House Buying Question

Jaggirl02

Jaggirl02

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My husband and I have an offer accepted on a house. We had the inspection done yesterday and for the most part everything was good but there are a few things that will need work in the near future..

Some of the wood siding and window trim have dry rot.
An area of the deck has dry rot
There are some landscaping timbers that are covered in mold (green & black mold)
The front steps (just the top step) is too tall for code.
Critter hole under the top easement, there is evidence of squirrels in the attic
The fireplace is currently not functioning correctly.
A few of the spruce trees are half dead and either need to be greatly trimmed or cut down
Downspouts need to be replaced

Would you adjust your asking price to accommodate for some of these things? Our realtor said the largest adjustment a seller has accepted that he has seen has been $5,000.
Would you ask for $7-8,000 off and settle with getting $3-5,000 off?

Opinions?
 
Unless your in an area where the houses are being sold before their shown, try it. $7-8K is being reasonable, if they balk, then you at least tried. Is it priced fairly to begin with or they trying to get top dollar cause they think it doesn't need any work?
 
We are getting a fair deal, it's not a steal but we are not over-paying. It looks like they recently painted the exterior, possibly to hide the dry-rot.
The price we are agreed at right now, is 48,000 less than the original asking price.
We are already going to be putting quite a bit of work into the house (ripping out the kitchen & master bath & painting the cabinets in the butlers pantry).
The inside of the house is in great shape and even the things the inspector found are not MAJOR issues & he said none of this should scare us away from the house.
He also said its possible we may need a new A/C unit in 3-5 years but theres really no way of knowing that.
 
So I just went through this, found a house that we liked had a lot of little issues and the roof was in need of replacement and the septic field is not functioning properly due to a cement patio being poured over it. The seller had a perk test done and the house needs an engineered field. The quote was between 25 and 30 k. I asked for them to have a field installed or give me 30k off asking, they countered back with 6k cash at closing lol. Needless to say I passed. Good luck some people think their house is perfect when it's far from it.
 
Yikes!
Ya our realtor said it's always better to ask for the money off rather than ask the homeowner to do it because they will just do it as cheap as possible.

We didn't expect this house to be perfect (it's 18 years old) but an AC unit, siding and deck repair can get expensive if it all needs to be done at once.
 
18 year old house was built during the "boom" years cheap materials and cheap labor, wood rotting already says house wasnt taken care of
 
Why not give them the option? Instead of just asking for a reduced price, ask for the items to be fixed.

Some of the stuff you mention is pretty nit picky though (tree trimming, landscape timbers etc). If you are looking for something that is like new, just build a new house. If you buy used, expect it to be used. Landscape timbers get mold when they sit outside in the rain/snow and not all trees live forever.

--Joe
 
moneypit said:
18 year old house was built during the "boom" years cheap materials and cheap labor, wood rotting already says house wasnt taken care of
Click to expand...

The inspector actually said the house was in good shape (this guy knows his stuff and was very thorough. He was there for 4 hours!).. the areas of beginning rot are areas where trees are too close to the house which doesnt allow enough air flow next to the house and the moisture sits there.
So wed have to trim some branches back but that's nothing major.
 
soap said:
Why not give them the option? Instead of just asking for a reduced price, ask for the items to be fixed.

Some of the stuff you mention is pretty nit picky though (tree trimming, landscape timbers etc). If you are looking for something that is like new, just build a new house. If you buy used, expect it to be used. Landscape timbers get mold when they sit outside in the rain/snow and not all trees live forever.

--Joe
Click to expand...

Trimming trees is fine with me.. But these are Blue Spruces (which I believe get that disease where they die from the root up) so there are multiple trees up against the house where the branches are all dead on the bottom 15 feet of the tree.
He also said, the timbers should have been sprayed with a treatment. They are completely covered in mold and right up against the house, I dont want the mold getting into the house.
I don't mind do that ourselves either but its A LOT of mold on these timbers (two 4-5 ft tall retaining walls built of these timbers)

Ya our realtor said it's always better to ask for the money off rather than ask the homeowner to do it because they will just do it as cheap as possible
 
I agree, ask for cash off the price, not for them to "fix it".

Remember the basic rules for negotiating,

- Ask for more than you're willing to accept.
- Show evidence / proof for your point / position.
- The one who wants it more, gives in (seller or purchaser).
- The first one to give in loses (the other wins).
- To get what you want, you risk losing it, hence folks "give in".
 
