Buying your first home

Everything else!

Moderators: Bakhtosh, EvilHomer3k

User avatar
pr0ner
Posts: 17424
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:00 pm
Location: Northern Virginia, VA
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by pr0ner »

coopasonic wrote:
LordMortis wrote:
Jeff V wrote:I'm just a conduit. Wife is the fussy one. :D
:lol:
Hodor.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

So, my wife doesn't let a little thing like agreeing to extend an offer keep her from continuing to shop. The agent hadn't yet got back to me with the offer papers to sign, and my wife found another 2 houses she wanted to look at, close to where live now. One turned out to be on the market mere hours before an offer was tendered, the other we will see tomorrow (and the agent was told to bring the paperwork for both the house we're seeing tomorrow and the one we wanted to offer yesterday. From the pictures, though, it looks a little small with narrow rooms. Methinks Filipinos are less effected by narrow spaces and don't see this is a problem. Our real estate agent (Filipina) pointed towards a narrow porch on the house we liked yesterday -- it's a little less than the width of a standard sidewalk square with a bannister in front. She said, "that's nice, you can put chairs and sit out here". Um, no, a chair (or bench) in that space would leave no room for the legs of a standard-sized person. Anyway, we'll look at it and consider it, since for the short term it would reduce commute time for my wife, and me when I need to fetch the kids from the sitter.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

Isgrimnur wrote:Aaand there's the hail storm. Larger than golf ball. Here's hoping the heavier roof shingles stood up to the damage.
For those not keeping score at home, the roof was put on last August. We even upgraded to the 30-year architectural shingles.

Hail storm was a week ago Sunday. Adjuster was here today. Roof is totaled.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

So the insurance company gets to replace it? Order granite shingles this time. :D

Our bid was accepted on a house in Plainfield. Longer commute, and while I'll investigate an acceptable route, my bike-to-work days might be over. Google estimates the bike ride at over 2 hours each way...not prohibitive, but now my wife is going to be switching to night shift and I can't leave until she gets home (~ 7:30-8:00 am) and will have one day a week at best when I could bike.

This house is a true 4 bedroom, although one is on the smallish side and my wife declared it will be my office, and other accommodations will be made for her mother when she arrives. Likely we'll prep one of the other bedrooms for her now and leave the baby without a permanent roost for now. The basement is framed and electrical is run, I'm going put down vinyl tiles on the floor then get help putting up drywall, hopefully completing that project before actually moving in.

The house is on a small lake, with an enclosed yard (white picket fence that doesn't obstruct the view) and deck in good condition. The main dining area overlooks the lake and is windowed on 3 sides. The main living room is large, with a fire place, component shelving and a big enough space above it to hold as big a TV as we'd care to put there (wife wants 70-75"). The front of the house is rather plain and the vinyl siding needs power washing, nothing a tree or two can't improve in the course of a decade or two.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Smoove_B »

Septic? Well?
Maybe next year, maybe no go
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

Jeff V wrote:So the insurance company gets to replace it? Order granite shingles this time. :D
Any upgrade would be owner-funded, much like last summer's move from asphalt to architectural shingles was.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Smoove_B wrote:Septic? Well?
Municipal sewer system, Lake Michigan water. There's not a lot of private septic systems and almost all Chicago area towns use Lake Michigan water, I can't recall the last time I was anywhere that drew their own well water.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Smoove_B »

Jeff V wrote:
Smoove_B wrote:Septic? Well?
Municipal sewer system, Lake Michigan water. There's not a lot of private septic systems and almost all Chicago area towns use Lake Michigan water, I can't recall the last time I was anywhere that drew their own well water.
In comparison to NJ where it would be less common to have a lake-area home on public water and sewer. That's definitely an upside but do make sure you ask about a back-flow prevention valve on the sewer line that exits the basement. I've seen things....horrible things.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

The house is substantially elevated from the level of the lake (which is pretty much a retention pond). The inspector will alert me to any signs of water damage and let me know if there are any concerns (I can ask him about this specifically though).
Black Lives Matter
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

And the adventure continues. This time it was the seller that decided to be an asshole and jacked up the price $4K after we agreed to pay their asking price. I'm not sure whether my agent has yet passed along our counter-offer to GFY.

