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uwaeve posted:In my opinion, you want the job done right, and the definition of right is going to differ between both parties. There is no incentive for the seller to do anything but the worst possible roof job to still conform to having "fixed the roof." Adding, in writing, what constitutes "fixing the roof" to the contract is going to be a huge headache. I would look into whether you can have them pay you cash at closing to fix the roof, after which you use it to get the roof done. Then the hard part is going to be negotiating the cash amount. They'll get some quotes, you get some quotes, you compare and find out their quotes are 1/3rd your quotes, and you negotiate from there. I do like the idea of them withholding cash for the sake of completion of roof. Yeah as you say, there's no value for us knocking it off the purchase price since I'll still get stung by a large cost up front (and save marginally on my mortgage payments). Thanks guys! I'll chat with the missus and solicitor and see what they say.
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May 14, 2014 18:10
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a shameful boehner posted:How do I know what's worth haggling over following the inspection? I know the real answer is "whatever you don't want to fix yourself" - and I'm okay with doing some basic home repairs - but ultimately I don't want to risk the seller walking away because the next buyer won't quibble. I would think that arguing over stuff like 50 cent door catch springs or stuff that is literally $0 to fix like trimming some branches is rather petty. It sounds like the current homeowners actually put some effort into maintenance of the house thus far and for small stuff like that it's really reaching. It sound more like something has to go in that box of stuff to fix and you're looking for things to fill it. As far as the plumbing issue goes did the inspector tell you how long down the line a possible failure could occur? Are we talking months, years, decades? It sounds like something that could be a problem 10+ years out.
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May 14, 2014 18:19
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a shameful boehner posted:However, the one potentially big issue that was noted were the connections between copper and galvanized plumbing which can cause corrosion, especially given the high mineral content in the water here in Colorado. According to my inspector that's probably worth consulting with a licensed plumber about how to install "Dial Electric" pipe separators, but I honestly don't know the first thing about what that would entail, cost of hiring a plumber to fix, etc. Dielectric pipe fittings. It's basically a segment of pipe that has a gasket to separate the two different metals so they're not touching. How much it'll cost to install them depends on how accessible the pipes are and how many need to be done. I did one on my water heater myself, but I'm comfortable silver-soldering copper pipe together (which is not very difficult, you just need a hardware-store handheld gas torch, some lead-free silver solder, watch a couple youtube videos, and then try it on a spare piece of pipe once or twice to make sure you've got the hang of it). If you have to tear open walls to get to the joins, that's obviously way more expensive, but if a plumber can directly access the joins, you're looking at like 20 or 30 minutes of labor and maybe $15 of parts per join. It's also not super-urgent. Two different metals act as a battery, but given it's only water and not an acid they're in contact with, it's a very, very weak battery. You might notice some corrosion buildup over the span of multiple years, but if you put it off for a year nothing bad is going to happen. e. Oh, one thing to be aware of. The cold copper pipes in a house may be used as an electrical ground. If you install a dielectric fitting, nothing "upstream" of the fitting is grounded any more. So you should confirm that you have no grounds attached to the pipes near your faucets, or if you do, re-run the ground wires far enough that they can be attached to the copper that actually runs to the ground. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 18:25 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 18:21
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a shameful boehner posted:How do I know what's worth haggling over following the inspection? I know the real answer is "whatever you don't want to fix yourself" - and I'm okay with doing some basic home repairs - but ultimately I don't want to risk the seller walking away because the next buyer won't quibble. What to ask for in your repair addendum is pretty subjective, depending on the overall condition of the property, the price (ie, is it already priced to take repairs into account?), your comfort level with doing things yourself, the attitude of the seller, etc. Without knowing any of that besides what you've posted, my opinion is to ask for the springs on the doors, the valve replacement and to get a plumber out to inspect the plumbing. You would need to pay for the plumbing inspection and it would need to happen during your inspection period. The plumber could more accurately assess the need to retrofit dielectric unions and any existing damage. My reasoning is that the springs and valve are simple things that the seller should have no problem fixing. The plumbing is a potential major issue though, and having that inspected now is in your best interest. Depending on the plumber's report, you would want to ask for his recommended repairs as well. The thing to remember is that (at least in my state) if your inspector uncovers a defect, like faulty plumbing, and you make the seller aware of this defect, they will legally have to disclose the defect to any future buyers. That keeps it in your seller's best interest to work with you on resolving repairs, rather than just walking away and trying to sell to someone else.
