On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 04:27:04 GMT, Tony wrote:

I am buying a house here on Long Island. It is a cape with a full finished basement. It is in a
good, average neighborhood and has a good school district. They asked $399,000. I offered $350,000.
They said no. They had a few more open houses and didnt get what they wanted so they finally agreed
on $368,000. The house was built in 1960 or so. Most of the rooms have paneling from the 70's. The
basement and the 2nd floor have paint (maroon and tan, respectively) over the paneling. Most rooms
have no moldings where the paneling meets the ceiling. In other words, this house has many cosmetic
flaws but I am not concerned with that. A house in this area usually goes for higher than this these
days so I am getting a decent deal.

I had an engineer come in and he found some things out. My main concerns are that there is no ground
wire in the house, therefore, every room has a 2 prong outlet. No outlets in any of the 3 bathrooms.
The roof will be gone in a year (there are two now so I am going to have to go down to the
sheathing. There is 100 amp electric service, which is ok, even though most houses have 200. There
is very low water pressure despite the fact that this house is 2 blocks from the water tower. When
you run the kitchen sink and flush the first floor toilet, the sink water goes below 50% of it's
original pressure. The house has all 1/2" pipe (no 3/4").

SInce I will be pretty strapped after buying this house, I am not going to have the money to fix all
of the above problems. The engineer is figuring on $8000 or so to re-wire the house with a ground
wire and installing 3 prong outlets. I do not want the house reduced by any amount. I would rather
have the house in good order.

Why rewire? Unless code is forcing it, two prong electrical outlets
were safe enough for the longest time. If you just want to have
additional safety, see about installing some gfi receptacles in the
kitchen; these don't need a ground to operate. If you want 3-prong
for your computer, consult an electrician about just running a new
circuit and find out what code would say about making it grounded.

I wouldn't give the electrical the highest priority, that is
relatively minor. I'd be worried about the roof! It may need more
than just reshingling; no way to tell until you pull it all off and
check.

This house sounds like a fixer-upper; not a problem as long as you
understand that going in. If you aren't willing to do the work or if
your standards are too high, move elsewhere.


Also, the main bathroom needs a new shower body installed (tiles ripped out, new shower, re-tile)
and there is a leak in the lead bend.


I'd see if I could get something knocked off for that.