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why do your parents disagree that this is a good house?
things like evantually needing a new furnace aren't the end of the world. every furnace will eventually need to be replaced, but make sure to think about the money involved in making such changes. it's not cheap.
of what you listed, the only really concerning part to me is the mice droppings. if there are mice, what other creatures are there? why are the mice there? (meaning, what attracted them?)
if you have a gut feeling that this place is not good, walk away. there are a million houses out there. that being said, none will be perfect. even the ones that seem perfect won't be--maintaining a house takes effort and $$$.
Unless a house is brand new, there are going to be things that come up in an inspection. If you parents's house was inspected, the inspector would find things there too! Personally, the one thing that would really scare me too much to buy a house would be foundation issues. All your things seem like they are fixable (loose toilet bowl? can't a handy person fix that on a Saturday afternoon?). Your parents are probably super worried for you because they know it is a big financial commitment. Think of how proud you, your FI, and your families will be when you've made your fixes and made the place your own.
How close is the price of the house to the top of your budget? Meaning, if you purchase it, do you have the money to gradually fix these things, or will the mortgage max out your available funds because the house was at the higher end of what you could afford?
Mice droppings are discouraging, but exterminators and pest control can help with that, and it's not an uncommon thing, especially if the house is in a wooded area. One shingle missing doesn't seem to be a huge deal. The furnace could be expensive, but sometimes that stuff just has to be replaced. Toilet bowls could be tightened or replaced for not much money. The biggest expense would probably be the furnace, so consider if you can afford to replace that if you'll need to in the near future.
If you love it and think you can afford the expenses, see if you can work out maybe a slightly lowered price with the sellers. Most houses you look at will need some sort of repairs eventually, so just consider whether these are really dealbreakers.
I have yet to see a home inspection report that didn't find something wrong. Little stuff being wrong is no big deal. Furnances and roofs need relaced all the time and can be bargining points during the purchase process. I do not see anything in what you listed that would deter me from purchasing the home.
We're trying to buy a short sale, and the inspection failed miserably. The house needs a new roof, new electric, lots of plumbing issues, and the AC wasn't working (we live in FL!). We got estimates on everything and it was $8,000 worth of stuff. Since it's short sale, the seller doesn't really care to put more money into it, they aren't going to make money off of it. The bank offered to lower the price $7,000, and we're taking it. I'm currently 29 weeks pregnant, and we aren't going to lose this house over $1,000.
My dad also wanted us to get a better deal then we did, and we also think we got a good deal! First he wanted us to low ball the offer, even though our realtor said that other people did that before us and they didn't except any of those offers. Well like I said, I'm pregnant and we want to get out of our townhouse before the baby comes, so it's just not worth it to us to lose the house over a little money. I kind of feel bad b/c they're helping us out a little with the house, but my family does have a strict policy of whatever they give is a gift and we can make our own decisions.
A home inspection will always find mutliple things wrong...even in a brand new house. Its the inspectors job to tell you every little thing. Honestly, your report doesn't sound bad at all.
We're about 15K under what our max budget was, so there is a little wiggle room for repairs, although I would rather keep that money in savings for now. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Everything is good - foundation, electrical, plumbing. A few other minor issues such as the trees need to be trimmed, etc, general maintenance stuff.
My dad is nit picking because he was all upset about the main electric line being aluminium and the branches copper. He said that aluminum is cheap. Who knows? All I know is the inspector kept saying how great the electrical was. He'll never be happy though, unless we build, which we cannot afford at the moment.
That's too bad! Don't be hard on yourself! Not everything is visible to the naked eye when looking at a house, that's why there are professional inspectors!
@Bostongrl25:I think the average life of a furnace is 20-25 years, so this one is definitely at the end of its life. Although, the inspector did say that it was well maintained and could last another year or even 5-10 years. There is no way of knowing.
The thing is, though, the air conditioning needs to be replaced right off the bat. This is something that we need to negotiate with the sellers. In most cases, the furnace and air conditioner should be replaced at the same time. The sellers have no reason to replace both, though :(
Those are NOT a big deal! I thought you were going to say there were structural issues!
Those are items that you can use as bargaining chips to bring the price down or have the owner fix before you sign the contract!
