Buying a House - Red flag/walk away?

[Designer]

Too bad, it's such a cute house.

Ah, mistake #1; falling in love with a house because it's cute.

Shop for location first, then find a house that is structurally sound, and that has the layout (or close to) that you would like to live with.

You can make almost any house "cute" with a few cosmetic touches.

 

[Designer]

Since we're on the subject (or very nearly) I have taught my wife how to look at houses.

We used to kill several Sunday afternoons going to open houses. Invariably they would be "builder" homes that had major design flaws. I would just walk around looking at all the bone-head mistakes, trying to avoid the realtor. If the realtor would ask me "well, what do you think?" I would be brutally frank and tell her or him exactly what I thought. My poor wife would be so embarrassed that we would have to leave right away.

I eventually got her to look more in depth. If she said; "Oh, I like this!" I would ask her to tell me exactly what it was about that house/room/fireplace etc. So in time she could pick out the parts that were interesting and probably worthwhile, such as the trim, the shutters, the color, that particular window, etc. So she learned that even if there were things that she liked, it was not necessarily the entire house. Eventually, she learned to look at a house with a more critical eye. Yay!

 

[bribrius]

There are two types of "fix 'er uppers". The "oh we'll have fun and paint the kitchen, put in new carpet and maybe some cabinets" and the "WTF did I get myself into?! My wife has left me, I am bankrupt and all I am left with is a pile of studs" type.

Stay away from anything that requires the following: plumbing, electrical, structural and sewage.

almost check, check, check, check, check.
hey, where were you when I was shopping? My wife still wants new kitchen cabinets but it Is somewhere near the bottom of my priority list I should probably level the kitchen first...

For the o.p. . Something i learned, don't know if you have kids or what have you. But for me. rugs, don't even bother. I buy the throw down ones or cheap cut and throw them out and replace them every couple years. with the amount traffic and crap that hits the floors it is easier using throw downs and throwing them out than laying actual rug and having to rip it back up or trying to keep it clean.. Just replaced my living room rug again, 150 bucks not a staple in it and in two years it will be thrown out and replaced, again. I did the math it is cheaper than always buying stain remover worrying about spilled drinks(wondering If you are really get the carpet clean again) and cleaning the carpets every day from the kids and we get new rugs every couple years. lol

If you ever removed a old carpet, they gain weight from the amount of nastie in them. (gross). But with hardwood, kids play rough and bang their heads so i covered it. Other thing is if you have kids, like I did one of my boys room in Disney matt not rug. PRetty cheap and it is wall to wall foam with just Disney characters. so if he falls on his head he wont be hurt, something spills just wipe it up it is foam. the entire thing is matt with cartoon. he out grows it just toss it out and move up to the next age level matt. Not that you have to think like this but I kind of wrapped my head around kid friendly, disposable and if it breaks I wont cry over it. some of these things might come to mind for you though if you are shopping things that need work anyway and have children. Same with childrens gates, I used a cut table top for one and cut a regular wood door in half for another so we can open and shut it just like a regular door but it is only half a door. it has survived three kids so far they get old enough to open it they can go through. just some things to think about. They quote you a grand to change a carpet and you have kids ignore it and just throw down some cheap cut or matt depending on the room.

 

[runnah]

You know you are in too deep with a home improvement project when buying the house down seems like a reasonable option.

 

[waday]

just make sure you know what you are getting in to I guess.

Good point. That’s why we’re trying to figure it out before putting in an offer. Once we put in an offer, it’s going to get too emotional, at least for my wife.

Here, you could even be looking at wiring that was never right and caused a fire (one that you know of, maybe more?) without a leak being involved.

That’s what we’re afraid of.. especially because the interior wall that had water leaking in it really should not have had plumbing.. They’re not disclosing something.

I'd run away.

This is exactly what we’re going to do.

For me none of these faults would be a problem because I have been in the building trade for 35 years if you have no building knowledge you could easily get ripped off

We don’t mind a little work here or there, but we’re not ready (i.e., neither time nor money) to get into major renovations—like, electrical, plumbing, structural.

Ah, mistake #1; falling in love with a house because it's cute.

Shop for location first, then find a house that is structurally sound, and that has the layout (or close to) that you would like to live with.

You can make almost any house "cute" with a few cosmetic touches.

Very, very true. We started house hunting last year, and fell into some of the same traps. We’re a bit rusty.

I would be brutally frank and tell her or him exactly what I thought. My poor wife would be so embarrassed that we would have to leave right away.

