House inspection reports, what do you do?

[Tybee]

thanks, Steve, that is excellent advice, on both counts.
Iris Lilies, it's the second paragraph of yours that rings home. Yes, this would be our first mortgage in 10 years, and we are getting much older, and retirement savings not where they should be. This deal seems like a money pit already. I fear these problems are beyond my pocketbook.

[catherine]

If you guys are not in love with the place and your gut is telling you that maybe it's not the best place, is it possible to consider renting in the area for a year? I know that's not cheap either, if you already have a home in the Midwest, but it might give you breathing room. You could attend to your parents' needs and look around at your leisure.

Is that a possibility?

[sweetana3]

Personal opinion, but those are some really serious issues. Almost any one of them would have caused me to run away. We had one house we looked at that sparked when we turned on the garage light and saw the knob and tube wiring. The roof is very concerning and requires a specialist.

Remember anything your inspector sees could keep any other potential buyer away if you needed to sell.

Hot market, wanted for tear down, or enough money to fix anything without a second care would have to be in play. It is rare that there is only one adequate house in a market.

[razz]

I would walk away! These are serious issues that tell me that the workmanship done on the house over the years was substandard. The inspector can only see so much but definitely not everything.

Until your DH accepts that house hunting is a very serious business that will impact your future, do the research with him of what you really need. Make a list of desirables, a list of how long you expect to live there, what your needs will be over that period of time, what will trigger you to sell it at any point...? Then, having done the necessary research,

Go hunting in the neighbourhood your are considering in order to see what is available, prices, ease of selling, desirable areas and non-desirables re amenities available that you will need and use over the projected time, floor plans, separate house requiring your maintenance or simple one-floor condo with maintenance included.

That is what I did in buying my latest house and friends are now looking for homes like mine. Theirs are too big, multiple levels, too far away from amenities, too much work and they have to make a decision ...

[Teacher Terry]

When we bought our last old house we made sure that structurally it was good as you are mentioning all big ticket items. I would not do it. Ours was more that the inside needed to be redone to suit us. Yes the floor was rotten in one spot and we had a little mold in one closet but that was easily taken care care of. Our heating system, electrical and roof were all great. At my age I am unwilling to take financial risks because there is no way to recover.

[Williamsmith]

What’s the point of a home inspection if it isn’t to keep you from making an expensive mistake? I run.

[Tybee]

Thanks, everyone, for all your input! We tried to make it work, but when talking to the insurance folks, realized that we would not be able to get a standard insurance policy, and so we walked from the house.

Thanks again.

[bae]

Knob and tube wiring is not by itself a huge reason for any concern, *if* it has been properly maintained and not messed with over the years by incompetent people. Most knob-and-tube wiring I've come across has been in poor repair though, or alterations to the home have rendered it unsafe.

I wouldn't buy a home with significant defects unless:

- the location was somehow essential/irreplaceable. My current house had some problems, but I wanted the site.

- the price is reduced to account for the issues, *including* your time/bother dealing with them. Do not, unless it is a minor issue, have the current homeowner "fix" issues, that almost never goes well

- you are planning a remodel/restoration, and priced your offer knowingly according to its "as-is" condition. I got a great deal on our final California house, but then spent 7 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars restoring it.

If it's just a fungible home in a fungible location, don't touch it!

[Tybee]

Knob and tube wiring is not by itself a huge reason for any concern, *if* it has been properly maintained and not messed with over the years by incompetent people. Most knob-and-tube wiring I've come across has been in poor repair though, or alterations to the home have rendered it unsafe.

I wouldn't buy a home with significant defects unless:

- the location was somehow essential/irreplaceable. My current house had some problems, but I wanted the site.

- the price is reduced to account for the issues, *including* your time/bother dealing with them. Do not, unless it is a minor issue, have the current homeowner "fix" issues, that almost never goes well

- you are planning a remodel/restoration, and priced your offer knowingly according to its "as-is" condition. I got a great deal on our final California house, but then spent 7 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars restoring it.

If it's just a fungible home in a fungible location, don't touch it!

It was the site and location that made it great. However, at the price we could not afford to buy the house and do the work necessary to fix the significant problems and to get it where we could get it insured; we just did not have enough money. And that's okay. We thought it was in okay shape as it was priced accordingly. But it wasn't, so we can't.

Catherine, I really like your rental idea but DH is set against that, so I guess we keep looking.

We will probably look in a less expensive area, for something that is priced low enough that we can do the work necessary to make it okay. We will find something, or we will stay put, I guess.

[catherine]

So sorry to hear about this, but I'm sure the right house will present itself at the right time.