NCEPR: We're buying a house... (updated)

[katietornado]

Update:  the asshole trustee took 72 hours to decide that no, he will not offer any concessions.  So we are walking

Can you guys tell me if we're being reasonable or not? We feel like we are, but it's just H and me, and we can turn into an echo chamber sometimes.

We are buying a house. SoCal, so it's tiny. And it's a trust sale; a woman died in the house in May. We knew it was ugly and dated when we looked at it: legit shag carpet, wood paneling, zero kitchen fixtures/appliances remaining, etc. We structured our offer knowing that, and came to a price $23K under asking (5%).

Inspections have revealed quite a few troubling issues. We are thinking of asking the trustee to compensate us for these three major issues:

Mechanical: there is insufficient electrical current to the home to run modern appliances. Multiple egregious electrical concerns, including zero grounded outlets in the whole house, insufficient circuits in the kitchen to run new appliances (they didn't leave any appliances, so we have to get new ones), and other scary things like wires that terminate outside of junction boxes.  $5000 to rewire the entire house.

Structural:  we were told the roof has at most 2 years left.  There are several damaged spots noted on home inspection, and the termite inspection (see below) turned up additional damage.  $6800 to replace roof, damaged vents, plywood, etc.

Environmental:  a really shitty termite report.  Damage reported to all wood components of the house, from ground to attic.  There are also live termites.  $2600 to remedy, not including re-grading the side of the house to ensure earth is not touching wood parts of the house (est. $1000).

So we are asking for $15,500.  There are plenty of other issues with the house, but they were noticeable when we made our offer.  These are things that are safety related, and weren't noted on our initial walkthrough.

Before you ask, we chose this house so we could spend less on the house and more on updates, rather than buying a larger or already more updated home.  This neighborhood is hot, and homes are selling within 3 days of hitting the market.  This one was on the market over 3 weeks before we offered on it.

So is this reasonable?  Just having some anxiety as we prepare to make this request.  It's really only 3.5% of the contracted purchase price, but this trustee is in NYC and has never seen the home.  I hope we don't seem like dicks who are just looking for his money.

[katietornado]

[SallyJ]

With those safety issues you may have challenges with securing funding or insurance. I think it's all reasonable.

[debatethis]

I think those things are more than reasonable, since, frankly, unless *any* buyer buys it with the intent of razing it, the sellers will need to disclose and fix them. Stuff like dangerous electrical, structural/termite damage and the roof absolutely need to be repaired/remediated.

[heyjude]

It kinda seems like only your realtor would know how to answer this question.

[katietornado]

OK good. We're not asking for anything cosmetic or trivial. I just worry that since he hasn't ever seen the house (or been within 3000 miles of it), he's going to discount our concerns.

[2curlydogs]

Aug 28, 2015 14:50:12 GMT -5 SallyJ said:

With those safety issues you may have challenges with securing funding or insurance. I think it's all reasonable.

YUP. The electrical issues alone would almost certainly make it impossible to do so.

Reasonable. /gavel

[katietornado]

Aug 28, 2015 14:53:13 GMT -5 heyjude said:

It kinda seems like only your realtor would know how to answer this question.

Well we are submitting our request today.  And of course we've discussed it with our realtor. Just wanted fresh eyes on the situation since no one here is impartial.

[2curlydogs]

Out of curiosity, have you looked at any of the other mechanicals? Water heater, furnace, a/c, etc.?

The first....6 or 7 years we owned our house, every year we were replacing a major item. The only piece of major equipment or appliance original to the house is the water heater, and I'm pretty sure we'll need to do that next year or so, just to be safe.

[debatethis]

Aug 28, 2015 14:52:59 GMT -5 katietornado said:

OK good. We're not asking for anything cosmetic or trivial. I just worry that since he hasn't ever seen the house (or been within 3000 miles of it), he's going to discount our concerns.

IMO it would be a different story if you were asking for a new dishwasher because you wanted a stainless one and the current white one just wasn't your tastes. But you have (what seems like) an extensive, professional inspection, and I would assume photos to go along with the assessments, so the trustee really can't argue with that too much.

[heyjude]

Aug 28, 2015 14:54:00 GMT -5 katietornado said:

Aug 28, 2015 14:53:13 GMT -5 heyjude said:

It kinda seems like only your realtor would know how to answer this question.

Well we are submitting our request today.  And of course we've discussed it with our realtor. Just wanted fresh eyes on the situation since no one here is impartial.

But your realtor knows the nature of this market and we don't. While it may seem reasonable to a group of people all over the country in various real estate markets, it may not make sense for your "hot" market, KWIM? Trust your realtor.

We lost out on a house because we asked for closing costs and their washer and dryer, btw.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Are you asking them to come down an additional $15k? So 38k below asking?

[katietornado]

Aug 28, 2015 14:55:53 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Out of curiosity, have you looked at any of the other mechanicals? Water heater, furnace, a/c, etc.?

