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The house I'm buying has a big deck in the backyard that is not currently legal. My attorney is asking me if I wish to request the seller have the deck legalized. However, once this is done, the taxes will likely go up (how much I'm not sure at all. If anybody has a general idea how much a deck would effect taxes please let me know). I'm paying all cash so it's not like I need a bank to appraise the house or anything.
I'm just trying to weigh the pros and cons. Is it worth the risk of not having it legalized to keep the taxes as low as possible?
Also, does anybody know if there is a cost to getting a CO/permit for a deck in the town of oyster bay? (Massapequa)
Well if you’re paying cash and you plan to stick around a while you could just accept it as-is.
It most likely won’t be an issue until you sell. Or if you have a scummy neighbor that rats you out. Asking to legalize it could at best blow the deal, or worst case, open a can of worms, which could also kill the deal. I’d say judgement call depending on how much you love the house.
My buyer had same crap, they where cash. I told them I'm not legalizing deck and gave them 1k credit it was a take it or leave it as I had a 10k higher offer that wasn't cash with no mortgage contingency. They took the 1k and we closed as is.
My buyer had same crap, they where cash. I told them I'm not legalizing deck and gave them 1k credit it was a take it or leave it as I had a 10k higher offer that wasn't cash with no mortgage contingency. They took the 1k and we closed as is.
This! Our buyers had an open plumbing permit surface, that our genius attorney/title company missed in 2013. It was a permit from 2009, when original owners replaced boiler, they never closed it out. We offered 1k for buyers to close it out when they convert to gas. Non issue. Case closed (for us atleast).
If you're paying cash I wouldn't bother. Could open a whole can of worms for the seller or more likely they move on to someone who doesn't care. Buyer's market - you hold the cards and could ask.
Are you planning on doing any work that requires permits? because you'll have to get it legalized then.
Are you planning on selling at some point soonish? you may have to get it legalized then.
Will it hurt you if you're doing neither of those things? probably not.
Was the deck constructed correctly? There are a whole lot of janky homeowner constructed decks out there.
You can do the expedient thing and say, no problem. Its probably what you should do given current market conditions... Just realize you're now on the hook if you need to get it in the future.
Just have to worry about a lawsuit if someone is injured. Speak to your real estate attorney. I see split ranches with a back deck and a hot tub on it (20 feet off the ground) . If that’s the case you better hope it’s up to code especially if someone is on it at the time if it gave out.
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