Bought a house and I am in the middle of my due diligence... Inspections report findings (new home)

[Mrminsky]

Thank you for reading my post. We went into contract 10 days ago and the inspection was done right away and the appraisal report already came back OK. We want the house and we are not looking to get out of the contract. We that being said, we are buying this house by an owner (VERY NICE PEOPLE!!!!) and we are not using a realtor. We basically came together through a mutual friend. The question I have is about the inspection report. The report came back with nothing MAJOR but as usual, there were your typical issues that inspectors find. We proceeded to forward the report to the seller the same way we received it from the inspector. We basically let him know that these are the concerns that were found by the inspector. They replied by saying that they were going to address all these issues. This was done via email right afer the report was sent. Two days ago, the seller sent an email that they were addressing on "action required " items first and they were going to address the other issues after those issues are done. Is this something I need to have in writing? Or the emails are confirmations these repairs are going to be done. As I said, we are not looking to get out of the deal, but it would be nice if these repairs are done before we close on the house...Nothing so far is giving us any indication that they are not going to be done......What do you think?

[lorilove]

If none of them are major, you should be fine with emails. What dollar cost do you think they are.?

Here is something to consider, when I closed on my house some of the repairs were done but not the best fix. So basically the problems came back and I had to have them fixed properly. None of these items were big dollars and worth going back to the seller. So just be aware there are some sellers do just enough to get by (I am not that type and your sellers may not be either), so cover yourself for anything that could be costly later.

Remember that you get a final walk through before closing to check on these repairs, if you are concerned about a big dollar item and something you don't feel comfortable inspecting, you can hire someone (or your inspector) to do that walkthrough with you.

[amv4372]

I don't care how nice they seem. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get it in writing!

Good Luck and Congrats on your new home!

[Nast]

We also went without an agent when buying our first house. One thing I learned is that you should always get everything in writing. Any decent home inspection will come up with 100s of items, some items demanding attention, others you probably won't even fix once you buy the house.

It sounds as though you just forwarded the report without any specific requests. If something is on the list that you particularly care about, make sure to put your request to have it fixed and his agreement to do so in writing. If thare are minor items you don't really care about, let the homeowner know so he can focus his time and energy on the items you do.

[George Chong]

Originally Posted by amv4372

I don't care how nice they seem. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get it in writing!

BINGO

Ambiguity is not a good thing. Did the OP think that all the inspection items would be handled or just the "major" ones. One constitutes a "major" item versus a recommended item to be repaired?

There is language in the Georgia Association of Realtors forms that refers to what manner items will be repaired. In other words, who is qualified to do the repair. Do you want a plumber working on the roof?

If in doubt, make sure that it is in writing so everyone understands and that it can be enforced. Sign and date things too.

Congratulations!

[Mrminsky]

Thank you for all your responses..... I went ahead and asked them in detail what is it that they were planning on doing. Everything is in writing now.... I worked with an agent Prior to finding this home, and our experience was not very good. ... Dealing directly with a seller is a pleasure,. No middle men on either side looking after their own interest...

[frustrated_owner]

We thought the seller's were really nice when we bought our home too. That is, until we found all the major hidden problems that they had covered up (to the degree that even the inspector couldn't find them).