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Re: Inspection question
As far as the heating system - I would not walk away from a house because of that. Unless you are buying a brand new house, you are not guaranteed to have everything "new," just in working order. Something in any house you buy is bound to be older and going to need to be replaced soon. For example, when my dh and I bought our house, we had a home inspection done in June 2008, and we were told the roof and the CAC were very old and would need to be replaced "soon." Well, the roof is still functional (we just had a roofer up there to replace a few tiles that blew off in Sandy and he confirmed it's still sound), and our CAC just went out a few weeks ago. So we had years of use of these "older" items - they weren't a huge upfront expense as the inspector made them out to be.
You can ask the sellers for whatever you want, and they can respond however they want to your renegotiation attempts. But if the heating system is old, but currently functional, I don't think it's really fair to expect the sellers to give you money toward it. If it's currently providing heat to the house, that's all that matters for the sale. Now, if it's somehow not providing heat, or has a dangerous defect, then you absolutely want the sellers to address this. But most of the time they will have the heating system serviced and repaired, they won't replace it or give you money toward a new system.
But I think it's important for any buyer to observe the age/condition of the heating system BEFORE you make an offer (or ask if you don't know). As a buyer's agent, I usually point this out when I am looking at houses with clients. If you know going in that it's an original heating system, you will factor that into your offer differently than if it were a 6 month old heating system. You want to try to gather the information you can before you make an offer -- the inspection may reveal things you wouldn't or couldn't have known about upfront, but an older heating system shouldn't be a surprise at the home inspection, imo.
With the electrical, why does it need to be replaced? Is it's a matter of it's a 100 amp service that you would want to upgrade, but that is fine as is? Or is there a problem with the current electric, such that there is corrosion or it is unsafe and there is a true need to immediately address it? If it's the latter, I would ask for a repair or a credit. I think it also depends on how extensive the issue is... does the whole house need new wiring? Or is it just the electrical panel/service that needs to be replaced or upgraded. But any electrical defects should be addressed by the seller. If the seller won't give you anything on that, then I guess it's a matter of how much you want the home, how much it will cost you to do the repairs, and if it's still worth it to you. If you aren't clear on what the electrical issues are, I would speak with your inspector and if he recommends it, have a master electrician come in to evaluate what the inspector flagged.
But I deal with inspection issues all the time, and you HAVE to know that there will be a few issues with any house you buy (that is older, that's been lived in, etc.). So if you give up one house that is otherwise in good condition because of an old heating system, for example, you will likely encounter other similar issues at any other house you find.
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ISpoilHim
I think I got this
Member since 11/10 1523 total posts
Name:
K
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Inspection question
When we purchased our home we were told during the inspection that the house had aluminum wiring and needed to be pigtailed. The sellers had owned the house less than a year and would not negotiate this issue. My husband, even if the sellers did do the work, would have wanted our own electrician to come and inspect the work. So in the end we still bought the house. We had our electrician come and do the pig tailing and install ceiling fans/overhead lighting in every room. And to our surprise the entire house did not need to be pigtailed it was only the original parts of the house. The extensions were done with copper.
We were also told that the roof had about a 5 year life expectancy based on its current condition. Then Sandy hit and a tree landed on our roof. When the roofer came he told us that the roof was shot. So that was a huge expense that we were not expecting at that moment(insurance only covered the damaged part of the roof). It cost us quite a bit for the new roof but we figure we will never have to do it again. It's a 30 year roof and our forever home.
In the end we love our house and we are so glad we bought it. You never know what is going to happen. Like Christine said you can get a lot of years out of something that someone thinks needs to be replaced. Or a tree can fall on the house you owned less than a month and you could have to replace it right away.
On a side note - after we closed and got to the house I opened the DW for the first time ever and discovered mold in it. That led to us getting a new dishwasher. Then I really looked at the stove and it was nasty. So since I knew I was replacing the DW I replaced the stove as well. We also had to buy w/d because the sellers did not leave them. All in all it was another 5k we did not know we would be spending. Did it need to be done probably not but we chose to do it. Our plan is to redo the kitchen in 5 years and at the time the appliances we just bought will go into the 2ns kitchen that currently has much older appliances.
Sorry this is so long I got off topic a bit
Message edited 7/14/2013 8:40:12 AM.
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