home inspection items

[badgolferman]

Greetings,

I am purchasing a brick rancher house built in 1967 and had a home inspection done yesterday. Some of the major items found were:

1) A crack in the exterior brick siding from the top corner of a window towards the roof. The crack is rotational in nature and turns counter-clockwise as it gets higher. The inspector crawled under the house and inspected the support structure of the wall and stated it is not related to the foundation but will need the attention of a brick mason. There are also other minor cracks or in reality mortar separations on a few other areas of the exterior walls.

2) Washer/dryer hookups are located in the attached garage. There is no dryer duct to the outside and really no easy way to run one to an outside wall considering the house has brick veneer. I am unsure whether this is a major issue.

3) The house was originally built with an oil burning furnace and has an underground tank. It now uses natural gas and the furnace/AC are around 3 years old. The inspector suggests ensuring the underground tank has been pumped dry.

4) The roof shingles are cracked, torn, improperly spaced, nail pops and cut crookedly along the roof edges. The boots around the vents are torn and/or dry-rotted. It is at least 15 years old. There are two roof fans installed.

There are various other minor items found that I can deal with myself and don't want to overwhelm the seller.

I am interested in suggestions on how to approach these issues and what to look out for.

[John Grabowski]

Get some estimates and sugestions from qualified people on the best way to proceed with the brick repairs.

It is not that difficult to blow a hole in a wall.

In NJ you need to have the tank removed.

Talk to a couple of roofers.

The more contractors that you talk to and get prices from, the better informed you will be. Watch out for really low prices and really high prices. Do your homework on materials and techniques.

[Steve]

"badgolferman" wrote in news:g3g6nc$pqg$ [e-mail]:

You (your agent, actually) will give the seller a list of the things you want fixed before you buy the house. There's an implied threat that you won't buy the house unless he fixes these items or gives you money off the selling price to fix them yourself.

The seller will counter with an offer to fix some of the items, but not all.

You go back and forth on this list until the two of you come to an agreement.

Strategy: Make sure your original list contains _all_ the items you really want fixed. Pad it with some things you don't really care about. During the back and forth, sacrifice the items you don't care about so you look like a good guy. Realize that you might not get everything. Accepting money is better than having the seller do the work, because you can get it done the way you like.

Interesting story: A client in Highland Park (hoity-toity suburb of Dallas) gave me a long list of things to do to get his house ready to sell--replace ceiling fan with prettier one, fix fallen stone veneer, paint trim at roof, ...; it was a long list. I replaced the fan because it was easy, then repaired the fallen stone. I told him I'd be back to do the rest. He got an offer the next day, and called to tell me to hurry and fix the rest, especially the missing stone in the wall behind the bush. I told him to wait and see what the buyer wanted fixed. Surprise: the buyer didn't want anything fixed. Moral: What you consider a problem has no bearing on what someone else considers a problem.

[trader4]

$ [e-mail]:

When you present the list of items, I'd make it clear that you prefer to have the work done yourself after the closing and get a discount off the selling price to cover the items. You could work with the seller to choose a couple companies to give quotes. You are better off this way rather than having the seller fix stuff, because for them the obvious thing to do is get it fixed as basicly and cheaply as possible. For example, if it turns out the roof needs to be replaced, I'd rather have $$ for a basic roof and then make my own choice as to whether I want a more expensive architectural shingle, etc. Same thing with things like a dishwasher. If the dishwasher has problems, I'd rather get a $250 credit and deal with it on my own, instead of having the seller spend $250 fixing a 10 year old one or putting in another low end one.

[hallerb]

qg$ [e-mail]:

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well the downside to that is the minor repair may uncover major deficencies and costs, and your stuck.

so you get a discount for a new roof, wonderful:)

Then after closing find the roof sheathing is rotted, and so are some joists....

your stuck paying all the extra costs

plus most new home owners are pretty broke, and lack cash for repairs

[Lou]

Whats the possibility that the underground tank is in tack and can be used to make and store your own diesel fuel from french fry oil? Just a thought. Lou

[trader4]

$pqg$ [e-mail]:

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=BF=BD If the dishwasher

If the roof sheathing and joists are rotted, there is a good chance that it will be spotted by a proper home inspection. And if it's not, there's nothing to say that having the seller put on new shingles will uncover those problems. The seller could simply have a roofing company put the new shingles on top of the old, instead of removing them. In most places you can put a second layer on. Not how I would do it if it was the house I was going to live in, but most sellers would do it that way to save cost.

Given the choice, I'd still take the credit for the std roofing job, then have it done my way when I'm ready. If it were some major problem, like foundation work, which is harder to evaluate going in, then I would agree you might be better off having the seller do it. Clearly there is a range of choices and you have to consider the various possibilities.

de quoted text -

A solution to that is to ask for the seller to credit the repair costs against their closing costs.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Whats the possibility that the underground tank is in tack and can be used to make and store your own diesel fuel from french fry oil? Just a thought. Lou

If it is intact, at least find out the age of it for future reference and regulations if it has to be tested after some period of time. IMO, it is best gone away to eliminate problems.

[hallerb]

might also be a homeowner insurance problem. companies may refuse to insure home