The first....6 or 7 years we owned our house, every year we were replacing a major item. The only piece of major equipment or appliance original to the house is the water heater, and I'm pretty sure we'll need to do that next year or so, just to be safe.

Water heater is 16 (so 1 year past typical life). We are including that in our "concerns," but not asking for $ to replace it.

No furnace or AC It's a beach town in SoCal. There's an electric wall heater (also old and needs to be replaced, but again we're not asking for $ for that), and that's the only climate control in the house.

[katietornado]

Aug 28, 2015 15:06:50 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

Are you asking them to come down an additional $15k? So 38k below asking?

In essence, yes.  Given that the defective things weren't known to the seller until our inspection uncovered them, they were not factored into the list price of the home.

But we would ask for a credit at close, rather than lowering the sale price.  Six of one, half dozen of the other.

[katietornado]

Aug 28, 2015 15:00:34 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Aug 28, 2015 14:54:00 GMT -5 katietornado said:

Well we are submitting our request today.  And of course we've discussed it with our realtor. Just wanted fresh eyes on the situation since no one here is impartial.

But your realtor knows the nature of this market and we don't. While it may seem reasonable to a group of people all over the country in various real estate markets, it may not make sense for your "hot" market, KWIM? Trust your realtor.

We lost out on a house because we asked for closing costs and their washer and dryer, btw.

I agree. Again, just looking for some general input here. Our realtor is going to ask for these things, and of course she can't tell us now if they will be acceptable to the seller or not.

These things are all dealbreakers to us, so if we lose the house over it, that's how the chips fall.

[StrawberryBlondie]

I think you're being reasonable, assuming the $23k is relates to the work you already wanted/needed to do to the house.

[shopgirl07]

Yes, reasonable. If it's a hot market, the seller may say no but you have to ask. When I sold my Dads house, I gave a $10K credit back at closing due to some inspection items. So not everyone is unreasonable.

[aurora]

Seems reasonable to me. You're not in a competition phase with other potential buyers at this point, and I think most reasonable sellers would understand why you would ask for these things (whether they'll agree or not is a totally different issue!).

[memenee]

Aug 28, 2015 14:52:59 GMT -5 katietornado said:

OK good. We're not asking for anything cosmetic or trivial. I just worry that since he hasn't ever seen the house (or been within 3000 miles of it), he's going to discount our concerns.

Hopefully he is aware that most other houses in the neighborhood sell within days and this one has sat for weeks. Good luck!

[katietornado]

Aug 28, 2015 14:52:11 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

It seems like a reasonable amount of money to ask for, but that's a separate issue from whether the overall deal is a good one. I personally, would not want to invest in such a money pit. The next 3-5 years of your life will be trying to get the place livable, and by that point it will be time to start replacing more things.

However, I'm soured on home ownership at the moment, so I'm a bit biased.

I hadn't seen this comment as I was skimming earlier.

I agree to some extent. We are prepared to dump about $80K into this house in updates, before we even move in.  The market will support it, for sure. Literally everything, from floors to walls to doors to windows to everything in between.  But those things really are cosmetic.  It wouldn't make sense for us to do $80K of cosmetic work on a house with a bad roof, termites, and dangerous electrical.  We did that in our last house (a 1908 foursquare with knob & tube) and never again!

[katietornado]

Update in OP.

[msmerymac]

:/

Sounds like a dick. We got a credit for most of the re-wiring of the house back at closing on our current house. But it was on the market for about 45 days before we put in an offer, and like you, I assumed they realized they would have the same issue and have the disclose the knob and tube to any future buyer, so...

But your market is probably so hot that even at that price, he's betting someone else will snap it up. Eventually.

[debatethis]

Good luck to the trustee with having to disclose termite infestation and faulty wiring.

So sorry.

[Cicero]

It's possible that since you're dealing with a death and subsequent sale of property that there are multiple beneficiaries involved and one of them is just unreasonable/a dick/not in any hurry to sell. 72 hours to me sounds like the executor/trustee doesn't have the authority to agree to terms of sale on his own.

Sorry about that :/

[ttt]

I'm sorry Sounds like it was probably for the best, though.

[ttt]

Aug 31, 2015 16:12:09 GMT -5 Cicero said:

It's possible that since you're dealing with a death and subsequent sale of property that there are multiple beneficiaries involved and one of them is just unreasonable/a dick/not in any hurry to sell. 72 hours to me sounds like the executor/trustee doesn't have the authority to agree to terms of sale on his own.

Sorry about that :/

When my grandparents passed away and their house needed to be sold, four separate real estate agents quit working with the family because of my uncle's antics. Four. It's been two years and it is *still* ongoing. 

[heyjude]

The seller probably wants to sell to flippers. That's my guess. It sounds like a perfect flip property.

[wambam]

I'm sorry

Your house is out there though. I'm just sorry this isn't it.