Things are getting really bad though. Yesterday we looked at a house that came on the market in the morning. By the time our bid was submitted this morning, it was already under contract! :x On top of that, my wife is off tomorrow and we were hard pressed to come up with anything we were excited about in our budget to go look at.

So I called the mortgage broker, and now the budget is $30K more than it had been. That opens up a ton more possibilities, including some in more desirable areas that simply had nothing listed for our previous budget. There was even a couple in Naperville, near where we used to live, although they both look like misfit houses in that town. Still, one is pretty large, and is about 5 minutes from my job...

I've asked the agent to add a couple of houses in the new budget to our tour tomorrow, and Saturday always brings a new batch of listings.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Jeff V wrote:And the adventure continues. This time it was the seller that decided to be an asshole and jacked up the price $4K after we agreed to pay their asking price. I'm not sure whether my agent has yet passed along our counter-offer to GFY.
Is that legal? Did he have another offer at the asking price?
He/Him/His/Porcupine
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

stimpy wrote:
Jeff V wrote:And the adventure continues. This time it was the seller that decided to be an asshole and jacked up the price $4K after we agreed to pay their asking price. I'm not sure whether my agent has yet passed along our counter-offer to GFY.
Is that legal? Did he have another offer at the asking price?
Apparently so. My brother, who is also looking for a house, sent me an article that talked about how crazy the market is right now. It cited one townhouse that closed at $100K over asking price after a bidding war.

When we started this process, we began by asking an effective $10K under asking ($5K less on price + $5K seller's credit). In this market, that went as well as a turd in the pool. So now we've been offering asking +5K/5K seller's credit to make it even (the point of the exercise is to roll some closing costs into the mortgage). Our latest first offer was and effective $2K over asking and apparently is not impressive enough for the seller to jump right on it. We're going to underbid slightly on another house today that's been on the market for over a month and see what happens.
Black Lives Matter
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Did not get that one either - I would really like to know what the winning offers are on these houses, but apparently +$2000 over asking isn't cutting it.

This morning I await the response on another offer. This offer was at asking price, but it didn't sound like they had other offers to consider -- if that's the case, then we'll probably get it. The house has all of the things my wife is looking for and none of the things I am looking for -- so she'll be happy with it at least. Brutally high taxes on it puts it right at the upper limit of our budget, despite costing $20K less than others we had offered on. No patio/deck and no finished basement mean there are two major projects to be done, but no money available to start on them any time soon. The HOA at least is low, but that's because there are no amenities in the area like parks or pools, unlike the house we didn't get which has a very nice park/clubhouse/pool about 2 blocks away.
Black Lives Matter
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

And naturally, since I submitted a bid on a house I'm not crazy about, I find two things: (1) a house around the corner that's larger and has a patio and slightly less taxes and (2) an ideal house with much cheaper taxes and better schools (Plainfield) that has everything we're both looking for, plus it's on a pond.

So time for me to pull a dick move. I asked our agent to withdraw our offer on the Yorkville house. I really wanted her to schedule the Plainfield house tonight, but she can't do it, so first thing tomorrow morning. I'm asking if she can prepare a contract and send it to me today so if we like what we see, we'll submit the offer on the spot. The asking price is low enough that we'll bid $10K over and see if that gets us there. When she makes the appointment with the listing agent, I want her to let her know we are prepared to offer and ask that they not accept a bid until our offer is received. It couldn't hurt to ask.
Black Lives Matter
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

So apparently the winning bid on the house we bid Sunday fell through already and fell to us. They want $2K more. Told them to go scratch.

