My parents (in their 70's) have found a house they are considering
purchasing as a replacement for their current house which is far too much
house for them going forward. The *new* house is perfect in every way,
except that it suffered a serious flood in the basement recently. Apparently
a washing machine hose failed when the owner was out of town. Anyway, the
finished basement was flooded to 2' or 3' deep, immersing the heater, A/C
coil, water heaters, soaking the walls, and making a mess of everything else
in the basement.

I'm going to tour/examine this house this weekend. I can do plumbing,
roofing, sheetrock, electrical etc., but I've never dealt with serious water
damage.

Obviously, the systems will need to be replaced, as will outlets and any
submerged electrical connections. Also, I figure any sheetrock in the
basement will need to be torn out and replaced. One of the things I'll look
for is to see if mold and/or mildew has spread beyond the areas that were
soaked.

What else should I look for?

For what it is worth, the house is on the market at a serious discount
versus similar houses in the neighborhood that don't have flood damage. I've
advised my parents that whatever they save if they purchase the house, they
should expect to put that money right back into repairs. I.E. there is no
free lunch.

Thanks in advance...

KB

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...

For what it is worth, the house is on the market at a serious discount
versus similar houses in the neighborhood that don't have flood damage.
I've
advised my parents that whatever they save if they purchase the house,
they
should expect to put that money right back into repairs. I.E. there is no
free lunch.

I think you caught the most of it.

Your parents should get a nice discount equal to at least the cost of hiring
all the repairs done. There is also the stigmata factor to consider. The
supervising and scheduling is a lot of work. Anything they can do for
themselves is just a bonus.

If they are in the position to make a cash, no contingency offer, I would
not hesitate to offer 15-20% less than fair market value after all the
repairs are done by hired contractors. You or they will earn the 15%.


Colbyt

To be safe, have them talk to their insurance agent first, too --
depending on the insurance market in your state, it may be difficult
or very expensive to insure a home with recent water damage if the
previous owners filed an insurance claim over the incident.

--
is Joshua Putnam
http://www.phred.org/~josh/
Books for Bicycle Mechanics and Tinkerers:
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