From: meltsner@crd.ge.com (Kenneth J. Meltsner)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Inspection report ==> $back? (how many?)
Keywords: inspection report
Date: 15 Oct 92 13:10:54 GMT
Reply-To: meltsner@crd.ge.com
Distribution: usa
Organization: GE Research and Development Center



In article <13OCT199209492424@watson.bms.com>, bullock@watson.bms.com
(JOAN BULLOCK) writes:

|>In article <17046@fed.FRB.GOV>, m1nxb00@fed.frb.gov (Nicholas Bull) writes...
|>>Dear all,
|>> 
|>>We had a home inspection.  Structural, electrical, and plumbing all
|>>seem fine. 

[actual inspection details deleted]

|>I don't believe you can or should get anything back.  None of the items you 
|>cite would jeopardize a CO and all are things that were in plain view when
|>inspected the house before making your offer.  Granted, you are not a 
|>professional inspector so may not have noticed any and/or all of the 
|>citations.  However, if the house was fairly priced (and it looks like it
|>was), these things would be reflected in that price.
|>
|>Last month I sold my 20-year-old house.  The inspection report read something
|>like yours.  It sounded like I lived in a _dump_.  However, the report was 
|>merely reflecting the age of the house.  I had to, and did, fix one item
|>that did not conform to code and repaired some termite damage.  I informed 
|>my buyers that this was the extent of the actions I would take and that 
|>was the end of the discussion.  If the buyers had made a lower offer based on
|>the inspection, I would have taken it as an indication of their lack of
|>interest in the house and refused and put the house back on the market.
|>
|>I would respectfully suggest that if you don't want 40-year-old house
|>problems you should entertain looking for something much newer.
|>
|>I hope that seeing things from the sellers point of view will help in your
|>decision.

As in all such things, your only real recourse is to cancel the deal.
Now, ask yourself: if they aren't willing to renegotiate based on the
inspection, are you still willing to pay the agreed-upon price?  Your
answer to this question should determine whether the house is really
worth the money to you.  Which brings us back to the old adage: "Never
fall in love with a house."

You may also want to consider how many of the defects could be seen by
an untrained observer, and remove them from consideration, since the
assumption is that obvious things like old appliances or old roofing
are already part of the house price.  Not really true, since location
tends to drown out all other factors, but that's how most people think
about it.

In my situation, we presented the owner with a list of needed repairs,
some major, some minor.  He's a builder and could fix all of them
himself, and we had not negotiated very hard on price (they were very
reasonable about dropping their asking after an earlier buyer failed
to qualify, etc.).  As a result, he fixed everything on the list.
It's not a perfect house, but it's in extremely good condition for a
60 YO home.

===============================================================================
Ken Meltsner                        | meltsner@crd.ge.com (518) 387-6391
GE Research and Development Center  | Fax:  (518) 387-7495
P.O. Box 8, Room KWD270		    | Nothing I say should be attributed
Schenectady, NY 12301               | to my employer, and probably vice-versa
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Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house