The house we bid yesterday wants us to move in Jun 1. Our agent did not withdraw the bid as I asked, so for now we'll keep them waiting until we see if we can work a deal in Plainfield tomorrow.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

To get a bite two years ago, we had to bid $5k over, which was 2.5% of the ask. We got it back, as the appraisal wouldn't support it, in 'we aren't doing that' from the inspection report.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Now my wife doesn't want to consider Plainfield at all. She decided she liked the one we bid last night well enough to justify the cost and was excited to think we're close to a deal with them. So the appointment in Plainfield is canceled tomorrow, and I'm back to looking forward to a house that pushes her buttons but not mine and pay an extra $3K per year to boot.

On the bright side, the 2 hour bike commute to work is better from this house than it would have been from Plainfield.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Smoove_B »

It sounds like the two of you need to sit down and come up with a list of Must Have vs Would Like to Have items. IMHO from what you're representing you're moving in different directions here and I'm guessing your real estate agents wants to choke the life out of someone.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20968
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Buying your first home

Post by coopasonic »

Smoove_B wrote:IMHO from what you're representing you're moving in different directions here and I'm guessing your real estate agents wants to choke the life out of someone.
I suspect this is nothing new to the real estate agent.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

That depends on if the agent is cute or not.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
gilraen
Posts: 4312
Joined: Wed Sep 04, 2013 7:45 pm
Location: Broomfield, CO

Re: Buying your first home

Post by gilraen »

Jeff V wrote:Now my wife doesn't want to consider Plainfield at all. She decided she liked the one we bid last night well enough to justify the cost and was excited to think we're close to a deal with them. So the appointment in Plainfield is canceled tomorrow, and I'm back to looking forward to a house that pushes her buttons but not mine and pay an extra $3K per year to boot.

On the bright side, the 2 hour bike commute to work is better from this house than it would have been from Plainfield.
Despite your ongoing efforts to be miserable, you may want to draw the line at buying a house you hate. Maybe bribe your wife with the notion of better ways to spend those $3K per year.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

gilraen wrote:
Jeff V wrote:Now my wife doesn't want to consider Plainfield at all. She decided she liked the one we bid last night well enough to justify the cost and was excited to think we're close to a deal with them. So the appointment in Plainfield is canceled tomorrow, and I'm back to looking forward to a house that pushes her buttons but not mine and pay an extra $3K per year to boot.

On the bright side, the 2 hour bike commute to work is better from this house than it would have been from Plainfield.
Despite your ongoing efforts to be miserable, you may want to draw the line at buying a house you hate. Maybe bribe your wife with the notion of better ways to spend those $3K per year.
Oh, she knows exactly what she'd do with the extra money and at one point over the weekend stated we should be trying hard to find something on the low end of our budget so we'd have more money to travel. But she falls in love with every house that has what she wants, and is frustrated that the search has been going nowhere...none of the houses we both like ever pan out. It's a moot point now, she canceled the viewing for tomorrow and now we are just awaiting formal acceptance from this seller.

I have more than 20 years more experience living in houses that I didn't care for than she does though, so what's another 20 years? She thinks my objections are easily correctable but I can just as easily see them never being addressed as regular ongoing maintenance will slow the accumulation of the massive pile of gold pieces needed to make it so.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

Well, the city kindly requested that I trim back the hedge that's on the property line with the next-door neighbor. Or they would fine me. I'm sure the neighbors across the street will love looking into the bare branches that are left on that side.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Over the weekend, an elderly neighbor with the help of an elderly gentleman were trimming shrubs in her yard. This morning as I was driving by I noticed what they did -- a maybe 15' bushy tree that straddled her yard and the neighbors (and these are town houses) was trimmed bare on her side...looks like the bush/tree was cut in half vertically. That does little for the visual appeal of either property.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Smoove_B »

If it was a viburnum it was probably overdue and it'll grow back. If it's something in the juniper family...pain. I have multiple juniper types framing my entryway and they're about 20 years beyond what should have been done to keep them in check. Over the next month I need to completely remove them. Might need to call Trent and bribe him with beer. :D

One thing I learned from working as a landscaper, you don't plant for today...you need to arrange your plantings for 10+ years later when everything is fully grown.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Can you render them into gin? If not, burn them.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Put my house up last Saturday. Got an offer same day for 5k less than asking.
Decided to take it with the caveat that I wouldn't be nickel and dimed on the inspection. If it was something major, I'd consider working with the buyers on a remedy.

