Update in last post :) HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

In your experience, are banks for stringent on homes that are purchased under FHA loans?

The house we are buying is all original. So there is peeling LEAD paint. Our mortgage broker informed us we should scrape and prime over those spots prior to having the bank walk through to approve it. He all but assured us that the bank would have issue with the peeling paint.

Our lawyer informed us that he needed to ask the seller's lawyer about this prior to doing it. The seller's lawyer stated that she thought spots of primer would draw more attention to the previously peeling spots. Thus, we would need to prime the whole room if we were going to do the scrape and prime.

My lawyer states that doing the whole room, (there are only two rooms I think that need this) is a risk because if the deal falls through we have invested time and money in a home that isn't ours.

My thought is that scraping and priming two rooms is a cheaper risk than if the bank walks through and then tells us that they wont approve the loan until we have someone professionally take care of the peeling lead paint situation. especially because that will cost us time and time will cost us money as we only have a rate lock for 60 days.

On the other hand there is also a buried oil tank in the ground. I know we might have to end up abandoning it and putting a new one in the basement. However, our broker said to leave it for now as there is a chance we wont have to abandon it to have the loan approved. But if the bank says we have to abandon the tank, etc., then we would have been better off seeing if the peeling paint was an issue as well.

I know this is what I should expect when dealing with purchasing a home, but its really stressful when there are so many variables, all of which cost different amounts of money..

Do you agree with me or think it would be better to leave the peeling spots alone and see what the bank says?

Message edited 3/16/2011 10:21:01 AM.

Re: HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

I honestly don't have any experience with this, but from what you wrote i'd be really wary of doing any work yourself before you're the homeowners - just from the risk factor alone.


why is the previous homeowner not doing this work? This should be something that your lawyer asks their lawyer to have taken care of as part of the contract

It concerns me that you're being asked to do work to the house, when you don't own it yet - what if you don't do it right? what if the bank says you need to do more?
i'd wait to see what they say and then have a professional take care of it - and have the existing homeowners be responsible for the costs

just imo of course but it sounds weird to me that your lawyer is suggesting this

Re: HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

Re: HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

there is a poster on here who i believe went through something similar (Nifheim).

Re: HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

Re: Update in last post :) HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

So...we have decided that we will scrape and prime the individual spots on the walls that need to be done to make it presentable and passable for the bank. If the sellers don't agree to this, and the bank doesn't approve the house (which they certainly won't with peeling lead paint on the walls) then it will have to be fixed anyway . At that point THEY can pay to fix it and THEY can pay our rate lock extension cost of 1000 dollars to the bank due to the their inflexibility.

Truthfully this house has been on the market for 8 months now. It is all original and needs a ton of work. The price isn't low enough for a contractor or anyone to pay a contractor to update and fix it. They need buyers like us who can do all the work ourselves. I am tired of being worried about this. I am realizing that they need us more than we need them. It is buyers market right now, even for the best of houses (which this house is not). Don't get me wrong- we love the house and it has a ton of POTENTIAL. But potential isn't worth being pushed around.

If it is meant to be it will be. Me worrying and angsting about it will have no affect on the outcome either way.

Re: Update in last post :) HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)

I really do hope things go better for you and everything works out! Good luck!!!

Re: Update in last post :) HELP! Opinion please--LONG (sorry)