Worrisome Home Inspection or First Time Buyer Paranoia? (real estate, to rent)

[AnonaVA]

Hey there, first time buyer here. Found a home we really like in Northern Virginia that seller reported some nice upgrades on in marketing material and we are under contract. Home inspection did not go as smoothly as we hoped considering we close in 20 days, but we are struggling to understand what we should be holding the seller to and what we can worry about down the road. Report was 104 pages long and took 5.5 hours onsite for a 3,000 sq ft home. LOTS of deferred maintenance that we are prepared to do ourselves but noted the following as issues that gave us more serious concern:

1. Windows - 12 windows were marked as having broken thermal seals, broken counterbalances, or rotten sills/trim/casings (can broken counter balances and broken thermal seals be repaired?)

2. 11 instances of rot around exterior of home on trim, pillars supporting porch, fascia, and soffit (how expensive is this, will they be able to match the paint on the trim to the existing color or are we going to have to repaint the whole house?)

3. Gaps in soffit

4. Water damage - 1 fresh spot on ceiling where an exterior bay window with metal “roof” meets siding, 1 massive and horrible patch work job in kitchen below master bathroom. No sign of fresh moisture but master bath smells like mildew which is probably a bad sign?

5. Inspector marked the driveway as needing immediate attention due to heaving and major cracks, but mostly due to poor elevation/grading and the fact that water is going to pool on top of house.

Water heater is 17 years old (they advertised as being new within 5 years)

6. Broken washing machine that drains into floor (asking for $500 credit as the machine is 19 years old)

7. gas Fireplace will not ignite

8. Minor leaks in bathrooms (handy man or plumber can probably fix that)

We aren't trying to be unreasonable (again, there around 100 pages of the report we are happy to do ourselves) but our agent advised us the seller would likely refuse to do anything more than windows and advised us to ask them to fix it but provide a receipt, explanation of issue and work done, and warranty. Our biggest concerns are the rot, the water damage, and the driveway (which is causing water damage.)

Family members are telling us to expect $40,000 to over all this, our uncle who is also a real estate agent in another state said probably $10,000 if he did the work himself so we don't really know what to expect.

Whats realistic here? We’re already under contract for $5,000 above asking because there was another offer. Not trying to get out of contract but definitely trying to understand If we’re making a mountain out of a molehill. How serious is the exterior wood rot? Roof, foundation, and electrical all came back good. is there a way to fix the downward slope/pool areas of driveway without totally redoing it?

[spencgr]

What does your agent say?

[boyd888]

If there really is another offer and you are already $5K over asking you are SOL on the big stuff. The seller's goal is to sell for as much as possible, not fix up deferred maintenance for you. Some of this stuff should have been obvious before you made an offer anyway (like the driveway).

Now credit for a new water heater and dishwasher definitely get. I'd also ask for the plumbing to be fixed and fireplace to be checked. These are easy service calls for handymen and things that should work properly.

Windows...no way a seller is doing that if there's another offer. That is a HUGE expense in time and money. Ask for credit, hope for a lower counter.
Exterior wood rot...you just replace the wood. Lots of older homes have had all the wood trim replaced with plastic a long time ago for this reason.

[AnonaVA]

Originally Posted by spencgr

What does your agent say?

Agent says we can get a better house for $40,000 more with this stuff already done and better finishes/interior but that its not realistic for this seller to handle anything except the windows. All the work they did was very shoddy (including paint that all needs to be redone) and our agent is saying that the seller clearly stopped caring about the property when they moved out to rent it out 3 years ago and are just cashing in on the market. she thinks the price is reflective of the work it needs, but advised us that we may have to sacrifice the lot and go with a nicer/more expensive house.

[AnonaVA]

Originally Posted by boyd888

Windows...no way a seller is doing that if there's another offer. That is a HUGE expense in time and money. Exterior wood rot...you just replace the wood. Lots of older homes have had all the wood trim replaced with plastic a long time ago for this reason.

Seller actually already offered to pay for $250 per window for 9 of the 13 windows that need replacing, but obviously that doesn't cover the rot in the wood work/trim.

How big of a deal is that rot on the trim? Our families are telling us to walk because that rot could be far worse than it appears from the outside. Will we have to repaint the whole house to match up the trim? Siding is aluminum so I figured its unlikely the rot extends very far beyond the trim, is that likely?

[ChristineVA]

Sounds like a maintenance nightmare. It appears that they never maintained the home. Unless this home is in a VERY hot area and you are getting a reasonably good price on it, wow, I don't think I could even buy it. I agree with your relatives that you're looking at $40K.

I wouldn't be happy with a "fix" for the windows. You need all new windows.

As for the wood rot, trim, issues: I have a siding house with a lot of wood trim accents. I probably don't keep up with it as much as I should but I do keep up with it at some intervals and it's not cheap having it repainted, rot replaced. etc. And it will cost a small fortune for me to cover in vinyl because I have so much of it.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by AnonaVA

Agent says we can get a better house for $40,000 more with this stuff already done and better finishes/interior but that its not realistic for this seller to handle anything except the windows. All the work they did was very shoddy (including paint that all needs to be redone) and our agent is saying that the seller clearly stopped caring about the property when they moved out to rent it out 3 years ago and are just cashing in on the market. she thinks the price is reflective of the work it needs, but advised us that we may have to sacrifice the lot and go with a nicer/more expensive house.

She is your expert, as she is the only one who has seen the house, knows your desires, and the market. Listen to her.

[skeddy]

lower your offer by 40K and then walk away if not done. The other offer if accepted will involve another inspection. Inspector will find the same problems.

[piperdiva]

Originally Posted by skeddy

lower your offer by 40K and then walk away if not done. The other offer if accepted will involve another inspection. Inspector will find the same problems.

I agree with this poster. Water damage issues are a nightmare in this climate. And remember Virginia is a buyer beware state. I learned this the hard way when we moved here from California.

[AnonaVA]

Originally Posted by piperdiva

I agree with this poster. Water damage issues are a nightmare in this climate. And remember Virginia is a buyer beware state. I learned this the hard way when we moved here from California.

Can't believe I neglected to mention this, but when we asked for disclosures our agent explained Virginia doesn't do them. The house has been on the market since january (in an area where homes don't sit) and fallen out of contract three times. When I asked why it had fallen out of contract so many times the sellers agent told us that the buyers all had to sell their homes in order for the deal to go through and it didn't. We don't have a home to sell, so we weren't surprised when they went with our offer vs the other on the table but given that the marketing materials misrepresented the appliances/items in the home, we're wondering if they flat out lied about the other inspections since there's no way the rot didn't come up before.