"Mac" wrote

Interesting, I don't thing we have this specific law in place but I will
check. It was the inspector himself who claimed to be a :deal breaker",
my

Harmless to check. You can probably find out from google. If you'll tell
me what state you are in, I can look about too. I might find it faster
because I kinda know what I am looking for.

fault for falling for it. He was not recommended by our agent, I refused
to use hers (and it ticked her off a bit I think).

Most agents get a small kickback for this from the 'inspector'. Before you
think that is horrible, be at ease. As long as they do an honest report,
thats ok. Normally, they do an honest report because they can be held
liable in most places for gross negligence if they do not.

My friend with the home remodeling business told me he didn't know enough
about foundations to be of any help. Too bad, I wanted someone I could

Too bad. I'd have thought he would know enough to at least say 'gee, I can
tell that is really serious' or 'gee, sorry, this level I cant tell if it's
serious or not'

trust. I'll keep looking. I may just pay a structural engineer who
doesn't do the repair himself (although it's possible he would want to
make a recommendation and therefore would be motivated to cry the sky is
falling. See, I'm learning).

We all do. I didnt even blink at the 1725$ for the chimney repair I needed.
I did not bother to get a second estimate. I went with an old established
company I knew and had used before, well recommended by others in my area.
Extremely HIGH quality work. Because they are a franchise, I can not say if
that comany would be good anywhere else, but here they are top choice.

The house is actually pretty well landscaped (when there's no snow on the
ground), so I don't need to do a lot there, just manicuring. I do need to
add some dirt/grass to the grade and extend the downspouts a little.

Flowers and bulbs, low maintenance bulbs are planted in late fall or
earliest spring. I'm slightly seeging topics here but if you are serious
still that you may want to sell, 'curb appeal' can make a whopping huge
difference.

Mom used to 'flip houses' (new term, we didnt have a name for it then) for a
living. Her and us 3 kids would live in the house, fix it, then sell it for
a profit. We'd live off the proceeds and put the seed money into another.
It was in South Carolina where we had one that we did almost nothing but
paint and put up a little wallpaper, and fix the yard. 3,000 bulbs, 4 trees,
a lilac 'garden', azaleas, roses, gardinias. A few pansies but most was
'plant and forget'. Though some bulb types have to be dug up in winter then
replanted or they get 'confused and come up wierd looking next year' most do
not. We sold that house with 5 competing buyers all offering more and more
til one was the winner. We even had bulb types that flowered all different
seasons so you'd see some in fall. Amaranth? Sorry, been to long to recall
well.

And I don't want to talk about the electrical. All two prong upstairs,
which I knew. But the basement has all three prong outlets. I thought
that

I have much of that here too.

was good since I would have my computer down here and GFCI doesn't do any
good with electronics (static electricity and all). However, not one of
the plugs in the basement is grounded. Why would someone wire the
basement and use grounded outlets with two-wire romex? Geez.

They simply didnt rewire it. They just replaced the outlet with a 3 prong
type and left the ground not plugged into anything. Grin, learn to use a
multimeter and it takes seconds to see that one.

I have the same in some areas but some of the house was rewired to a proper
true 3 prong. Livingroom, kitchen, bar, 1 of the 3 bedrooms, much of back
porch, garage. I have 3 bedrooms with 2 prong and no ground wires run. 7
of the 19 outlets on the back porch just 'look like 3 prong' but arent
really. I have no outlets in either bathroom (something we'd fix if selling
but it actually doesnt bother us any at all).

Anyway, thanks once again for all the advice. I'm just fighting for may
family's financial well being and my peace of mind.
-Mac

Welcome! The most trying time for a new homeowner, is the first 2 years.
Suddenly instead of it being 'some one elses problem, its YOURS'. But as
time goes on, you start building equity and that feels *wonderful* once you
have been there a bit and start to notice it. At first all you notice is
the problems and the costs.

I bought at 83,500$ in 1995. The only reason why my house is only worth
160,000$ now is I am top end for my neighborhood. My 'mortgage' is fixed
(never do anything else! Change if you went variable as soon as you can
when the rates are low!) and still only 766$ a month which includes the
taxes and insurance. Because we also kick an extra amount at them every 3
months of about 300$ which comes straight off the principle owed, we now
'own' a bit over 1/2 the house. My rate can never go up though the portion
which is insurance or taxes can.

It's a 4 BR, 1.5 bath with full garage (which is still a garage and attached
landry room) 1,100sq ft. Rental value alone in my area is 1,100 for the
place next door with no fireplace, no enclosed garage, no back porch (mine
is HUGE), only 3 BR 1 bath, postage stamp sized 850sq.