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Objective I can deal with, and as barking spider has posted photos of the kinds of things he finds I trust that his reports accurately reflect the true findings -- it is much worse when you get the the inspectors that do a lot of "aha" & "ut oh" while the helpless potential buyers assume the worst.
We once walked from a house because my m-i-l said it was the ugliest house she had ever seen! So foolish, we were young, and really, we lost a beauty becoz it happened to be on the golf course in miami beach and the year was 1989......
Thanks for all the good thoughts, guys. I'm gearing up for more onslaughts of cleaning, staging, setting out bowls of lemons and herding my dog and toddler out the door...sigh. I was so relieved it was "over"!
One thought, and of course I'm totally playing devil's advocate here, but in the future would it be appropriate for me to request that "extra people" NOT be present during the inspection? I have no problem with people bringing friends, family, contractors, etc. to check out the house--either for a showing or post-inspection. However, the more I envision several hours of someone with nothing in the game and no professional license at stake walking through my house poking around, the more it makes me feel a bit uneasy. I mean, we're not talking a 1/2 hour showing with 2 agents present, we're talking 3 hours with the inspector, 2 homebuyers, and some other random guy. The agents can only be in so many places at once, and it would be pretty easy for random guy to slip away while people are otherwise engaged watching the inspector.
Is that overzealous of me? I'm not some paranoid person, and I'm sure things were fine with this guy. But it does occur to me that perhaps they overstepped some bounds a bit...?
Smartygurl--you know the mortar between bricks that holds them together? It's basically cleaning out the old mortar and putting in new mortar...like regrouting tile, except on brick.
trying to exclude people, even pesky in-laws from an inspection would only raise red flags. It will come across like you're hiding something. Frustrating as it is, I think anything that smacks as being less then transparent will just run the risk of turning off real buyers.
Case in point: I walked on two houses after engineer reports and the subsequent negotiations with the sellers.
Case 1: engineer's report turned up a few discrepancies between the house as advertised as well as other issues. For one, a roof advertised as "new" was revealed as 12-13 years old and estimated life of 4-5 years left do to neglect and moss build up. Leak discovered under skylight (through new paint in each corner) was described by the agent as an "old" leak even though the owners said they never repaired one... so it healed itself apparently... lots of small stuff like that, but in the aggregate told me that these people weren't upfront and honest. The house also had no CO (the entire house) but the owners were hiring an expediter to get one. They said 4-6 weeks. Town told me 4-6 months if at all. They refused to let me talk to their expediter. So, going down that long road with people who weren't upfront and transparent didn't make sense so we pulled the offer.
House 2: the engineer's report turned up a "missing" cesspool trap and vent. Plumber confirmed that it was buried under slab on an extension. Owner ( who only then admitted another plumber told him this was likely when he tried to snake a camera down and got hung up on the buried trap) offered to credit for half the repair. I said OK. got an estimate of 7K to tear up the kitchen floor and the slab and relocate the trap. Owner said "woah! that's more than we thought" and sent me two bogus estimates from plumbers who never even went to the house. That sent me shopping and I found a better house because I felt like I was dealing with people who weren't candid or honest.
3rd house: upfront... honest... closing in two weeks. There were small issues with the house, small roof repairs, etc. I'm taking care of myself.
I guess what I'm saying is deal with stuff directly and honestly and a real buyer will respect that. If it even appears like you're hiding something, that's where the games start.
Sure, maybe these people got cold feet. Don't let your reaction spook the next real buyer.
Redpanda, Don't get discouraged. We just sold our historic 100 year old home ( and bought another one, AGAIN I never want one of those new houses, no thanks ). Anyway, what I want to tell you is this : it takes an "old house" person. And I could tell if someone was the type, within 10 seconds of them walking in the door. It takes a certain person to appreciate these homes, they are not for everybody . Your buyer is out there. Good Luck !
My Mom passed up a house back in 98 because it didn't have a second bath. We informed her it could be added on the cheap but she insisted on having a house that didn't need any "work" at all. She waited and ended up pricing them out of the areas near the beach.
dee 42--thanks! Of course, the thing is that we live in Boston, so more or less ALL the houses here are 100 years old. You might find the occasional 1950's ranch house, but not as many. Old house person or no, if you want to buy a starter home here--it's going to be old.
Thanks for all the good thoughts, guys. I'm gearing up for more onslaughts of cleaning, staging, setting out bowls of lemons and herding my dog and toddler out the door...sigh. I was so relieved it was "over"!
One thought, and of course I'm totally playing devil's advocate here, but in the future would it be appropriate for me to request that "extra people" NOT be present during the inspection? I have no problem with people bringing friends, family, contractors, etc. to check out the house--either for a showing or post-inspection. However, the more I envision several hours of someone with nothing in the game and no professional license at stake walking through my house poking around, the more it makes me feel a bit uneasy. I mean, we're not talking a 1/2 hour showing with 2 agents present, we're talking 3 hours with the inspector, 2 homebuyers, and some other random guy. The agents can only be in so many places at once, and it would be pretty easy for random guy to slip away while people are otherwise engaged watching the inspector.
Is that overzealous of me? I'm not some paranoid person, and I'm sure things were fine with this guy. But it does occur to me that perhaps they overstepped some bounds a bit...?
In my opinion, it is totally counterproductive for the buyers to be present during the home inspection. They should show up for the last 15 minutes and get walked through the house by the inspector. The only reason they should be present for the whole thing is if they are doing the inspection themselves. Otherwise, they just serve as a distraction to the professional, and can cause him to miss things.
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I never want one of those new houses, no thanks ). Anyway, what I want to tell you is this : it takes an "old house" person. And I could tell if someone was the type, within 10 seconds of them walking in the door. It takes a certain person to appreciate these homes, they are not for everybody . Your buyer is out there. Good Luck !
