So my house inspection didn’t go well. I really trust my inspector (he has told people to walk away from purchases before, and I like to hear that). He didn’t say that on this one. That said, there’s probably about $20,000 worth of work that needs to be done.
Given what I’m paying for this house, I want all those things completed properly before I sign anything. I refuse to take a credit on them. If they were small and I was handy, sure. But it’s not worth it to me. So now I’m waiting to see what the seller comes back with. If they’re not willing to fix the problems, I’m walking. I love the house, but there are other houses out there. I’ve got my realtor doing some more searches to see what else is out there while we wait. Based on the way the contract is written, I can walk anywhere within 21 days of ratification (last Sunday) for any reason at all. That’s reassuring.
I’m surprisingly not as bummed about this as I thought I would be. But I think that’s because while I love the house, I want my house to be as close to perfect as possible. Of course, I know there’s no such thing as a perfect house. But I want it to be in good, solid condition. Sure, things can go wrong, but I don’t want to move in knowing those things exist.
I’m really not sure what the sellers are going to do. On some level, now they know these problems exist, so they have to disclose them. On the other hand, they can simply say “Well, some inspector saw X, Y, and Z, but we can’t find any proof of that.” And maybe a lesser inspector wouldn’t find the problems. Who knows. It just depends on how badly they want to sell. They also might be willing to find a buyer willing to take a credit. That buyer just isn’t me.
So now we wait.
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
That’s a bit of a bummer, but it could go in your favour yet and the sellers may pay for it. If not, then you’re wise to walk. Good for you for not taking it too personally and being too attached about the whole thing – it’s a great asset to have perspective and be able to know when to walk away. Being sensible when it comes to big purchases such as buying a house is very important! 🙂
Looking forward to hearing what happens 😀
C x
this definitely shows the NEED for having a thorough inspection by a great inspector. Glad you had one and affirm that in your first home purchase, you don’t want to be buying problems. Asking the seller to fix them (and fix them to the satisfaction of the inspector, btw) means that they cannot be tip-of-the-iceberg problems*.
like my stepdaughter’s first home – there were slow drains in tubs. Seems simple & a roto-rooting would serve as a good fix, right? well, owners gave a credit for it, stepdaughter & her hubby signed & bought ‘as is’ meaning they wouldn’t pursue issues after purchase. So then…the entire plumbing drains to the street needed replaced because there were tree-roots that had punctured & grown into the pipes. Backed up sewer drains into the house flooded with icky icky stuff meant new flooring, new cabinetry, etc. $35,000 (their deductible was $5000) and 7 months of hassle later, they put the home on the market because they weren’t ready to be homeowners. Ack!