I’m in the process of buying a home and ready to give up, at least for a while. It’s been 2.5 months. I’ve spent close to 2k in inspections and lost option fees.
I’ve been under contract for 3 different houses. I pulled out of 2 and feel like I’m currently being strung along by the seller.
All 3 have had either major issues not stated in the sellers disclosure or a lot (10+) moderate issues require over 10k repairs not disclosed. These are only coming to light after going under contract. These houses are in the 450-500K price range in a metro area with a median range of ~350K. Age range of houses are between 5-12 y/o.
Is this common when home shopping?
House 1. Roof sag. Inspector and roofer found evidence of previous roof repair work. Seemingly minor issue discovered on the ceiling on the 1st floor. Through the listing agent I came to learn that the bathtub in the 2nd floor bathroom overflowed and water leaked through the floor causing damage through to the ceiling. Which is why a section looks patched over. This happened some years ago. All related checkboxes for previous knowledge of issues for these areas marked no in sellers disclosure. Backed out of deal and got earnest money back. I’m not negotiating for issues already known but not disclosed. I don’t if there is mold collecting in the ceiling and not about to pay for additional inspections on top of the roof sag issue.
House 2. Owner bought 1.5 years ago I’m assuming to flip. They dumped 50K+ into aesthetic renovations and improvements (listed itemized as an addendum to the sellers disclosure) within 3 months or purchase. Then over priced the home for its area, and have been slowly coming down on price. The house is absolutely gorgeous. I made an offer that was accepted, got the inspection done, and the HVAC knocks loudly, roof shingles missing, gas boiler runs for 10 minutes and quits, electrical wiring (reverse polarity) issues, nonpower outlets in one of the bedrooms work, and more. None of which were disclosed in the sellers disclosure. Backed out of deal and got earnest money back.
House 3. Similar to the house #1 but only after going under contract and paying for/scheduling the inspection for the next day, they want me to wait get the inspection done for a few days while they do some “minor tune up” repairs on the roof….wtf? Again the sellers disclosure looks great. Walk through was good. But only after going under contract issues come up. I’m almost ready to pull out of the deal based as they’re wasting my time during the option period. I had to get an extension on the earnest money payment to day 5 as I refuse to pay it until they are done fixing issues. I may back out of the deal as I simply don’t trust them at this point.
I have been living of my debit card for the past 2 months to keep my credit score over 800 and not rack up any balances. This is getting irritating as I’m ready to move forward. I typically pay the earnest to the escrow company and schedule the inspections on day 1. I’ve yet to even get a property appraised because the deals fall through before getting to that stage.
Thank you u/nogravityonearth for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer.
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If you do go with a new build, start from dirt and find an inspector that does what are called “phase inspections”. You should get a quality built home by going this route.
There are many inspectors who make content. You might be able to spot things yourself if you know what to look for.
Thanks, I'll look into that.
A lot of these things aren't things a seller would be required to disclose (loud HVAC or a previous roof repair) but actually you're better off if they don't disclose it since if a defect is disclosed you can't ask for it to be remedied after inspection. But the flip side of that is if you're going to look at existing (old) homes you're going to have to get comfortable with the idea that there will be some major and minor things that pop up in inspection and you'll win some and lose some of those repair requests.
People look for a house for over a year, 2.5 months is not a long time.
It sounds like ur looking for perfection. U should probably look into a new build. Anything 3 years or older is going to have issues. My friend bought a new build that was 2 years old from from the 1st owner. After the warranty expired it started falling apart.
The truth is that people live in houses for many years & learn to live with weird noises & sounds, it doesn't mean they are hiding anything, they just never looked into it. Others buy & flip or the house was a rental so they don't know what the major problems are.
That's why u have a due diligence period. Learn more about houses, the systems, how they work & what to look for on ur own so u know what might be wrong with it on ur initial viewing.
À new build will have issues as well.
Eh I have bought homes after looking at a handful of houses for a week and deciding on one I like.
Never had much issues doing it that way. Also happen to come from a family in construction so I am not dumb when it comes to looking for things wrong with a house during tours.
Most people look for houses for a long time because it is normally a couple and they have different things they want in a house.
Points taken.
I am not looking for perfection. But I am just expecting for known issues to be disclosed on the sellers disclosure the same as I'm sure they are expecting me to adhere to the contract.
If a seller has the gas lined turned off to the boiler due to issues or had a roof repairs before and ongoing issues, why check all the boxes No regarding previous known issues and wait until I'm under contract to disclose them and have me in a holding pattern over half of the original option period.
House #2 seems like they started to flip it and realized that they were going to need a lot more money to actually do it correctly. They were hoping that some major issues would get missed by the inspection or the buyer would be willing to overlook them.
Flipped houses are often only fixing cosmetic issues, rather than all issues. The problem is that a flipper also won't have any knowledge of issues which were not disclosed to them or they couldn't find on their own. They often buy houses from estates or people that have deferred maintenance for years.
For some sellers they are willing show before, during and after photos and show invoices which show the extent of renovations. They make sure a potential buyer knows they got the permits and the passed inspections. As a result, you don't have to assume that only cosmetic things were fixed. Sellers that go this far are not common unless they are selling a home which is 100 or more years old and/or they put in hundreds of thousands of dollars in work on the home.
I purchased a century home around 2 years ago and am documenting (photos, invoices) all repairs, upgrades, and routine, maintenance (i.e. semi-annual HVAC maintenance, annual water heater flushing).
We've had major work done, and I know I would have wanted those receipts / documents when I was buying, and when we do sell, I think it adds value to show you chose quality contractors and have proof of work. This is definitely rare (encountered one seller who did a high-level version of this), and I wish more sellers did this, but I also think a lot of people cut corners and / or go with the cheapest contractor.
House 1 is nothing major . I dont think the sellers are trying to trick you. Things happen to houses like they do with cars --repairs are made and its good again. Older homes may be built better , location and safety are everything but things will go wrong. Good luck. You sound so stressed maybe a break would help.
You seem to be getting mad that you are finding stuff not listed in a disclosure. A disclosure isn’t for bad outlets or past repairs (that did pass inspection and permits). It’s for large issues like not functional or missing HVAC or setting issues that is causing a wall to fail or asbestos in the floors.
Consider this a learning and growing moment.
You may stretching you budget, try to look at the houses a bit older, a bit smaller for the same price. You will have a better conditions houses for the same money.