What would you do if you were in this situation?

[Jessesbride]

Ok, here's the deal.. we are in a contract to buy a house (literally has EVERYTHING on our want list~but didn't think we could afford it in our first home ~ low & behold their agent talked them into putting it on the market for 5k under value... lucky for us right?!). Inspections went pretty good with the exception of 1-2 MAJOR things... 1. the central h/a vents/boots (on the floor) were rusted out & has sand coming thru them & upon further inspection, it actually needs to be replaced, as in put it into the ceiling rather than in the floor & to have the vents on the floor filled with concrete. & 2. There are about 3 bricks that need to have peers (sp?) put in.

If the sellers refuse to fix any of the problems (which I have a feeling they will... no biggie to them as they have buyers in the wings hoping we'll back out so they can pounce on the property)... we have several options:

1. decide it's a deal breaker & decide to look for another house (& ANY house that is this NICE is at least 5-10k out of our price range).

2. My dad is willing to front us the money to get it all fixed even knowing that it is about $5k+ & we could just get it done before/during the time we are moving in.

3. The sellers could decide that we're not worth the trouble & just fix it & still sell it to the people waiting in the wings & get about the same amt of $$ we are buying the house for.

Other than these 2 issues the house has VERY little else wrong with it! & believe me, we've seen everything on the market in the areas that we are willing to live in regarding houses in our price range & most are basically crap!

What would you do in our situation?

Thanks!

Kim

[ladytoysdream]

Hi
I think you need another opinion / price quote on .....

QUOTE -- with the exception of 1-2 MAJOR things... 1. the central h/a vents/boots (on the floor) were rusted out & has sand coming thru them & upon further inspection, it actually needs to be replaced, as in put it into the ceiling rather than in the floor & to have the vents on the floor filled with concrete. & 2. There are about 3 bricks that need to have peers (sp?) put in. END QUOTE

from number 2 problem... Do you mean a PIER system ? If so, this would be your support structure in the house. This is something that needs to be checked out more. It's not a easy cheap fix either.

number 1 problem.... the sand coming through makes me wonder what else this is affecting. What is the cost to replace this system and to fix the floor ?

Your seller came down on price, and yet they tell you there is another buyer waiting in the wings.... this is not adding up....

You need more info on the costs to fix these problems.

[Momto2Boyz]

Be leary of the realtor saying that there are buyers in the wings. That happened with our house. We lowballed them with our offer, because the house was in need of major repair. We were told when we got the counter offer, that there was someone else putting an offer in, and we'd be wise to take their counter offer.

Well, we stuck to our guns and our original price, and we got the house. The other "buyer" we found out later, was one of our neighbors wanting to buy it and use it as a rental/income property. Their offer was $35K less than ours...but they still tried to use it against us to get us to pay more!

If they are selling the house under market...they probably don't have another buyer at hand.

I could counter with them, since these things are structural and ask them the fix it. Even if they counter back and say no, you still may be able to get them to pay for a percentage of the repairs. Follow your gut, and don't agree to anything until you feel completely comfortable with the agreement!

[Michelle]

Before anything else I would get a few quotes to see how much it would cost to fix the repairs. It sounds like they listed below value because of these issues.

And I agree about telling you that they have other people interested. Keep in mind that they are trying to make money and work off commission.

:goodluck:

[fixer]

Make sure you have a good idea of what the repairs will cost. Try for three estimates. Make sure you understand how much will need to be spent. Have someone else look at the items indicated in you inspection report. Home inspectors are not heavily regulated in some states and some will just try to find something regardless of it's validity. If you have looked at many homes and this one is under market, this is probably the reason. Understand that if you buy this home and enjoy it for years to come, the five thousand dollars will become a distant memory.

[grainne15]

I agree with the other posters - get estimates for starters; your realtor and friends/neighbors can give you referrals to contractors. Remember, home inspectors always give you the worst-case (its their job); repairs may not be essential right now, or may not be as extensive/expensive as you fear.

Then, you might have your real estate agent (you have an agent, right?) go to the buyers with an offer asking for credit at closing for a percentage (or all) of that cost, whatever you're comfortable with. That means you put down less cash at the close, and have that money to do the repairs. That's what we did when we bought our house; inspection revealed old termite damage and a few "fix it now" issues, so the seller handled termite treatment and gave us credit to repair the rest.

Good luck!

[Kazoo]

I also like the idea of a credit at closing for the big stuff. If you ask or require the sellers to make the repairs, you have no control over the quality of work that is done.

Once a large flaw is found on a house for sale, the seller just has to deal with it one way or another. Moving on to the next buyer will not make it go away. In fact, if the deal with you falls through, you'd better believe the next buyer will be especially alert for any flaws and opportunities for price reductions. Hopefully, the sellers' agent is telling them all of this.

Sounds like you have a good inspector. Mine missed all kinds of things that later cost me dearly. So give yours a pat on the back.

[2ndGenGranola]

I also like the credit at closing. You never know what kind of "cover up" jobs they will get done. Get estimates and get a credit.

[rainbowgc]

I'd say with more sellers than buyers on the market - another buyer is probably a ploy. I agree get estimates first and then make your decisions from there.

[jas]

If they have others in the wings waitng to buy this house, do these people know what these major concerns are also? If there are others interested they most likely don't know and if you back out and they have an inspection done and these issues are found and told to them as well I doubt they will just brush it aside without concessions from the seller also.

Get estimates.

[jmd5294]

Quote it all out, and ask the sellers to come down in price (do this knowing that it will end up costing more than you were quoted).

If they don't come down in price, bail on the house--what you described with the bricks sounds like a structural issue. My guess is, the owners listed at the low price b/c they knew about the issues.

If I were you, and I really wanted a nice house, I would wait until I could afford the nice houses that are 5-10K out of my current price range.

[peanut]

I don't know guys. Having lived in old houses...if the house has a foundation problem or an air ventilation problem I'd avoid it like the plague! Those are mega-expensive to fix. At least here they are. I'd be hiring a structural engineer to do an official once over of the place and give a report to the potential buyer...or ask the sellers to foot the bill for one. They're about $300CAD here.

[rudypoo98]

If your dad is willing to loan you the money to repair what needs fixed.Is he willing to loan you the money to get one of the other houses that you say is 5-10,000 out of your range.Seems to me that would be the same thing.