Hi,

I made an offer (1st time for me) on a house that obviously needs some
work. For instance, it is a 40 year old house with the original roofing.
After the home inspection, it is evident that the roof is leaking now and
should have been replaced. I didn't know that, and thought I could fix
the roof in a year or two. I want the place, but I want the roof fixed,
and I won't have the money to fix it. There is also a water damage
condition in the bathroom, that wasn't evident before the inspection.

So the seller agent says that roof condition was factored into his
acceptance of a low offer. Whether he lowers the price or not, due to the
roof, can I work the roof cost into the mortgage? Possibly get a seller
consession of half the roof cost, so I can get the repaair cost from the
mortgage?

This is in Massachusetts.

I'd appreciate replys copied to jwronski at stillwatereng.com

Thanks,

Joe

jwronski at stillwatereng.com

"Joe Wronski" wrote in message
newsan.2004.02.01.07.10.20.250000@stillwatereng. com...
Hi,

I made an offer (1st time for me) on a house that obviously needs some
work. For instance, it is a 40 year old house with the original roofing.
After the home inspection, it is evident that the roof is leaking now and
should have been replaced. I didn't know that, and thought I could fix
the roof in a year or two. I want the place, but I want the roof fixed,
and I won't have the money to fix it. There is also a water damage
condition in the bathroom, that wasn't evident before the inspection.

So the seller agent says that roof condition was factored into his
acceptance of a low offer. Whether he lowers the price or not, due to the
roof, can I work the roof cost into the mortgage? Possibly get a seller
consession of half the roof cost, so I can get the repaair cost from the
mortgage?

This is why you get the inspection BEFORE you make the offer, and/or make
the offer contingent on the place passing inspection. If you already
offered, and it got accepted, legally you are SOL unless you can show they
knew the place had leaks and water damage and didn't tell you. (at least
around here- Mass. is often strangely different.)

Unless you have a very understanding loan officer, unlikely they will bump
the note higher than the value of the place, unless you are making a huge
down payment. Maybe you could reduce your down payment to get the cash, and
then refinance in a couple of years? Doesn't hurt to ask bank or seller if
you can work out something, but don't get your hopes up.

aem sends...

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 02:10:21 -0500, someone wrote:

So the seller agent says that roof condition was factored into his
acceptance of a low offer. Whether he lowers the price or not, due to the
roof, can I work the roof cost into the mortgage? Possibly get a seller
consession of half the roof cost, so I can get the repaair cost from the
mortgage?

If the seller is willing to bargain more, he can give any or no
concession on the roof that he want to. But he's already said that
was factored into his price, so if he sticks to his guns he is not
gonna move on the price.

I suppose you could agree that he would fix the rooff and then the
price would be increased by that amount. NOTE: he is not likely to
want to put any more money in to a place he is getting rid of; he may
not have it anyway, and will only want to do the cheapest job if he is
fronting the $. So maybe YOU will have to advance the price of the
roof on condition you select the roofer.....)

But will the house still appraise right to qual for the higher mortg.?

Or would your lender agree to lend more than the purchase price and
escrow the price of the roof? (Again, with roof repairs it must
appraise for enought to cover the total loaned).

-v.

(v) wrote in
:

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 02:10:21 -0500, someone wrote:

So the seller agent says that roof condition was factored into his
acceptance of a low offer. Whether he lowers the price or not, due to
the roof, can I work the roof cost into the mortgage? Possibly get a
seller consession of half the roof cost, so I can get the repaair cost
from the mortgage?

If the seller is willing to bargain more, he can give any or no
concession on the roof that he want to. But he's already said that
was factored into his price, so if he sticks to his guns he is not
gonna move on the price.

I suppose you could agree that he would fix the rooff and then the
price would be increased by that amount. NOTE: he is not likely to
want to put any more money in to a place he is getting rid of; he may
not have it anyway, and will only want to do the cheapest job if he is
fronting the $. So maybe YOU will have to advance the price of the
roof on condition you select the roofer.....)

