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A Day at the Beach

September 27th, 2007 at 05:42 am

Spent the day getting to and from the beach house.....not much time at the beach actually.

Met the inspector there and watched him pick the house and property apart. Hoping the final report isn't too scary, but it is an old......really old house with a recent remodel, so it's not all normal construction.

Mom's not scared......she is still ready to go. There are just a couple items we will see if the seller will cover the costs to bring up to speed. Some of the other things are just going to have to be stuff we live with, in exchange for the location of the house.

Apparently, there were too many red flags re; the foundation, or rather several foundations and how they meet up on the corners of the new meets old house. And, there was an odd sound when the cover to the circuit box was removed........so an electrician needs to be brought in to give the word on that issue.

The rest were in the catagory of "areas to keep our eye on" sort of things. The house has a metal roof, made in the shape of tiles....and there is no way we could figure out to get up on the roof without collapsing the metal, look like roofing tile things. So, no info on the chimney nor the status of the roof. Not sure what we decided on this part....

And there was a bit about the lack of ventilation under the house......it was built before lots of the regulations we have now; and there isn't room for anyone to get under the house, so the vapor barrier, insulation is a difficult thing to do, or to check on. Again, not sure what the verdict is on this one, but it's not likely there is any fix for this.......

Waiting for tomorrow, when the actual report gets emailed to us, then we decide what we can live with and what we're heading back to the bargaining table with. Mom just wants to GET there, I would like to see her be able to do that.........and deal with any difficulties one at a time, if we need to. Selling the house shouldn't be a problem, most likely, the next owner would remove the house and put up something much more grand anyway.

So, again.......the waiting.

An interesting welcoming committee was at the beach house this AM when we arrived...........3 deer on the front lawn. This should make gardening a challenge...it has been 2 years since I had a yard with deer! This will be an odd yard indeed, as last time we visited the house, there was a seal sunning himself (herself?) on the float just out from the lawn.... Smile

Posted in keeping track | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “A Day at the Beach”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    September 27th, 2007 at 01:42 pm 1190900571
    1190900571

    Don't be too upset if the inspector finds dozens of things wrong. They like to do that to justify their price.(and they are often wrong) One thing they found in our last house was a "softness" in the floor in front of one sliding glass door. We never used that door at all, so the carpet was like brand new and not worn down.
    Another time they noted, too many trees around the house.
    They ruin so many sales of homes and are really not qualified. they are not licensed builders like my husband is, but only someone that took a course.

  2. fern Says:
    September 27th, 2007 at 07:44 pm 1190922276
    1190922276

    Well, yeah, ima, that is probably the case, but if there are foundation problems or ventilation issues, that could be quite expensive to fix. Is the house lacking a basement. Sounds like there's no slab, just dirt? That to me would be a big red flag. I nearly bought a house like that when i was house hunting; i fell in love with the japanese soaking tub and the palladian window in the bathroom and lots of other charming details, but when my inspector said "$25k" to put a slab in, i walked away. The only reason this came up is becus the sellers piled a bunch of furniture in the center of one room, and it was my realtor who became suspicious and after moving the furniture found they were trying to hide all the wood parquet floor tiles that were buckling up, due to moisture caused by the dirt floor and lack of a vapor barrier underneath. It's not a small thing.

    I don't want to squelch the excitement you must be feeling, just move carefully and know what you're getting into.

  3. contrary1 Says:
    September 28th, 2007 at 02:14 am 1190945640
    1190945640

    I appreciate both your views and actually read the report (33 pages!) with caution.

    We've got concerns regarding the foundation and the electrical work, and a little plumbing from the kitchen sink. Already have an electrician going to check out his part and trying to come up with a concrete guy to take a look at the footings. Some of the house is on a slab, some isn't which makes the whole place interesting to try & get under.

    Tomorrows calls will be for the plumber and to find out about the kitchen countertops. Look like Corian, but there is a crack in it, so maybe not?

    I'm certainly learning new things every day......just hoping each of these areas have some logical explanations that aren't just tons of money!

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