Well, we found the catch...

[Rajah]

Question is, how bad of a "catch" is it.

Had the inspection done on the house today (again, those of you who recommended we get an independent inspection done even if we build/buy new, THANK YOU). Most of the things he found were minor cosmetic things. Scuffs here, chip in the moulding there, missed paint here, moulding slightly crooked and so on. Things you're going to find in every single house you step into, it's just a question of where.

But there were two "major" problems. Or, rather, two biggies and we don't know how bad the biggies are, having never bought a house before.

The first is the roof. If I understood him correctly, the shingles weren't attached properly and it needs to be completely redone. He recommended having it completely removed and replaced, or at very least having a rep of the manufacturer come out and verify that the waranty will still apply since about half the shingles he inspected weren't attached properly. Anyone know how long it takes to re-roof a house?

The second is that one of the beams in the back roof has only one support beam and four are recommended. He said he didn't know if the city inspectors had checked the load on the beam and found it to be low enough that only one support was sufficient, or if they'd skimped, but he recommended asking about that and possibly having a couple of other supports put in place.

They also didn't use as many hurricane strips as he would have liked, but he said they almost never do so that's not unusual.

Overall, he said the house was a little below typical workmanship for houses in the overall Houston area in that price range. My impression was that he didn't find anything that he felt wasn't fixable, but that there were some things that needed to be fixed.

So, the question is, is this typical? Do inspections almost *always* come back with issues like this (not necessarily all roofs are bad or stuff but always some "biggie" and lots of minors), did we just get a more thourough than usual inspector, or was the house poorly built all the way around and should be forgotten about?

The other question is, if all of these things are fixable, how long is this going to delay closing? (That's rhetorical of course, no one can answer it but the builder)

 

[binny]

What I would do is take a copy of the report to the seller and and the builder and see what theyre willing to do with it!

They may say " I will discount you$XXXX off the price"or " I will fix it for you"

THeres ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS room for negotiations.

 

[helenabear]

Binny took the words right out of my mouth! Check with the seller and also check with the manufactuer about the roof and whomever for the support beam. The statement "the house was a little below typical workmanship for houses in the overall Houston area in that price range" is what bugs me most. We had things that needed to be fixed for our house, but the overall house is very well built. I don't want to sound negative but that makes me wonder about the rest of the house since it looks to be fairly newly built. Good luck!

 

[aahmom1]

Isn't this a brand new house? I would be concerned about a brand new house having a bad roof. If they didn't put the roof on right just think about what's inside the walls that they can hide.

If I were you, I would definitely rethink buying that house.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

the house was a little below typical workmanship for houses in the overall Houston area in that price range

That is very worrisome for a brand new house Rajah. That is about as close as I have ever seen an inspector come right out and say "Run Away From This House!!!"

If they scrimped on something so obvious as nailing down shingles properly on the roof - who knows what is hidden in the rest of the house?

 

[luv2nascar]

The words a little below typical craftsmanship bothers me the most - did you ask the inspector just for the heck of it if he/she would buy that house?

It's sort of like asking a doctor what specialist would you send your mother to.

The roof thing would bother me - a brand new house can be ruined in no time from water damage from a leaky room
minor things are to be expected I guess.

I am trying to think of something positive to say to help you out.
I just don't know - my gut is telling me it doesn't sound quite right.

 

[minniecarousel]

My question exactly! Isn't this a new house? I wouldn't buy it if the builder doesn't replace the roof! You'll regret it later! I'd also question them on the support beam as well. Good luck! (I'd trust the independant inspector above the builder/seller. After all, you hired him - he's working for you!)

 

[Rajah]

Yes, it's a new house. The roof has all the nails/staples/etc needed, just not in the right place (as I understand it, there's a line you're supposed to nail/staple/secure along and some are above and some are below the line).

All the electrical part of the report came back pretty much as expected -- good except for one light that needs insulation moved from around it, and one A/C a little smaller than suggested for that size of house. He said all the builders do that part.

The frame of the house was inspected too and other than that one brace he didn't find anything really disagreeable there. The place where things were "below average" was in the trim quality -- lower than average cabinets (we knew that), molding not exactly lining up, paint missing in spots, a loose banister (fixable with a few nails) -- mostly cosmetic, all fixable. So other than the roof (which the salesguy said get them the report on and they'll talk to the actual guy in charge of building that one to see how they can fix things) the structure was sound.

He said other than the roof, he didn't see anything that would make him run away from the house. And if they fixed the roof, if we could live with the cosmetics stuff, we should be okay.

 

[jipsy]

The second is that one of the beams in the back roof has only one support beam and four are recommended.

Rajah that's pretty important.

How long has this house been on the market vs. typical time for similar new homes in the area to sell?

I have been around the real estate market for 20 years. I have worked with contractors. There are really good ones who do good quality work, and there are others who will skimp by with as little as possible so as to make as much money as they can.

It is possible he sub-contracted out the roof supports and the shingles and just used a bad roofing company. He may not realize it and by you pointing it out to him, he can make sure he doesn't use them again.

Then again, maybe not.

Reshingling the roof is really not that big of a job and a good quality roofer can have that done in a few days.

Adding three more support beams is a totally different story.

I'd rethink buying this house if I were you. Did you ever see the movie "Money Pit" with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long? You don't want one of those.