The air conditioner was broken: Depending on what is broken it can be an easy fix! Have someone come out to take a look at it and give you a free estimate
the furnace is the original (25 years old) and will eventually need to be replaced:
Like other posters a furnace is something that will eventually need to be replaced. If it's still working fine (ask to see heating costs for past year perhaps?) then don't worry about it right now.
A shingle was missing on the 5 year old roof: A shingle loose is not a big deal. Have them replace and retar the shingle. A 5 year old roof is practically brand new. An average residential asphalt shingle roof has a life expectancy of 20-25 years!
The toilet bowls were loose
Honestly these are not huge issues to me.
@coffeegal85: Thats still not terrible, and honestly...you have no way of knowing how long anything will last in your home. You could move in and have an appliance break the first week. Who knows! That is the scary part of owning a home. But its really no reason to NOT buy a house.
You could always go back to the sellers and ask them to either fix the AC, or give you a credit, or lower the price. We did that when buying our home. The water heater needed to be fixed and the sellers replaced the whole thing!
Ok, you bees are making me feel much better. I'm glad most of you agree that the inspection indicated no major issues out of the ordinary. I was worried that we would need to walk away.
I was thinking of possibly forgoing the pest inspection, but I definitely think it might be worth the $100 dollars upfront to get it done.
Also, even though the furnace is in working condition, just old, could we negotiate the purchase agreement price down a bit? Or is that a no-no?
@Bostongrl25:Yep, that is the plan right now. We're going to go back to the sellers and ask for a new air conditioning unit. We are also assuming that the roof is still under warranty, so we want the owners to use that warranty to get the shingle fixed and add some flashing to a pipe in the attic.
The owners did opt for a home warranty that lasts for a year. It has a $100 deductible and covers basically everything from AC to appliances to heat.
Those things are all normal. You could certainly try negotiate the price of a new furnace into the deal, othey usually run 3-4k I think and you would want to get a good one to last another 25 years. It doesn't hurt to ask and worse case you pay the price but they could also meet you half way or take the lower offer. I feel like my dad would steer me away too. If you know this house is the one and are willign to spend the extra money to fix then I think you will be happy long term. As long as the structure/foundation/electrical/plumbing is fine most things are easily fixed.
We definitely had a ton of little things come up on our inspection, but luckily nothing major. We got a credit from the seller to fix a couple major things, and there are other issues with rain gutters and whatnot that we'll need to take care of in the next few months. The nice thing about buying in the spring is that all the winter stuff (like furnaces) can wait a little while, so you just save a little money over the next few months and there it is.
I really wouldn't worry too much about it. My dad was also nitpicking (he's a lawyer), but FI's dad is an amazing handyman, and he estimated that for $400 at Home Depot and day's worth of labor, we could fix almost all the minor issues. So we decided it wasn't worth making a stink over with the seller. I'd get someone handy to look at your inspection report and possibly even talk to the engineer who performed it, and then they can give you a better idea of whether the issues are major or not. Good luck!
Here's the update: We had a heating and cooling guy come out on Saturday to give us an estimate. He estimated about $3000 for the new air conditioner and another $3000 for a new furnace. We went halves with the owners and they dropped the sale price by $3000. We also requested that an exterminator come out and do something about the mice - the listing and selling realtors will be splitting the cost of that. Lastly, we requested the owners fix the broken shingles on the roof by using their roof warranty - the owners weren't sure if they had a warranty, but I think with most reputable roofers, you get some kind of warranty. So, we'll see how it goes :)
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We had the house we're buying inspected yesterday and there were a few problems. The air conditioner was broken, the furnace is the original (25 years old) and will eventually need to be replaced, a shingle was missing on the 5 year old roof, the toilet bowls were loose, and there were some mice droppings in the basement, just to name a few.
I know that the inspector's job to find every little thing wrong with the house..and I know that these things can be negotiated with the sellers...but I dunno...
I thought overall the inspection went ok, but then against by better judgment, I showed the report to my dad. He picked apart everything on the report and made me feel like a complete idiot for even considering the house. My FI and I love it; it is in the perfect location and we feel like we got a steal on it (but my parents disagree).
I hate feeling like a disappointment to my parents. I honestly thought that FI and I did a good job and thought my parents would be proud.
Anyone else feel discouraged after the inspection? What did you do? Renegotiate sale price? Have the owners fix the problem? Walk away? Fix the problems yourself, pouring more money into the house?