kelly writes:
Hi,
I fell in love with this house that is
15 yrs old,
Uh oh. That's a dangerous home age to be falling in love with a
place, cus it's about when the first wave of a bunch of crap needs to
be replaced.
double garage, with roof, furnace, and some bay windows never
replaced. I have never done home repair before. The seller's house
inspector said those have to be replaced.
That's gonna cost a bundle. First, Figure, oh, $3-4k for the furnace
assuming we're talking about a 4br house or so.
Ah, the late 80's early 90's when crappy wood started getting used
with abandon. The bay windows _should_ be okay, but did the inspector
specificaly call those out for needing replacement? If so,
something's wrong--perhaps the windows were just junk and not
maintained. Windows should last a lot longer than 15 years. Why are
they in need of replacement? Is there water penetration? If there's
water penetration, there'll be mold concerns.
Roof, 15 years depending on the slope and such, it would make sense
for that to need replacement. Cost vary like mad with roof size,
slope, and how many surface/starting edges it has. If the current
shingles are asphalt shingles and aren't curling too bad and you can
put a 2nd layer. Figure $3k-4k for that perhaps. I'm picturing a 4br
2000-some square foot house for these wild assed guesses.
I don't know how soon those has to be replaced and approximately how
much for each repairs? Currently, the house I'm living now, I rent
the furnace.
If I were in your shoes I'd do several things:
a) emotionally distance myself from this house so I could be
objective.
b) make an offer on the house that is reflective of what I
already know is wrong with the place. Make sure that offer
has a professional inspection contingency.
c) have this place inspected by a licensed home inspector that
I pay. I won't trust the word of a seller's inspector.
d) Get professional estimates (preferably several as they can
vary all over the place) for the items that the inspectors
indicate need repair immediately and in the near future.
e) go back to the seller with this list and negotiate credit
for the items that are not in operating conditions or that
present a health and safety hazard at the moment. And
feel them out for what they're willing to do to mak the
deal happen on those items in the "need to be fixed very
soon" category.
f) negotiate the seller to purchase a home warranty for the
place so you reduce the chances of getting hit with big
bills in teh first year of owning the home when you'll have
many new expenses anyway.
If you can't come to terms, walk from the deal.
Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/