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May 14, 2014 18:23
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FCKGW posted:I would think that arguing over stuff like 50 cent door catch springs or stuff that is literally $0 to fix like trimming some branches is rather petty. It sounds like the current homeowners actually put some effort into maintenance of the house thus far and for small stuff like that it's really reaching. It sound more like something has to go in that box of stuff to fix and you're looking for things to fill it. Leperflesh posted:Dielectric pipe fittings. It's basically a segment of pipe that has a gasket to separate the two different metals so they're not touching. How much it'll cost to install them depends on how accessible the pipes are and how many need to be done. I did one on my water heater myself, but I'm comfortable silver-soldering copper pipe together (which is not very difficult, you just need a hardware-store handheld gas torch, some lead-free silver solder, watch a couple youtube videos, and then try it on a spare piece of pipe once or twice to make sure you've got the hang of it). Awesome, thanks for this information. The pipes are all easily accessible without having to get into the walls to the joins, having seen them myself. It also appears in the seller's disclosure that they had the sewer line flushed twice over the last 7 years, which was my only other major concern. There is some corrosion on the piping, but it didn't appear to be major. I'll inquire with the inspector if what we saw is a big concern or could be pushed out to a later time. edit: Here's an example of the copper-galvanized piping join and the areas of apparent corrosion: 
ex post facho fucked around with this message at 18:35 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 18:27
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Economic Sinkhole posted:ask for the springs on the doors, the valve replacement and to get a plumber out to inspect the plumbing.
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May 14, 2014 18:30
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Maybe I'm just jealous of your perfect house because the one I bought had a busted water heater, busted shower valve, no garage door openers and was actually missings windows in the garage doors so anyone could crawl into the house. Since I was buying it from a bank they told me to go pound sand when I asked for contingencies. Thankfully they sprung for the home warranty the first year 
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May 14, 2014 18:37
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a shameful boehner posted:Awesome, thanks for this information. The pipes are all easily accessible without having to get into the walls to the joins, having seen them myself. It also appears in the seller's disclosure that they had the sewer line flushed twice over the last 7 years, which was my only other major concern. As a non-plumber but fairly handy guy, I could fix what I see in that photo in an hour, with two dielectric joins, some silver solder, some tools (including a pipe cutter) and a torch. And maybe a little bit of swearing and stuff. Possibly might need a segment of pipe or another fitting if I can't flex pipes enough to slide the join in and have to cut it. The corrosion certainly looks like what I'd expect to see after maybe five years or more of those two different metals joined. You can clean it off with a scouring pad.
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May 14, 2014 18:41
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That seems a lot simpler than I initially thought. Given my zero experience in doing any sort of home maintenance and not being very handy at all, I might contact a plumber for an estimate (at least this time around) and take some careful notes. The seller did also disclose the copper-galvanized issue in the seller's disclosure documentation. Other items of note: - Minor back patio settling (not a big deal, slopes a bit but no cracking the poured slab) - Roof less than 1 yr old (replaced by licensed contractor) - Sewer line flushed twice in last 7 years - Washing machine replaced last year - Dishwasher replaced last year - Oven replaced last year - Range replaced last year - Furnace replaced in August 2013 - Water heater replaced in August 2013 - Vinyl windows 2 years old - Exterior paint 1 year old All included in the price. I also forgot to mention that the insulation in the attic is what appears to be pretty compact and settled, so adding new insulation will probably be something to do pretty soon after move-in. I feel pretty lucky. Everything seems very up to date other than the few minor issues noted. ex post facho fucked around with this message at 19:19 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 19:16
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canyoneer posted:A dude on my facebook who sells houses just posted a video of a home showing for a 3 story home. It's currently uninhabited, the owners have moved already. We went to a house the other day where a tree limb had fallen on the roof and broke through. They had a 2 gallon wash bucket under the hole. The entire house was humid, hardwood floors had buckled and mold was all over the place. Asking price:$200k. No mention of any if the damage in photos or listing. Shame because it was a nice house in a good neighborhood otherwise.