But will the house still appraise right to qual for the higher mortg.?

Or would your lender agree to lend more than the purchase price and
escrow the price of the roof? (Again, with roof repairs it must
appraise for enought to cover the total loaned).

First off, I *never* want the seller to do any kind of major or important
repair. He's not going to live in the house, all he wants is cheap and
complete.

If you want to roll this into the mortgage, ask your loan officer for
advice. One way to do it is to add verbage into the contract that the
seller will place $x into escrow for roof repairs, to be completed by the
buyer after closing. Then increase the sale price by the same ammount.
Other than a few dollars in commision, it costs the seller nothing, and the
buyer maintins control of the repair process.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 02:10:21 -0500, Joe Wronski (that's me) wrote:

Hi,

I made an offer (1st time for me) on a house that obviously needs some
work. For instance, it is a 40 year old house with the original roofing.
After the home inspection, it is evident that the roof is leaking now and
should have been replaced. I didn't know that, and thought I could fix
the roof in a year or two. I want the place, but I want the roof fixed,
and I won't have the money to fix it. There is also a water damage
condition in the bathroom, that wasn't evident before the inspection.

So the seller agent says that roof condition was factored into his
acceptance of a low offer. Whether he lowers the price or not, due to the
roof, can I work the roof cost into the mortgage? Possibly get a seller
consession of half the roof cost, so I can get the repaair cost from the
mortgage?

This is in Massachusetts.

I'd appreciate replys copied to jwronski at stillwatereng.com

Thanks to all that replied.

(v) said:

If the seller is willing to bargain more, he can give any or no concession
on the roof that he want to. But he's already said that was factored into
his price, so if he sticks to his guns he is not gonna move on the price.

He ended up taking the original offer, but kicking 5000 back.

I suppose you could agree that he would fix the rooff and then the price
would be increased by that amount. NOTE: he is not likely to want to put
any more money in to a place he is getting rid of; he may not have it
anyway, and will only want to do the cheapest job if he is fronting the $.
So maybe YOU will have to advance the price of the roof on condition you
select the roofer.....)

But will the house still appraise right to qual for the higher mortg.?

Or would your lender agree to lend more than the purchase price and escrow
the price of the roof? (Again, with roof repairs it must appraise for
enought to cover the total loaned).

I've mentioned the situation to the mortgage company and it didn't seem to
phase him.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:23:01 -0600, David W. wrote:

First off, I *never* want the seller to do any kind of major or important
repair. He's not going to live in the house, all he wants is cheap and
complete.

Agreed.

If you want to roll this into the mortgage, ask your loan officer for
advice. One way to do it is to add verbage into the contract that the
seller will place $x into escrow for roof repairs, to be completed by the
buyer after closing. Then increase the sale price by the same ammount.
Other than a few dollars in commision, it costs the seller nothing, and
the buyer maintins control of the repair process.

We'll see how this works at the P&S agreement.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 14:14:15 +0000, ameijers wrote:

This is why you get the inspection BEFORE you make the offer, and/or make
the offer contingent on the place passing inspection. If you already
offered, and it got accepted, legally you are SOL unless you can show they
knew the place had leaks and water damage and didn't tell you. (at least
around here- Mass. is often strangely different.)

Who knew? My agent didn't tell me that.

Unless you have a very understanding loan officer, unlikely they will
bump the note higher than the value of the place, unless you are making
a huge down payment. Maybe you could reduce your down payment to get the
cash, and then refinance in a couple of years? Doesn't hurt to ask bank
or seller if you can work out something, but don't get your hopes up.

If the bank backs out due to it being too much for the property, that's
OK. I'll find something.

I've got a carpenter friend that said he'd roof the place if I haul the
shingles up. And another friend with a machine to lift the shingles. So,
I might get a good price on labor.

THanks again,

Joe W.