 

[MosMom]

Well, when we recently sold our house (2 years old and built by Centex) we had the inspection done and he cited a ton of things. He said there was one code violation as well. We went back to the builder who debuffed the code violations. We got a second opinion and he said the same things the builder said. The first inspector wasn't very good as it turns out.

For example: He said we needed 5 roof vents and we only had 2. Well, since our attic is completely open and there were no areas that weren't open to the 2 roof vents, we didn't need 5 to follow code. If we had some areas that were closed off we would have needed 5 to follow code...he didn't make this distinction though.

I wouldn't wig out too much. Definitely call the builder and perhaps get a second opinion. If the roof does need to be rebuilt, the builder can have it done in a few days I would think.

The other items we had were things like "pipe not secured to wall" "vent pipe too close to exhaust pipe"....really simple things that were changed in a jiffy by the builder.

Good luck whatever happens!

 

[janette]

Since it is a new house I'd try to get everything on the list!

If you are buying an existing the small flaws are expected but I would think in a new one they shouldn't be there. Most people I know that have had houses build don't sign off until all the little things are fixed.

Something I learned when we bought our house was that after the inspection anything found wrong would have to be reported to the next potential buyer. It will be in the builders best interest to fix the problems (especially the roof) since they would have to tell the next person about the problems. The disclosure laws would require them too.

 

[Mskanga]

Rajah;
Speaking from someone who had the roof replaced two years ago ( rafters and all ) I can tell you the whole thing took four days and I mean take off the old stuff and replace. My rafters were all single, they were all doubled up every other one and the shingles were placed all in one day, but that also depends on how big the roof is. Make sure either way it goes, wether the seller or the manufacturer , is all documented on your papers , that's of course if they don't fix it before you buy it. Good luck!

 

[fklhou]

Rajah

It takes three to four days to do a roof. The typical roof will be in th $8,000 to $14,000 range. It is inconvienent but you can live throught the process.

As to the rest of your questions, most inspections on new houses do not come back with major problems for new construction. Yes there will be a punch list of things to clean up but structural problems and bad roofs are not the norms. I would be most worried about the structural issue.

Good luck.

 

[Tiger Fan]

Is this a track house? If so the builder will want these things corrected and really quick if he doesn't want trouble in the neighborhood. As a realtor and appraiser, this report is worrisome. If you were my client I would be advising on some serious thoughts about this house and rechecking the contract to make sure I had written you in and "out" - you did have outside representation other than the listing realtor - right? Good luck to you.

Lisa

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes Rajah this is definetly not good & not normal. Lets put it this way...I built a house 2yrs ago. The neighbors on the the court built 1yr ago. A small part of the dining room leaked water onto her furniture. So yes it can happen and these are decent builders. Sometimes they skimp or someone makes a mistake.
At the very least you should pay either less than the cost to fix it or what I would do would be to have it fixed/inspected prior to signing on the dotted line, DO NOT SIGN WITH A PROMISE TO FIX. SIGN ONLY IF IT IS FIXED/INSPECTED. (Speaking from experience, been there, done that)
The good news/bad news is if you don't take this house you know that you can get one somewhere else.
{{{{{HUGS}}}} I hope things go your way!!!

 

[bumcat]

Rajah - I sent you a pm.

 

[Rajah]

Originally posted by Tiger Fan
you did have outside representation other than the listing realtor - right?

Yes, we do. I'll be calling her this morning once I get to work (I really need to get her phone number at home instead of leaving it at work ) and letting her know the results.

What do you mean by track house? It was one of their regular designs in a neighborhood where they're building a lot of them, is that what you mean?

DO NOT SIGN WITH A PROMISE TO FIX. SIGN ONLY IF IT IS FIXED/INSPECTED.

Thanks, Mystery. I have absolutely no intention of signing on the house until it is FIXED.

After sleeping on it, though, I don't think it's the end of the world anymore like I did last night. The more I think about it, the more I remember hearing others' stories (in this part of town) where they'd had problems with newly-built homes because they hadn't had them inspected. I know of people who had leaky vents, leaky roofs, electrical problems, all within the first few months of ownership of a brand new home. So in a way, this is good -- we at least know ahead of time so know what to tell them to fix *before* we close. So we're ahead of the game compared to some people. And really *most* of the "issues" were cosmetic things that I remember seeing in all the other builders we looked at, too.

I really wonder if our neighbors to either side had their homes inspected prior to closing, and if so if they had similar problems...?

 

[Zurg]

Call the local building code enforcement office.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Have you discussed the situation with your lawyer? I am under the impression that a contract to buy is contingent on the house passing inspection.

I think you need to have a roofing contractor or two look at the house and give you an estimate of how much it will cost to fix. Also, a good contractor (i.e., one who works on more than roofs) should be able to say whether the house is worth buying.

If you decide to go ahead with buying, you should renegoiate your contract to either 1) having the current owner fix the roof or 2) deducting the amount it will cost you to fix it from the sale price.

 

[Serena]

Rajah, didn't you say this was the "model" home? I imagine they slapped it together as fast as they could to get it up.

I wouldn't panic either, make sure all the structual stuff is fixed properly, and I'd double check everything else too. Just to make sure nothing was missed.
With the cosmetic stuff, depending on how bad it was, I'd either ask for it to be fixed, or the amount it would cost for someone to fix it. Or if it's truly minor, whatever you want.

You said this house is perfect for you. If you had bought another home it may have needed a new roof too. It's not a big deal. But, I'm going to make sure I have an inspecter look at anything I'm about to buy. lol