Jaggirl02 said:
Trimming trees is fine with me.. But these are Blue Spruces (which I believe get that disease where they die from the root up) so there are multiple trees up against the house where the branches are all dead on the bottom 15 feet of the tree.
He also said, the timbers should have been sprayed with a treatment. They are completely covered in mold and right up against the house, I dont want the mold getting into the house.
I don't mind do that ourselves either but its A LOT of mold on these timbers (two 4-5 ft tall retaining walls built of these timbers)

Ya our realtor said it's always better to ask for the money off rather than ask the homeowner to do it because they will just do it as cheap as possible
Click to expand...


The Blue Spruces are most likely just fine. A little "die off" is normal. Many times
this occurs from mowing around the trees and damaging them, they are probably fine,
wait before you start cutting them!

The "mold" you see isn't what you think it is. Take some photos of them, check with
a tree expert, (MSU County Extension office) & they'll help you identify the problem
and I'm sure a simple herbicide spray will knock it out.

Lastly, no trees should ever be "touching" any part of the house. The tree will damage
the siding / roof etc. This area should be trimmed back just far enough to not touch.
 
I'd be asking for a lot more off based on those things. Unless this is a really REALLY good deal, you're about to get upside down really quick


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Some of the wood siding and window trim have dry rot. How bad is the rot? How many windows or pieces of siding? First or second story?
An area of the deck has dry rot
There are some landscaping timbers that are covered in mold (green & black mold)
The front steps (just the top step) is too tall for code. Wood steps or concrete? More than likely all of the steps will need to be redone so they are even.
Critter hole under the top easement, there is evidence of squirrels in the attic Is this an old entry point or are they still in the house? Call pest control for worst case scenario prices
The fireplace is currently not functioning correctly. Wood or gas? If it is a gas unit, price out a new log set and regulator.
A few of the spruce trees are half dead and either need to be greatly trimmed or cut down Price out an arborist if you are planning on keeping them. Are they close to the house or just in the yard somewhere? If they are close to the house you can probably knock some cash down but if they are in the yard away from a structure it will be much harder
Downspouts need to be replaced How much of the downspout? Just the part that lies on the ground or the whole downspout from the gutter down?

Would you adjust your asking price to accommodate for some of these things? Our realtor said the largest adjustment a seller has accepted that he has seen has been $5,000.
Would you ask for $7-8,000 off and settle with getting $3-5,000 off? 7-8k seems a bit high for the list above but without knowing the specifics its tough to give an accurate number. As stated above, see what the seller offers.
 
48K off the asking price is a lot... or they priced the house really high to start with.

If I was selling a house and someone asked for that kind of money for the issues listed after already offering almost 50K off I'd tell them to pound salt.

But on the flip side try to get the house as cheaply as possible!! They do seem to be pretty minor issues. If you're already planning on doing major updates, you must be comfortable doing some work yourself or paying lots of money to have it done.

Take the trees down yourself? Fix most of those issues over the next few months? Ask for $8K and see what happens, don't fall in love with a house... its just a purchase. If you feel its a killer deal already maybe ask for $5k?
 
Your new job should probably make it eazy to find someone who can do wood work, deck work, and drop a few ugly trees as a sidejob. Right? Hope you seal the deal!!
 
ultradriver10000 said:
48K off the asking price is a lot... or they priced the house really high to start with.

If I was selling a house and someone asked for that kind of money for the issues listed after already offering almost 50K off I'd tell them to pound salt.

But on the flip side try to get the house as cheaply as possible!! They do seem to be pretty minor issues. If you're already planning on doing major updates, you must be comfortable doing some work yourself or paying lots of money to have it done.

Take the trees down yourself? Fix most of those issues over the next few months? Ask for $8K and see what happens, don't fall in love with a house... its just a purchase. If you feel its a killer deal already maybe ask for $5k?
Click to expand...

The price we are getting it at is pretty good compared to the comps in the area and especially compared to what the current owner bought it for. We looked at what similar homes in the neighborhood sold for that were updated and we think that even after putting money into it to do the kitchen and master bath right away that we would still be in a position of equity afterwards. We figured this would be a 10-12 year house, but it has the potential to be a forever house if we wanted it to be.
 
Jaggirl02 said:
The price we are getting it at is pretty good compared to the comps in the area and especially compared to what the current owner bought it for. We looked at what similar homes in the neighborhood sold for that were updated and we think that even after putting money into it to do the kitchen and master bath right away that we would still be in a position of equity afterwards. We figured this would be a 10-12 year house, but it has the potential to be a forever house if we wanted it to be.
Click to expand...

Please remember comps don't mean all that much in your case...
 
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