Very good points. The above quote is us exactly. I’m brutally honest with my realtor, and my wife sugarcoats everything. Haha

There are two types of "fix 'er uppers". The "oh we'll have fun and paint the kitchen, put in new carpet and maybe some cabinets" and the "WTF did I get myself into?! My wife has left me, I am bankrupt and all I am left with is a pile of studs" type.

Stay away from anything that requires the following: plumbing, electrical, structural and sewage.

Thanks for the input! We're trying to find the former and trying to stay far away from the latter!

For the o.p. . Something i learned, don't know if you have kids or what have you. But for me. rugs, don't even bother.

Thanks for the input on the rugs! We’re more of wood flooring people, so we definitely do the throw down rugs where we can.

Kids… that’s another story. Let’s talk about a house first.. then, if we have a few hundred thousand dollars left, we’ll talk about kids.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Have a question that is not photography related.

The wife and I are looking to buy soon.

We found a house that we like, both inside and out. It seems perfect; however, there are a few issues that we know about. We need help (i.e., a neutral party that is not family or agent) in how to move forward. Family screams no, agent screams yes. Well, they don't 'scream'...

On the seller's disclosure, they have indicated that there was a fire in 2011 that was inside a wall. Apparently there was water dripping, which caused sparks and subsequent fire. According to seller's agent, the fire was remedied (i.e., new wall, new floors). I don't have a problem with something that was fixed; however, when asked what the source of the water was or if the source of the leak was fixed, no one knows. I guess we should assume it's still leaking?

We know they have an 'older' electrical system that will probably need to be rewired at some point in the future. We know that they need a new roof within a few years. We know that there are some fixable water/moisture problems in the bathroom. However, considering there WAS a fire because of a mix of water and electricity, we're wondering if we should even bother putting an offer in and getting an inspection. We don't want to have to pay for an inspection if we know upfront that we can't afford to fix ALL of the house's issues immediately.

We keep trying to tell ourselves that the issues can be dealt with, but we don't have the kind of money to rewire the whole house and put on a new roof within a year's time.

The problem we have is that we really like the house, it's in a great location, and it's perfect for our needs. Do we need to disconnect our emotions from the house? I fear we're emotionally attached.

Any help or opinion would be greatly appreciated! Or, a link to a good forum to post this question?

Have a question that is not photography related.

The wife and I are looking to buy soon.

We found a house that we like, both inside and out. It seems perfect; however, there are a few issues that we know about. We need help (i.e., a neutral party that is not family or agent) in how to move forward. Family screams no, agent screams yes. Well, they don't 'scream'...

On the seller's disclosure, they have indicated that there was a fire in 2011 that was inside a wall. Apparently there was water dripping, which caused sparks and subsequent fire. According to seller's agent, the fire was remedied (i.e., new wall, new floors). I don't have a problem with something that was fixed; however, when asked what the source of the water was or if the source of the leak was fixed, no one knows. I guess we should assume it's still leaking?

We know they have an 'older' electrical system that will probably need to be rewired at some point in the future. We know that they need a new roof within a few years. We know that there are some fixable water/moisture problems in the bathroom. However, considering there WAS a fire because of a mix of water and electricity, we're wondering if we should even bother putting an offer in and getting an inspection. We don't want to have to pay for an inspection if we know upfront that we can't afford to fix ALL of the house's issues immediately.

We keep trying to tell ourselves that the issues can be dealt with, but we don't have the kind of money to rewire the whole house and put on a new roof within a year's time.

The problem we have is that we really like the house, it's in a great location, and it's perfect for our needs. Do we need to disconnect our emotions from the house? I fear we're emotionally attached.

Any help or opinion would be greatly appreciated! Or, a link to a good forum to post this question?

 

[BananaRepublic]

Would you buy a car if you knew that the gearbox was gone or the was corrosion on the undercarriage, I wouldn't.

If the like the place I would at least want to make sure that you have written guarantees surrounding the circumstances of the fire. Also you could get an estimate on the roof fix and rewiring and demand that the cost be written of the asking price.

 

[deeky]

1. Building permits are public record - you should be able to go pull all permits pertaining to the property to see what was done.
2. Get the CLUE report - Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. Think of it like a credit bureau for insurance claims. The owners will have to pull it for you, but ask them to get it before you write an offer.
3. If you don't trust your Realtor or who they refer you to, you need a new realtor.

I may be in a bit late for this home, but hang on to it for the future.