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May 14, 2014 19:29
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LogisticEarth posted:We went to a house the other day where a tree limb had fallen on the roof and broke through. They had a 2 gallon wash bucket under the hole. The entire house was humid, hardwood floors had buckled and mold was all over the place. Yeah, this was was $400k in a Phoenix suburb. $400k buys you a lot of house out here (4,000 sq ft in a nice neighborhood). edit: The only reason you care about springs on the doors is so the door and doorknob don't gouge the walls and baseboard. You can buy them for $3/each at Lowes and install them in less than 2 minutes with a drill. canyoneer fucked around with this message at 21:39 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 21:12
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Leperflesh posted:
Or just to be safe he could ask the plumber or an electrician to quote grounding the copper after the fittings are installed, right there at the same section of pipe. That way if anything is grounded upstream it still will be. Although I'm not sure if that would re-introduce the dissimilar metal problem. I suppose it depends on how it's grounded.
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May 14, 2014 22:24
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identity49 posted:I defaulted on a smallish student loan (<$10k) a few years back. Long story short, I am now gainfully employed (>$50k/yr) and was able to pay off the loan in full pretty quickly. Now, come to find out that was probably a mistake. I had never heard of student loan rehabilitation and now I guess there's no way to get that default off my credit report. Generally speaking, a single derogatory installment or revolving trade line that is a few years old is not really a big deal. If you've since paid it off and your credit history is otherwise good it probably won't be an issue. Golluk posted:The best part is when the guy complains that the scrutiny given to their bad past loans, has continued to be applied to current and new loans. While that particular quote is rather stupid, looking over the article the changes they're proposing look fairly reasonable for the most part.
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May 15, 2014 00:36
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so I figure this would be a good place to ask this : are variable rate plans generally the cheaper option for natural gas, or fixed plans? I've been researching the companies in my market (GA), and everything I'm reading makes it sound like fixed rate plans are just for babbehs who can't stomach their gas bills being a lot higher in the winter than summer. but, when I look at our local government's public service commission website, which records average bill prices for each company's plans by month, it looks like fixed rate plans are actually cheaper in a 12 month period. hours of furious googling and number crunching later, I still have no firm answer. anyone here have any thoughts?
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May 15, 2014 07:07
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identity49 posted:I defaulted on a smallish student loan (<$10k) a few years back. Long story short, I am now gainfully employed (>$50k/yr) and was able to pay off the loan in full pretty quickly. Now, come to find out that was probably a mistake. I had never heard of student loan rehabilitation and now I guess there's no way to get that default off my credit report.
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May 15, 2014 10:53
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mindphlux posted:so I figure this would be a good place to ask this : are variable rate plans generally the cheaper option for natural gas, or fixed plans?
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May 15, 2014 12:25
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swenblack posted:The fixed plans are pretty much a scam in my area. I get a couple letters a month from my natural gas company extolling the benefits of switching to a fixed plan. However, when I ran the numbers, I found out I'd pay ~60% more on the fixed plan than I was paying on the variable plan. Also, the fine print on the fixed plan actually said that if it was cheaper than the variable plan over the course of a year, they could bill me for the difference. I've always done the variable plan, so grain of salt, but don't they recalculate your average every 12 (or whatever) months and refund (or at least apply to next month's bill) overages?
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May 15, 2014 12:44
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Grumpwagon posted:I've always done the variable plan, so grain of salt, but don't they recalculate your average every 12 (or whatever) months and refund (or at least apply to next month's bill) overages?
