treatment ($750). Do have a home warranty which covers the AC if anything goes wrong there, confirmed the coverage on it and many other things.
I feel a lot more comfortable now so we will see what the appraiser says. A couple responses suggested it wouldn't get approved for a mortgage, and I guess we will see.
Thanks for the suggestions and all the help, both myself and my husband read through it all several times and really got a lot from it all.
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