Hello all,

We looked at a old stone house, built in 1920s, in Bergen county, NJ,
and fell in love with it. It's just beautiful! Huge family room with a
fireplace, dining room, beautiful breakfast nook, kitchen, sun room
and a library on lower level. 3 BRs on top, and a large (for this
area) piece of property. A good amount of the lower level is stone,
rest of lower level and upper level has cedar shakes.

Anyway, before I jump and make an offer I plan to get it inspected.
The house was rented for a long and has suffered neglect. The owner
had asked someone to care for the house and it wasn't. The owner is
trying to fix soem of the problems.
Some problems I noticed during my walk through-
- damp and unfinished basement. No floor, just dirt. I was told
dampness is due to gutters not having leaders to divert warer away
from house. They were recently installed.
- Minor leakage on family room ceiling. Roof on the FR does not have
steep enough slope (me thinks) and with all the snow in NJ during last
2 yrs, it possibly leaked in.
- Old, original windows in fair to bad shape.
- Old dark cedar shake shingle siding. Don't know how old.
- No central air.
- Some minor work needed on mortar.

Some good things -
- Didn't notice termite damage (doesn't mean it's not there)
- Didn't notice any othere water leaks (didn't get to check the attic
yet)
- House "feels" solid, no spongy floors, etc.

Anyway, I would like to hear your experiences, word of wisdom and
caution!

Thanks in advance.

Raj