When you are buying a house, everyone talks about the fun of house hunting. Everyone talks about checking the house out thoroughly yourself. Everyone talks about the stress of making an offer and dealing with counter-offers. Everyone talks about the importance of an inspection. No one talks about what happens after the inspection...
Let me explain... First, you get a qualified inspector to come out and find all the issues with the house. The inspector makes all kinds of notes: 1) notes in black, which are things that are fine or just things to pay attention to or things to know; 2) notes in blue, which are things that are small issues that probably should be addressed but are not urgent or expensive; 3) notes in red, which are things that are big issues (structural, safety, etc.) that are not quick or cheap fixes.
After you get your inspection report, you decide what you want the sellers to fix or to give you credit for (by means of a reduction in the house price or increase in sellers' help) the cost of the repair. In our case, we were concerned with several things: 1) the bathroom GFI outlet which wasn't working (could be a major wiring error or just a bad outlet, etc.); 2) the kitchen sink which was leaking (could be something small or a bad faucet set); 3) the water getting into the storage area by rolling off the roof and in behind the siding (could require fixing of the damaged wood inside the storage area); 4) clogged gutters (could be problems other than clearing debris); 5) the rotted wood on the balcony (could be just the surface wood or the supports as well); 6) the antenna on the roof (just needs to come down when they replace the roof); and 7) the lack of ventilation in the attic (could result in mold and mildew in the attic and would make it harder to cool the house in the summer).
Once you know what you're concerned with, you need to get someone out there to give you estimates (unless you're a handyman yourself). We were referred by our inspectors to a contractor named Russ. Russ came out and checked out all the issues (except the antenna on the roof and lack of ventilation in the attic since we weren't going to ask him to fix those as we wanted the sellers to take care of it during the roof replacement). He believed 1) the bathroom GFI was just a bad outlet; 2) the kitchen sink could use a new faucet; 3) the roof on the storage area would be fixed by adding gutters and a downspout; 4) the gutters just needed cleared; and 5) the balcony could be fixed with replacement of the boards only as the supports are fine. Russ gave us an estimate for all the fixes, including some credit on the labor costs because we agreed to assist with the balcony repair (we are going to learn to be handy!).
Next, you need to approach the sellers' with your response to the inspection in which you let them know what your concerns are and what you want fixed. We listed all the concerns (1-7 from above) that we had after receiving the inspection report. We probably didn't need to list the kitchen sink or the bathroom GFI since those were cheap and easy, but they were on Russ's estimate so they went to the sellers anyway.
Now comes the fun... The sellers get to look at the issues and decide what they will fix or credit us for. We have yet to get the formal response, but our realtor found out what was going on and passed on the news. We found out that the bathroom GFI doesn't need replaced (there was another outlet that we never found that was tripped)! Having lived there for years, the sellers knew where the other attached GFI outlets are located... The sellers went ahead and replaced the kitchen sink faucet to stop the leak. The sellers agreed to add gutters to the storage area roof (we just need to indicate where we want them). The sellers also went ahead and cleared the gutters. They also agreed to remove the antenna from the roof and to add a ridge vent to the roof to add attic ventilation. (A ridge vent is a type of vent installed at the peak of a sloped roof which allows warm, humid air to escape a building's attic. I'm sure you've seen them on houses without even realizing what they are - they just look like a thick part at the peak of the roof.)
And for the stressful part - the balcony! The sellers' first response was that the floor board go under the siding, so the siding would need to be removed to replace the boards so they want to saw off the ends of the boards and replace the rotten ones. Upon further inquiry, we found out they actually want to just replace the rotten boards; they want to mark the ones they are willing to replace and then have us check it out and see if we think more boards need replaced. Aaron and I are quite confused here because we are pretty certain that all of the boards are rotten, at least on the end. Regardless, we want to insure that all the boards are replaced and that they are replaced in whole, not sawed off and replaced from the end (aesthetically it will look better, but we are also concerned with water getting under the floor through the seam and damaging the support boards or the porch ceiling below). Aaron called Russ and he said that the siding didn't need to be removed (the siding and boards only overlap by about 3/8") and that the seller either didn't know what he was talking about or he was trying to make an excuse to do it the cheap way. Russ gave the seller the benefit of the doubt and thought he might just be ignorant as to how to do the project, but I tend to believe he's just trying to be cheap (even my mom and I can imagine how to change the boards without removing siding by sliding the boards under the siding). So, to make this more fun, the seller wants to do the repair himself. I don't trust him to do the work properly - I have no idea how skilled he is! Plus, he made the comment about the siding which we know to be false - so either he doesn't know what he's doing or he's lying to be cheap. Which leads me to Aaron's biggest concern - he is worried the seller will cut corners and do a half-assed job. Either way, we want the sellers to either pay a qualified professional (someone with insurance!) to do the work or to credit us for the repair; we are willing to take a credit for the amount they would have to pay someone...
At this point, we are now playing a waiting game... We need to see what the sellers are going to say about the balcony and hope they are willing to give in a bit. We gave in quite a bit on the asking price and did not ask them to fix all the issues. We are already going to be spending $5k for a natural gas conversion and looking at several thousand in new windows and other repairs. And we have agreed to allow them to put a shingled roof over the bay windows rather than a metal roof (which is what is there currently) since it will be much cheaper - apparently the number angles on the bay window roof makes the metal roof quite expensive. I believe we have been reasonable and we are really not asking much... But it comes down to the question of whether we are willing to lose the house over a thousand dollars or so on a matter of principle! Aiye! (But, hey, it goes two ways - are they willing to lose over $100k in the sale of the house over a thousand dollars or so.)
On the bonus, we found out that they should be getting the roof done during the first week of October... But, more stress - we are being bugged by the mortgage lady about when we are going to do the appraisal; she seemed to indicate that time is ticking away and we need to get it scheduled soon. October 22nd can't come soon enough! (Hopefully, without too many more issues and stressful situations in the meantime...) Wish us luck!
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