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May 15, 2014 13:31
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mindphlux posted:so I figure this would be a good place to ask this : are variable rate plans generally the cheaper option for natural gas, or fixed plans? Don't trust a middleman when it comes to paying bills. You need to track month-by-month usage and billing for yourself so you can catch an outlier bill when it happens, not 12 months later. Here's some reasons your bills might be wrong:
Yes, you'll be unable to budget for fuel the winter for your first year, but after that, you have a baseline and can adjust accordingly. Better yet, by tracking utilities over the course of a year, you can adjust your household budgeting for next year. I have utility information from the day I moved in (Dec 2010) and this past February's electric bill (I have electric heat) was a whopping $380 (33% higher!) than it usually is - but I only had to pay $80 extra since I had already budgeted $300. I can tell you I need $12,000 to run this household by myself - I budget for that, and any additional money goes to paying off credit cards, retirement funds, occasional overages due to Mother Nature being a frigid bitch, etc.
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May 15, 2014 16:02
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daggerdragon posted:I have utility information from the day I moved in (Dec 2010) and this past February's electric bill (I have electric heat) was a whopping $380 (33% higher!) than it usually is - but I only had to pay $80 extra since I had already budgeted $300. I can tell you I need $12,000 to run this household by myself - I budget for that, and any additional money goes to paying off credit cards, retirement funds, occasional overages due to Mother Nature being a frigid bitch, etc. Holy poo poo. Do you own a 8,000sqft house in Alaska or something? Are you sure you don't have a marijuana grow operation in your basement?
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May 15, 2014 16:30
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mindphlux posted:variable rate plans My gas company sets the bill based on last year's average, then bills you (or refunds you) in one chunk at the end of the year to make up any difference from your actual usage. My electric company does the same, but with a rolling 12-month average. I do both of these because it's convenient and there's no extra fee. Some companies charge a different rate for this?
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May 15, 2014 16:32
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Cranbe posted:Holy poo poo. Do you own a 8,000sqft house in Alaska or something? Are you sure you don't have a marijuana grow operation in your basement?
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May 15, 2014 16:38
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slap me silly posted:My gas company sets the bill based on last year's average, then bills you (or refunds you) in one chunk at the end of the year to make up any difference from your actual usage. My electric company does the same, but with a rolling 12-month average. I do both of these because it's convenient and there's no extra fee. Some companies charge a different rate for this?
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May 15, 2014 16:40
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Gah. Of course my gas company is constantly shilling some stupid "cover your interior gas lines!" insurance scam so I better not get all braggy
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May 15, 2014 16:48
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swenblack posted:The Ukraine crisis caused a massive spike in natural gas prices. Pretty much everyone ended up paying a lot more that month. But he was talking about his electric bill?
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May 15, 2014 16:53
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Cranbe posted:Holy poo poo. Do you own a 8,000sqft house in Alaska or something? Are you sure you don't have a marijuana grow operation in your basement? 1,066sqft near Rochester, NY.  Village electric is cheap, too...On the upside, gas is $18 because the only gas appliance in the house is the stove.
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May 15, 2014 17:10
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Cranbe posted:Holy poo poo. Do you own a 8,000sqft house in Alaska or something? Are you sure you don't have a marijuana grow operation in your basement? It's almost like utility prices are not consistent across the country. My electric rates are tiered and go up to 32 cents/kWh, resulting in bills like this:  I'm much happier with my solar system now. Gas bill is ~$20/mo too.
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May 15, 2014 18:32
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Yay for city owned regulated public utilities. 