The inspection was set for this past Friday at 5 p.m.
At 4 p.m., I was in the vets office putting my dear dog down. At 5:15 my realtor called to say the buyer backed out without even inspecting the house.

Shit weekend......
He/Him/His/Porcupine
User avatar
Isgrimnur
Posts: 82085
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:29 am
Location: Chookity pok
Contact:

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Isgrimnur »

I'm sorry to hear it, stimpy. On both accounts.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Isgrimnur wrote:I'm sorry to hear it, stimpy. On both accounts.
Thank you.
To top it off, my buddies insisted on getting me out of the house on Saturday to go watch the Blackhawk game at The Tilted Kilt.
They were woefully understaffed.....1 girl at the door and 1 girl tending bar and trying to waitress.

We ended up being served by the busboy all night...........not quite what we were hoping for.......
He/Him/His/Porcupine
User avatar
Zaxxon
Forum Moderator
Posts: 28118
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:11 am
Location: Surrounded by Mountains

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Zaxxon »

To be fair, the Blackhawks were also woefully understaffed.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

The sky is clear today except for one low-hanging cloud just to the east of here...

Hmmm.

Do you have an open house scheduled? From what I've been noticing, those seem to be good for (1) generating preemptive offers to prevent the open house from taking place or (2) generating a bunch of offers that can be parlayed into a bidding war and could result in you getting more than your asking price.

Our purchase is proceeding full steam ahead. Had the inspection over the weekend, and he was hard pressed to come up with 5 things. The only thing we'd bother the current owners with is HVAC maintenance -- there is simply no record of it. If it has been done in the past year, we're good, otherwise we are requesting that routine maintenance be performed.

While he found no evidence of any moisture in the basement, our inspector advised that we wait a year before doing any finishing work in the basement. That means the den currently configured as a kid's play room remains for that purpose while my library and desk get banished to the basement. It also means that I can direct our resources at having a patio built. My sister-in-law works for a company that does high-dollar work, but she gave me the number of a guy who would do this as a side-job. He has 30 years experience putting in patios, so I'll see if I can cut a deal with him. There is a stone fire pit in the middle of the yard, I would probably have a pathway run to it and then maybe a 4' radius around the fire pit cleared and pavers put in. We'll see what comes of talking with the dude.

Closing is scheduled for May 31.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Kelric
Posts: 30196
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:20 pm
Location: Whip City

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Kelric »

Jeff V wrote:There is a stone fire pit in the middle of the yard, I would probably have a pathway run to it and then maybe a 4' radius around the fire pit cleared and pavers put in. We'll see what comes of talking with the dude.
Gravel will probably be much cheaper for the path, or at least the part around the pit.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Kelric wrote:
Jeff V wrote:There is a stone fire pit in the middle of the yard, I would probably have a pathway run to it and then maybe a 4' radius around the fire pit cleared and pavers put in. We'll see what comes of talking with the dude.
Gravel will probably be much cheaper for the path, or at least the part around the pit.
I actually thought about that, perhaps crushed limestone since it's more likely to stay put, especially with kids. Keeping with the pavers though would look nicer and the labor cost in installation could be close to the same -- so if we're just talking savings on material costs, then probably I would just stay with the pavers.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Kelric
Posts: 30196
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:20 pm
Location: Whip City

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Kelric »

Jeff V wrote:
Kelric wrote:
Jeff V wrote:There is a stone fire pit in the middle of the yard, I would probably have a pathway run to it and then maybe a 4' radius around the fire pit cleared and pavers put in. We'll see what comes of talking with the dude.
Gravel will probably be much cheaper for the path, or at least the part around the pit.
I actually thought about that, perhaps crushed limestone since it's more likely to stay put, especially with kids. Keeping with the pavers though would look nicer and the labor cost in installation could be close to the same -- so if we're just talking savings on material costs, then probably I would just stay with the pavers.
I'd think labor would be cheaper on gravel or crushed limestone due to the lack of time needed. Lay down exterior barriers, pour bags of rocks, done.
Jeff V
Posts: 36414
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:17 pm
Location: Nowhere you want to be.

