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Our Offer was Accepted --- Now I need some Help & Hints for a Home Makover

elaine

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I also think that was a wise decision. And glad you talked to an honest neighbor. We also walked away from a great deal on a house that had synthetic stucco with water intrusion issues--we did some research and even talked to their stucco inspector who told us that he found issues at every place he put a probe (and said you can't probe every inch--those were selected examples) and told us it was a problem and $50-80K if we needed to pull all the stucco off. Sellers were going to "fix" only the areas he put a probe. DH used a temp meter and from that could see probable water intrusion under many windows. We walked away. The realtor, to her credit, did tell the next buyers about "a stucco issue." They thought stucco was "no big deal"--I don't think they understood it was synthetic.
 
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Sugarcubesea

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I also think that was a wise decision. And glad you talked to an honest neighbor. We also walked away from a great deal on a house that had synthetic stucco with water intrusion issues--we did some research and even talked to their stucco inspector who told us that he found issues at every place he put a probe (and said you can't probe every inch--those were selected examples) and told us it was a problem and $50-80K if we needed to pull all the stucco off. Sellers were going to "fix" only the areas he put a probe. DH used a temp meter and from that could see probable water intrusion under many windows. We walked away. The realtor, to her credit, did tell the next buyers about "a stucco issue." They thought stucco was "no big deal"--I don't think they understood it was synthetic.

Elaine, thanks again for all your help... It really helped us with our decision...
 

elaine

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best wishes--I know you posted with just "where to start with renos on dream house"--and sometimes it's very hard to walk away. but I definitely would have walked after I learned about the burst pipes as well. good luck!
 

Sugarcubesea

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best wishes--I know you posted with just "where to start with renos on dream house"--and sometimes it's very hard to walk away. but I definitely would have walked after I learned about the burst pipes as well. good luck!

I'm really bummed because I really liked the neighbors and they were so helpful and sweet....
 

Snazzylass

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I'm really bummed because I really liked the neighbors and they were so helpful and sweet....
Wow! That bathroom thing. You really did dodge a bullet. The sellers were the kind of people I would not want to buy a home from.

I bought my current home FSBO without an inspection. Loved the owners, but they were very careful not to provide me with any contact information, like a forwarding address for their mail. I get a little giggle now and then when I realize there were some things that went, um, unnoticed by me because frankly, they covered it up. Nothing big. I paid the right price and I will come out ahead when I sell.

Regarding the lovely neighbors who you made a connection with: may I suggest you write a note and attach it to a little plant or something and thank them? Include your contact info and urge them to contact you if they hear of anyone else selling?

Years ago, I sat in the driveway of a home with a SOLD sign in the front yard after church and decided, yup! This is what I need to do. I need to buy a home in this neighborhood. Lots of twists and turns, but 9 months later I was the owner of that exact home! It went back on the market. The couple who bought it were transferred but had done some improvements inside in the meantime. It could not have worked out better for me :) That's why I always say RE is serendipitous.
 

vacationtime1

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Mold was not disclosed on the disclosure we signed off on. However I believe they knew and choose not to disclose, because when we talked to the next door neighbors they told us the water pipes in both bathrooms exploded last year around November and the neighbors had to call the owners to tell them the water was pouring out of their house. The neighbor told me that the owner did all the work themselves and our inspector found that the toilet was loose in one of the bathrooms, so they did a shoddy job on re doing the bathrooms after the pipes burst.
I felt badly for the sellers until I read this.

With sellers like that, there would have been other problems.

You dodged a bullet.
 

Sugarcubesea

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Wow! That bathroom thing. You really did dodge a bullet. The sellers were the kind of people I would not want to buy a home from.

I bought my current home FSBO without an inspection. Loved the owners, but they were very careful not to provide me with any contact information, like a forwarding address for their mail. I get a little giggle now and then when I realize there were some things that went, um, unnoticed by me because frankly, they covered it up. Nothing big. I paid the right price and I will come out ahead when I sell.

Regarding the lovely neighbors who you made a connection with: may I suggest you write a note and attach it to a little plant or something and thank them? Include your contact info and urge them to contact you if they hear of anyone else selling?

Years ago, I sat in the driveway of a home with a SOLD sign in the front yard after church and decided, yup! This is what I need to do. I need to buy a home in this neighborhood. Lots of twists and turns, but 9 months later I was the owner of that exact home! It went back on the market. The couple who bought it were transferred but had done some improvements inside in the meantime. It could not have worked out better for me :) That's why I always say RE is serendipitous.

Snazzy, that is a really great idea... I think I will buy a nice plant and drive it out to them... They really helped us out and I'm so bummed that they will not be our neighbors...
 

DaveNV

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@Sugarcubesea, I am sorry to hear this news, but on the whole, it makes me question what else the Sellers know and aren't talking about. If they truly had burst pipes and water gushing from the house last year, what sort of mold is growing inside the walls, or under the flooring? Who's to say that if you'd gone forward and tried refinishing the flooring, what would you find there? What would you find in the walls behind all that paneling? If there is no ventilation in the attic, to the point that mold was so prevalent in the attic, what's working its way down all the exterior walls, or growing up behind the sheetrock or wood paneling from the wet flooring from the burst pipe situation? Mold can be insidious, and the cause of it can be from a number of sources. And that just the mold. What else does the house have going wrong with it?

All in, walking away was probably the best option, disappointing as that is. If you were only planning to stay in this home 7-8 years till retirement, fixing all those issues would add up to more than the money involved, in return for the intangible benefits of living on the water. When you weigh things out, it likely wouldn't be worth it, because you'd live every day wondering what else was going wrong with the house. would you be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the next disaster? I think you would. How could you truly relax there if you were waiting for the next issue to raise its head?

Please update this thread with future developments, particularly if the house is relisted, and what your RE Agent learns. My guess is these Sellers just want to be done with this house, because it's becoming their own money pit. Your research is worthwhile, and could help the next Buyer dodge their own bullet.

Dave
 

VacationForever

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@Sugarcubesea, I am sorry to hear this news, but on the whole, it makes me question what else the Sellers know and aren't talking about. If they truly had burst pipes and water gushing from the house last year, what sort of mold is growing inside the walls, or under the flooring? Who's to say that if you'd gone forward and tried refinishing the flooring, what would you find there? What would you find in the walls behind all that paneling? If there is no ventilation in the attic, to the point that mold was so prevalent in the attic, what's working its way down all the exterior walls, or growing up behind the sheetrock or wood paneling from the wet flooring from the burst pipe situation? Mold can be insidious, and the cause of it can be from a number of sources. And that just the mold. What else does the house have going wrong with it?

All in, walking away was probably the best option, disappointing as that is. If you were only planning to stay in this home 7-8 years till retirement, fixing all those issues would add up to more than the money involved, in return for the intangible benefits of living on the water. When you weigh things out, it likely wouldn't be worth it, because you'd live every day wondering what else was going wrong with the house. would you be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the next disaster? I think you would. How could you truly relax there if you were waiting for the next issue to raise its head?

Please update this thread with future developments, particularly if the house is relisted, and what your RE Agent learns. My guess is these Sellers just want to be done with this house, because it's becoming their own money pit. Your research is worthwhile, and could help the next Buyer dodge their own bullet.

Dave
With a house like that, there is only one way to fix all the issues, which is to tear it down and rebuild it. The sale price of the home should simply be for the price of the lot. I would not touch this home at all.
 
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