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May 15, 2014 19:18
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So, in the inspection objection I returned to the seller, my buyer's agent/realtor and I noted 5 things we requested to have repaired: Plumber: 1. Inspect, evaluate and replace/install dielectric connectors for galvanized-copper pipe connections 2. Inspect, evaluate and remediate slow to drain upper main bathtub and sink (may be more than just a clog) 3. Inspect, evaluate and repair leaky laundry sink faucet Electrician: 1. Inspect, install GFCI outlets in kitchen 2. Replace and upgrade service panel to bring up to current standards The other stuff like cutting the tree limbs, clearing the gutters, installing a new exterior garden faucet valve, door catch springs and repairing a crack in the garage door are all things I think I can handle. The seller has responded that they don't have the time to have these items done themselves while looking for a new home, so I guess my next step is to have these things estimated by a licensed plumber & electrician, right? Anyone have any advice on how to proceed with getting these things estimated, and how much of a credit we should ask for from the seller? My agent said that they're okay with issuing a credit for the repair for all of them. ex post facho fucked around with this message at 19:28 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 19:24
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a shameful boehner posted:So, in the inspection objection I returned to the seller, my buyer's agent/realtor and I noted 5 things we requested to have repaired: Yup. I just called up an electrician and asked him to come out and give me a quote. Asked for that amount. Don't overthink it. You'll have plenty of house stuff to stress about later.
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May 15, 2014 19:37
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FCKGW posted:It's almost like utility prices are not consistent across the country. I'm really going to miss my <$50 electric bills when I move out of this apartment 
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May 15, 2014 20:23
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Steve French posted:But he was talking about his electric bill?
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May 15, 2014 20:27
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I work in a big factory. I recently learned what the company's electricity rate is. If the neighbors knew how much more they were paying per kWh compared to commercial/industrial customers, they would probably storm us with pitchforks.
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May 15, 2014 20:37
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canyoneer posted:I work in a big factory. I recently learned what the company's electricity rate is. If the neighbors knew how much more they were paying per kWh compared to commercial/industrial customers, they would probably storm us with Most pitchforks are terrible conductors and few meet electrical codes.
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May 15, 2014 20:40
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Its almost like a big industrial client gets a bulk discount rate and probably requires far less infrastructure per kilowatt consumed than individual residences. What a ripoff.
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May 15, 2014 20:46
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LogisticEarth posted:Its almost like a big industrial client gets a bulk discount rate and probably requires far less infrastructure per kilowatt consumed than individual residences. What a ripoff. I get it. You get it. That doesn't mean it couldn't turn into a big public relations outcry Tonight on channel 6 news: "IS YOUR ELECTRIC BILL SUBSIDIZING THE PROFITS OF [company]?!?"
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May 15, 2014 20:48
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canyoneer posted:I get it. You get it. That doesn't mean it couldn't turn into a big public relations outcry "Yes, and they're providing jobs, so they deserve it."
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May 15, 2014 20:49
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My credit score is 734 and my spouse and I are looking at a house. We're absolutely in love with it, considering it meets all of our needs, and future expected needs. It's the house we would have forever. I'm kind of freaking out and wondering if 734 is enough to qualify for a good loan--especially since I work from home and I'm not the main source of income in the household. I guess what I'm asking is, how relevant is the credit score when weighed against everything else, like income, projected income (since I work off royalties), and the size of the down payment? Also, I'm slightly excited because the people selling are acquaintances of my grandparents, and are just kind of looking to liquidate assets so they can move to their massive house in the country. They're selling it themselves without the use of a realtor. Should I be doing any strategy to our follow-ups and initial offer? Would saying how much we love the house be a bad move and make them think they can get closer to the asking price? It's in a 'meh' area of town that's mostly old people, has a lovely, miserable school district, but is in such a great and convenient location. Also, if we don't get the house, then it ruins all other houses we could ever possibly look at. That's how perfect it is for us. Buying a house is stressful. Jeez...
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May 15, 2014 21:40
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Nilryna posted:
I'm not too good with how the credit score will impact you. Mine was a little higher than yours and my fiance's is a little lower than mine and we made out fine. What's mostly important is to avoid getting attached like you have above. What happens if inspections come back and there's a busted pipe under the slab? Roof is being held together by duct tape? The place is termite ridden? Indian burial ground? Always expect the worst and keep expectations and hopes low. I learned that after the first house we put and offer in on. It makes finally getting the house feel that much better and the pain a little less when a deal breaker comes up and you have to walk away.
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May 15, 2014 21:49
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Rule #1 of real estate, never get emotionally attached to a property.
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May 15, 2014 21:59
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