Inspection Update: The Importance of Having Someone on Your Side

Words cannot express how impressed I was with the inspector we hired to check out the house we're buying. I've seen inspection reports for other houses where the inspector has taken the word of the seller on many important aspects of the home's condition. Not this guy! For two and half hours, he poked, prodded, and examined every nook and cranny. He made it clear that he was working for us and that he was going to earn every three hundred and seventy-five dollars of his fee.

First, the good news: the stone foundation is pristine and the house is solid.

Now, minor issues aside, here are some of the problems: There's some knob-and-tube wiring that needs to be replaced, the chimney hasn't been cleaned in about 25 years, and there are a few plumbing issues. The porch and mudroom roofs need to be replaced (but not immediately) and almost none of the outlets are grounded. The inspector suggested we get estimates for the chimney, plumbing, and wiring. As long as the smoke pipe hasn't collapsed (something he suggested may have happened), the chimney cleaning should run only a couple hundred bucks. The wiring will probably cost a bit, and there's a problem with the shower body (the faucet knobs leak) in the upstairs bathroom. Most of theses repairs will have to be done soon.

The owner has already come down $10K from the asking price, so unless these repairs are bigger than we suspect, we should still be ahead. Once we get the estimates, we're going to ask if the seller is willing to negotiate on a couple of items. For instance, the oil tank is ¾ full and we are supposed to reimburse her at closing, and also, we're supposed to reimburse her for the pro-rated taxes. If she's willing to eat those costs, we'll probably still have a deal.