House under contract, but aluminum wiring

[Anonymous]

This is at most a 10k issue...why would you walk over it? Negotiate some type of credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is aluminum wiring illegal meaning the seller would need to fix it before selling to someone else

That real estate contract doesn't work that way anymore. Homes are sold as-is and the seller doesn't have to fix stuff like this.

OP, if you have a home inspection contingency, rather than a general inspection contingency, get multiple estimates and get a seller credit. If you have a general inspection contingency and don't have the money to rewire properly yourself, I would walk. The sellers will need to disclose this to other potential buyers.

And because of that, the sellers are likely going to be willing to negotiate some additional credit to you for this. It's worth raising through your agent. We just bought and sold with general inspection contingencies and had seller credits in both deals after inspection reports disclosed some items that gave the buyers great pause (us in the first transaction, and the buyers in our sale transaction).

The contract (assuming OP is working with the GCAAR contract) has changed and this is no longer true. If you have a general inspection contingency you have no right to negotiate repairs, and if you even ask to do so in writing it voids the contract. You can do so verbally. Be careful out there, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is aluminum wiring illegal meaning the seller would need to fix it before selling to someone else

That real estate contract doesn't work that way anymore. Homes are sold as-is and the seller doesn't have to fix stuff like this.

OP, if you have a home inspection contingency, rather than a general inspection contingency, get multiple estimates and get a seller credit. If you have a general inspection contingency and don't have the money to rewire properly yourself, I would walk. The sellers will need to disclose this to other potential buyers.

And because of that, the sellers are likely going to be willing to negotiate some additional credit to you for this. It's worth raising through your agent. We just bought and sold with general inspection contingencies and had seller credits in both deals after inspection reports disclosed some items that gave the buyers great pause (us in the first transaction, and the buyers in our sale transaction).

The contract (assuming OP is working with the GCAAR contract) has changed and this is no longer true. If you have a general inspection contingency you have no right to negotiate repairs, and if you even ask to do so in writing it voids the contract. You can do so verbally. Be careful out there, people.

Well, even under the GCAAR contract, my experience from above was true as of three weeks ago. But yes, do this verbally through your agent. Once a seller hears that you're seriously considering walking from the contract, they will likely ask what it might take to have you reconsider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

[Anonymous]

Update us OP!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the info. We've been busy with a number of inspection items, so apologies for the lack of update. We're still negotiating, but asking for a credit to get the rewiring done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

Aluminum wiring was standard in the late 60's, early 70,s just like knob and tube was standard in the 1930s. It has only become dangerous with the passage of time. Not sure where you are coming from withe shoddy construction comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

Aluminum wiring was standard in the late 60's, early 70,s just like knob and tube was standard in the 1930s. It has only become dangerous with the passage of time. Not sure where you are coming from withe shoddy construction comments.

I agree - I bought a townhouse in 2001 that was build in the early 70s. It had aluminum wiring as did every other townhouse in my neighborhood. We did not re-wire the entire house. We did what is called "pig-tailing" on each connection. The seller was not happy about it but they paid for it to be done as part of the findings of the inspection. I lived there 11 years and had no problems with fires. I am not aware of any fires in that neighborhood either and I am sure many of those homes were not rewired or pigtailed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

Aluminum wiring was standard in the late 60's, early 70,s just like knob and tube was standard in the 1930s. It has only become dangerous with the passage of time. Not sure where you are coming from withe shoddy construction comments.

Tell the folks at home why it was the "standard" as you say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

From TOH. Cheap and shoddy go hand in hand.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,562098-8,00.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under contract and had the home inspection done, which came back with a number of items including aluminum wiring in the house with noted rust and corrosion on several of the breakers in the electrical panel and lack of antioxidant paste on some of the wires. The report recommended a further inspection done by a qualified electrical inspector. I guess that is the logical next step, but was wondering if anyone here has had experience with this. I'm somewhat tempted to void the contract over this finding. Would rusty aluminum wiring be an immediate deal breaker for you or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

It also points to cheap construction and cost cutting. I would haul ass.

It means it's old construction, not shoddy construction. I'd ask for the credit.

When a builder cuts corners on something as essential to a house as electrical wiring, it's safe to say he's cutting corners elsewhere.

Aluminum wiring was standard in the late 60's, early 70,s just like knob and tube was standard in the 1930s. It has only become dangerous with the passage of time. Not sure where you are coming from withe shoddy construction comments.

Tell the folks at home why it was the "standard" as you say.

I understand copper was hard to come by at that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely rewire the entire house. Get your 3 quotes now (I'd look on Angie's List for reviews) and have it done the day you close. I don't care if the aluminum is in fabulous shape, there is zero reason to risk it!!

This!

DH and I bought a house with aluminum wiring (some new copper wiring as well). However, it was not in as bad a shape as you described OP. We did the cop-alum (changing all the ends to copper basically) instead of rewiring the house. It was the right decision for us, but if our wiring were in really horrible shape we would have rewired the entire house.

[Anonymous]

We walked from a house that had aluminum wiring. Our inspector recommended that we not by the home.