> -----Original Message----- > From: Chesty Puller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:40 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Mold in my house Inspection (was Mortgage Suggestions?) > > Yes, you're being naive. You shouldn't pay a price for something that has > a > lot of broken parts, unless you're getting a steal on it and you know > that's > it's going to be worth your time and money to repair it.
But this is where I'm getting confused... "a lot of broken parts "? The way I'm seeing the items on the inspection report: +) The problems with the electrical system I can fix myself in a short afternoon. The GFCI breakers/outlets will cost in the range of $200 but that's the only cost for that. This work isn't needed at all however - we'll probably do it to get things up to current code, but we don't have to. These aren't "broken" things. Most of the wiring has been replaced (Romex is newer than the house is). The electrical boxes and accessories are all new as well. +) There's evidence that foundation cracks have been repaired - very common for a house this age (also evidence that the house has been cared for). There's no evidence that there are any current problems with the foundation. +) One is loose (needs to be sealed to the floor again). I can do this myself essentially for free. +) The roof. The roof is from 15-20 years old and in "fair condition". There are "one or two torn shingles on the front slope of the main roof that will need to be repaired". The problem is exactly where you might expect a problem: outside bottom corner. For what it's worth redoing the roof (just shingling) is not going to be $20,000. We're getting estimates for a 1500 square foot roof (this roof is smaller than that, has only a moderate slope and is a very simple design) in the sub $5,000 range. We've got some estimates and some friends that have recently gotten the work done (albeit here in Boston) and the work will probably be more like $1,500 - $4,500. The range is so wide because we're not sure if there's one or two layers of shingles now: its common practice to layer twice, then rip up and start over. Even with new sheathing needed (and there's no evidence of that at all) it won't be much more than double those estimates. We'll have to repair the one or two torn shingles (again, something I can do myself) and get all new shingles sometime in the next five years or so. Finally a new roof definitely does increase the value of a home. +) To meet current code standards a door will have to be added between the garage and the utility room. There's already a finished doorway there so this is, again, something I can do easily and cheaply myself. +) The air conditioning duct that's fallen off is easily fixed for essentially no money (duct screws or duct tape). +) The water heater will need to be replaced sometime "soon" (it's reaching the end of the average lifespan although there are no known problems with it). +) Although most of the kitchen has been redone (new countertops, cabinets, cooktop, garbage disposal, etc) the dishwasher is old. It does work, but will probably need to be replaced (or ignored). > $145,000 is a lot of money, even if it's not a lot of money for a house to > some people. Things like mold, roofs, and foundations are things that can > make $145,000 out of your pocket turn into $200,000 or more out of your > pocket and you still have a house that's worth only $145,000. Most of the predicted repairs do translate into a higher selling price later (houses with new roofs, new appliances and new utilities services do sell for higher prices). With very negative estimates of all these things we might need to spend upwards of $25,000 over the next five years. However doing all those things could easily push the selling cost of the house up just as much. (Although for what it's worth, and things can change, but we've no intention of flipping this house. We intend to stay there for a long, long time.) > You're right, roofs are cyclical. Which is why you look to get in on the > early part of the cycle. $20,000 for the roof on this house in five years > is money that you could be earning interest on for the next 25 years in > another house. Again... there's just no way that a roof for this house will cost $20,000. Think more like $2000-$5000 tops. The point is well taken however. If we went wild and did something like Virginia slate instead of shingles then the price might get into the $20,000 range... but there's really no reason to do that. > Mold is about the scariest thing out there. Get it fully tested. Your > kids > are worth it. We are - no doubt about that. We've already scheduled air quality testing and are requesting a mold inspection tomorrow. This should let us know the extent of the problem. If it's a surface issue we're willing to dehumidify and deal with it. If it's a core issue affecting air quality and health we simply won't consider the house any longer - it's as simple as that. > Important question: Why is this house at the same price as houses with > less square footage? Are all the reasons we just said not enough? ;^) If the house had new appliances, a new roof and all that it could easily fetch more in that area. We looked at nice, remodeled home with less square footage (and a very leaky, unfinished basement) for $175,000 in the same area. Another had a little more square footage but REALY oddly shaped living/dining room (there would be no way to put our current furniture in it) for $170,000. This is the price for average houses in the area - houses that need a little work and a few updates. Remember that most of the house has been redone. The living room/dining room is beautiful with new wiring, track lighting, ceiling fans, etc. The bedroom walls were all redone and are SPOTLESS - no cracks, seams or holes or anything else. All of the wood upstairs is recently redone (and none of it's painted... I hate painted woodwork). The wood downstairs is gorgeous (although if there's an actual mold problem some other new owners will have to tear it out). The downstairs bathroom is in decent shape (newish counter, toilet, etc) but the shower stall was never replaced - we'll probably ignore it for now. The downstairs kitchen is older (older stove and sink and the like) but it is a second kitchen... we'd have no reason to modernize it. I've uploaded some more pictures we had taken (the "picture xxx" files): ftp://ftp.depressedpress.com/ These have a lot more pictures of the yard (a little smaller than we thought) and the driveway (much bigger than we thought), the living room/dining room, the kitchen, the utility room, etc. It's also relatively rare in this part of Scranton to have a garage/off street parking (and this house a one car basement garage, a two car carport and room for at least three cars in the driveway). The house does have problems, no doubt: As we've noted several fundamental features are reaching the end of their useful lifespan and will have to be addressed sooner or later (although hopefully not all at once!) The house is also on a grade which does limit it's usable yard space and is laid out a bit oddly outside (the lot is "wide and shallow" rather than "narrow and deep as most are") - the big part of the yard is the side of the house, not the back. The big "extra" thing that we would want to do sooner than later is fence in the yard. The kids are still young enough that I like the idea of penning them in. ;^) > Another important question: Have you looked exhaustively at other houses > in > the area? No - but we can't. We don't live anywhere near there. But we've gone through dozens online with the agent and visited around eight or nine in person before settling conditionally on this one. This is the second one we've seriously considered. This isn't a case of "oh we love it and are blindly accepting all its faults". I'd say, realistically, we're perhaps 60/40 in favor of it IF the air quality and mold inspections come back good (if they don't there's just no question we're not getting it). We do have time - there's no reason that we need to take this house. We do like it but we're not blind to its faults... but at the same time I don't see any service in demanding perfection or in continuously hoping for something better. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:191310 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
