Are the sellers being unresonable? *Update Pg 3*

[Chicago526]

****UPDATE****

Well, after a weekend when both my laywer and the seller's laywer took a long weekend (to get away from us, I'm sure) I think we have a deal hammered out.

First, DFi, who was not present for the home inspection due to work (I tried to schedule it so he'd be there, no luck) finaly told me "oh yeah, I can fix the sewer line myself, I've done it before on my mom's house, no big deal and it won't cost that much".

Thanks for the timely info, sweetheart!

Also, DFi says the suspected aspestos is most likely an acrylic insulation, based on the date of the furnace being installed. Looks just like aspestos. We'll still get it tested for ourselves, and deal with it later.

The sellers agreed to up the credit at closing to $1700 for radon and other repairs, and agreed to have the furnace serviced. They had it done already, and a part on the furnace did need to be replaced, which they've done (a thermocupler (sp?), whatever that is). The radon should be around $700 to do, so that leaves us around $1000 to make the other repairs, and since DFi can do most of it himself, that should more than cover everything except the possible asbestos. If it turns out to be aspestos, we don't have to have it removed ($$$$$$$), we can have it encapsulated (sp?) which is not nearly as expensive. Since we don't know what it is exactly, we cannot ask the sellers to credit that (I asked).

This is the only single family home we looked at that is in a good neighborhood that isn't a dump (the problems we found were the only problems, the rest of the house is in perfect condition, especially for a 48 year old house!). It fits our requirements to a "T". We knew we'd have to do some work on whatever house we bought, so I think this will work out for us in the long run.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your feedback and support!

 

[nativetxn]

Sounds like things have worked out in a manner that pleases you. Enjoy your new house.

Katholyn

 

[chrissyk]

It shouldn't be an ordeal to find out if the insulation is asbestos or not. There is no reason why you can't get credit back for having to have it encapsulated if it is asbestos. I'd be investigating that now just to make sure that credit is granted where credit is due. Otherwise, it sounds like everything is working out well for you, which is great!

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Congratulations on getting your house. Enjoy home ownership and a garden and a yard for your dog!

 

[Microcell]

Glad it worked out for you!

 

[HayGan]

I'm glad to hear that you came to an agreement that you are happy with! Enjoy your new home

 

[Lisa F]

I just wanted to offer some support. We bought a 120 year old house last year that had a lot of the same problems. It cost $300k and we have put about $7500 into it so far dealing with a bunch of issues (that were identified in the inspection report but the seller made it perfectly clear he wouldn't do a thing and we really wanted the house). We needed some roof work done, had asbestos removed (about 125 ft of it, it's not that big a deal if you have someone who knows what they are doing remove it though often it's best to just leave it in place), and are currently getting about $3k worth of plumbing done (some of it elective, some of it "preventative maintenance" ie replacing the water heater that has some rust spots on it before it goes at a bad time, some of it really needed to be done, like replacing a couple of sections of galvanized pipe with copper and putting a whole house water filter on because the mains are galvanized, rerouting a water line that runs right over our subpanel). We tested high for radon and then restested 6 months later and it was normal (radon can fluctuate). Our basement is not finished and never will be so it wasn't a huge concern.

In our area (and in most areas) houses appraise at exactly what you are paying for them, so you can't use an appraisal as a basis to judge the value of your house. If you were paying $5k less your appraisal would be $5k less. It's not a conicidence that your house appraised for exactly the asking price. What you always need to ask yourself is whether you can get better for your money. In our case we couldn't and it was worth putting the $$ into it (we STILL got a bargain and BTW, I had to fight to get the mortgage company to even accept the appraisal, there are so few comps here... but I know we got a bargain based on what other stuff sold for shortly after our house closed).

None of your problems would have me running screaming and it kind of surprises me how squeamish people are about some of these issues. I've never seen a house that didn't have some problems and none of these are insurmountable by a long shot. Now tell me the foundation is failing or your structure is eaten away by termites or you have black mold and we'll talk, but you're talking about normal older house stuff.

 

[dcgrumpy]

ITA with you Lisa

I guess it depends on the market where you live. We bought a 90yo house last year for over $300K, which was a bargain, and told the owners we were willing to pay for anything that needed to be fixed so that it could pass the FHA inspection.

 

[Lisa F]

ITA with you Lisa

I guess it depends on the market where you live. We bought a 90yo house last year for over $300K, which was a bargain, and told the owners we were willing to pay for anything that needed to be fixed so that it could pass the FHA inspection.

True that. It must be nice living in a market where people can afford to turn down perfectly good houses for less than $2k worth of work that needs to be done. If you are living in anything other than a brand new house with brand new stuff you should be spending more than that yearly on maintenance and preventative maintenance issues anyway. It always amazes me when people expect old houses to be in "new" condition or feel like sellers have an obligation to provide a perfect house to them. It just doesn't work that way in this market and in NYS, the sller doesn't even have to disclose anything.... if the seller pays $500 (which is about 1/10 of 1% of the purchase price of the house) the seller is off the hook from being sued if anything goes wrong. It's total buyer beware and not for the squeamish!