Home at Arlington and Vaughn

[Jacquie]

Hello, I'm a first time home buyer and scared as hell.
We put a conditional offer on a detached home with garage and driveway. It's been converted into a totally illegal triplex. The inspector recommended that we contact a structural engineer. There are cracks in the foundation by the porch and sloped roof....shifting bricks on the side of the house.
We offered 710K conditional pending inspection....after the inspection we went down to 700K...they refused offer. I don't want to fight for this basically condemned house..but at the same time...the area is prime. Any advice? It would cost minimum 100K to renovate just to get it livable...even though people are living there now.

 

[nadinem22]

Hey there, did you end up waiving the condition or did you pass on the house?

 

[wopchop]

If an inspector recommended that I contact a structural engineer, I would probably pass on the house. There are plenty of other houses, even those that need $100k of interior work, that would not require structural work on top of that. It would likely cost you more than $10k to deal with a structural issue.

 

[nadinem22]

I would totally agree with wopchop -- especially if you are a first time buyer, and have never done extensive renovations on a house before, anything structural might turn into a bit of a hassle for you. I also think it is sketchy that they wouldn't take your very kind price abatement. 10K is nothing for structural stuff. If you have already bought the house, then just make sure that your agent writes you in a few visits in your AP&S so that you can get someone in there to start pricing things out for you and assessing what needs to be done ASAP so that you can make sure you have the $$ to deal with the issues right away before you close!

 

[TOphotog]

First time buyer and structural defects - walk from it. $10K won't even touch a defect like that, let alone solve it.

 

[Shiny]

If you work/study in downtown, both places are too far away. I know people who have to travel three hours each way whenever he need to come to school.