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Jeff V »

Crushed limestone needs to be rolled into place or it would just wash out with the rains. They use steam rollers for commercial limestone paths, I suppose a rented hand-roller would do for this kind of project. And either way, the grass needs to be taken up.
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Not sure if I'm looking for advice or just venting, but I recently sold my home. Closing on July 21st.
The house we are looking to buy has been inspected. They found the usual things, some small, some bigger. The 2 biggest things were the radon test came back high, a 5.4. Sellers have agreed to mitigate it before closing.
The other thing was the inspector found what he called " suspect mold like issues" in the attic. he took a couple of pictures and recommended we get it checked out. We asked the sellers to either fix it or give us a quote and credit to fix it.
They came back with a quote of $880 to fix 560 sq ft of a total of 1100 of the attic. The kicker is....the place that gave the estimate never set foot in the house, let alone the attic. The estimate states they are basing the quote off of information from the agents, inspectors, buyers and sellers. The sellers have made it clear they will not fix the mold issue. they will only credit me $1200. How in the world can a company issue an estimate that can be relied upon without
ever even seeing how big or small the issue is? Am I supposed to take their word that $1200 will cover it completely?
He/Him/His/Porcupine
User avatar
Zarathud
Posts: 16433
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:29 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Buying your first home

Post by Zarathud »

No. Get your own specialist inspector out there ASAP.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein
"I don't stand by anything." - Trump
“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
User avatar
Smoove_B
Posts: 54567
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 12:58 am
Location: Kaer Morhen

Re: Buying your first home

Post by Smoove_B »

We had a whole discussion on radon a few months ago, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Regarding the mold, I absolutely agree with Zarathud - get your own person in there to do an evaluation. The mold isn't the problem (I mean, it's a problem, but it's not the largest issue). The real problem is figuring out how the mold ended up growing in the attic. Is it improperly vented bathroom exhaust fans? Ice dams that allowed water to infiltrate in the spring? Leaky roof? $900 sounds waaaay cheap (IMHO). I'm not a mold contractor but I have paid for ridiculous things in my house. Like today - replaced the front door and contractor discovered rotted kick and sill plate...with ants. F home ownership. F it.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Zarathud wrote:No. Get your own specialist inspector out there ASAP.
I am going to request this today, but it's my understanding that since my 5 day inspection period has passed, they don't have to let me do it.
I have a feeling that they're not.

I am going to call the place, Rapid Mold Removal, that gave the estimate and see if I can get some clarification.
They seem to be a pretty big company and their reviews are pretty decent.
He/Him/His/Porcupine
User avatar
stimpy
Posts: 6102
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2005 6:04 pm

Re: Buying your first home

Post by stimpy »

Smoove_B wrote:We had a whole discussion on radon a few months ago, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Regarding the mold, I absolutely agree with Zarathud - get your own person in there to do an evaluation. The mold isn't the problem (I mean, it's a problem, but it's not the largest issue). The real problem is figuring out how the mold ended up growing in the attic. Is it improperly vented bathroom exhaust fans? Ice dams that allowed water to infiltrate in the spring? Leaky roof? $900 sounds waaaay cheap (IMHO). I'm not a mold contractor but I have paid for ridiculous things in my house. Like today - replaced the front door and contractor discovered rotted kick and sill plate...with ants. F home ownership. F it.
Oh trust me.....I read that whole thread. Mitigating the radon was not a negotiable issue. They were either going to do it or I was walking.

As far as the attic, the roof was a tear-off in 2012. They obviously didn't replace any of the sheathing boards. All the venting is done properly. The attic did look dry and the mold, or black stains, did appear to be from previous issues.
Have those issues been addressed? Guess the only way to really know is to buy the house and live in it for awhile.......
He/Him/His/Porcupine
Post Reply