Would you pull out of this deal?

[Anonymous]

Ex Realtor and Attorney here. Hard pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op there is no way I'd go through with this.

What did the sellers property disclosure say about leaks, pipes, mold...? Did they claim any of it? There is a huge reason this has sat since February don't be the sucker! I wonder how many people paid good money for a home inspection on this house and the walked away too.

Do not go through with this!!!

Op here: absolutely nothing! The seller checked off no known mold issues and no flooding, good pipes, etc. I think a lot was clearly lied about.

We were told since Feb, she’s gotten 2 other offers but turned them down. We’ve been made aware that the seller is pretty much at the lowest she wants to go and that she most likely isn’t going to want to offer much to fix these major issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an inexpensive house relatively… makes the repairs a chunk of the current value, but is the overall condition consistent with being a fixer upper?

Were you planning on renovating these areas anyway?

Not all black mold is THE black mold. It looks to be mostly on concrete (0 concern) or wood that you would replace anyway as part of remediation.

Based on what you’ve said, it’s not the end of the world. Water issues are a big problem if you can’t isolate the cause. But you can. The subfloor being damaged sucks because you have to rip the whole thing up.

If you or your husband can supervise the project, it’s really not a huge deal. Put down some floor that’s updated and inexpensive, clean the cement, and when the floor is up you’ll have access to any areas that may have been wet. Carpenter ant damage makes sense given the moisture - probably requires sistering some of the structure (not complicated especially when the floor is up).

I would check to see if the moisture wicked up the wall or collected under the cabinets.

People make big deals about this stuff, but it can happen anywhere and you just have to deal with it as part of home ownership.

If you really love the house aside from this, I’d go for it. Sure, you can ask for a credit from the sellers, but if it’s already priced reflective of condition, they’re unlikely to give much. Can’t hurt to ask.

Op here: we weren’t planning on any major renovations. We wanted to update the kitchen a bit and eventually the bathroom but that wasn’t it. We didn’t have plans on a huge mold remediation, having to tear apart floors and cabinets, etc.

[Anonymous]

Run. Water issues are the worst and flooding is projected to only get worse in this area. What is the house’s flood factor?

[Anonymous]

I'd back out. Water is $$$$ to fix.

Also good for you for doing an inspection. People are insane not to inspect...

[Anonymous]

Don’t buy a project unless you are a contractor. This will be soooooo much work. You will be bitter when it inevitably costs more than you think it will. Just run now.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been an agent for almost 20 years, own six houses and have flipped a house myself.

Get. Out.

[Anonymous]

That mold/staining isn't likely active? It's not a big deal if you go ahead and replace the floor. You can wipe the mold off the wall. But... you would need to fix the leak. That's the problem.

[Anonymous]

We are in our first home after buying a fixer upper 3 years ago and still fixing it. It’s expensive and more complicated than we both realized even though both of our parents are contractors. It’s been hard on our marriage. I’d find something move-in ready. Currently all my money goes into the house while trying to get it more livable and I haven’t been able to pay off student loans or save as aggressively for retirement. And if you plan on having kids, whole other story.

[Anonymous]

I’m married to a home builder so we have all the know how and staff to fix this. It’s definitely got the potential to be much more that $10,000 to fix. I’d think about it at $50,000…. It would also be a massive pain for you to get the work down affordably or to know it was done correctly.

Like PPs have said, it’s that flooding basement that would concern me, the rest isn’t that bad.

I’d never, ever recommend a house like this for a first time homebuyer. Watch The Money Pit before even considering moving forward with the contract.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would walk away. That's quite serious damage, and you don't know how far it goes. Just as important, it shows you that the sellers haven't maintained the property well. Who knows what other issues are lurking.

All of that said... if you did want to stick with the property, I think that *could* be reasonable, but you'd need to make sure you fully provision the cash and time for repairs. An option you might consider is setting up an escrow account, which receives a significant amount (say $50k) of the purchase price. You could then draw down the escrow account to complete repairs and the sellers would receive the balance. I wouldn't try to ballpark the cost of repairs up front, because you have no idea how far this damage goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here: we got more pics. Seems the subfloor issue below the kitchen is definitely from leaking beneath the kitchen sink and potentially dishwasher. There is also spongy floor in bathroom but subfloor doesn’t look to be awful under it (from what we could see). After reviewing photos taken, the whole entire basement is an issue with water and mold damage up walls, on ceilings, etc. so I’m inclined to think there is way more water damage we don’t yet know about. My husband seems to be more turned off by this now.

We were supposed to close mid November but this is clearly months of work and who knows how much money to fix all these issues. Apparently some of the piping isn’t up to code either.


Here is additional pics if anyone wants to see:

https://ibb.co/YTcfbWW%0A

https://ibb.co/bFXvH27%0A

https://ibb.co/0qBDb8W%0A

https://ibb.co/D7S6nCy%0A

https://ibb.co/5jTMb7L%0A

https://ibb.co/sHF7n9p%0A

https://ibb.co/QKB14YQ%0A

https://ibb.co/NmjtSn2%0A

https://ibb.co/KFY7zJW%0A

https://ibb.co/C8560f0%0A

https://ibb.co/dMCTxJq

Oops, here are the working links…

https://ibb.co/YTcfbWW

https://ibb.co/bFXvH27

https://ibb.co/0qBDb8W

https://ibb.co/D7S6nCy

https://ibb.co/5jTMb7L

https://ibb.co/sHF7n9p

https://ibb.co/QKB14YQ

https://ibb.co/NmjtSn2

https://ibb.co/KFY7zJW

https://ibb.co/C8560f0

https://ibb.co/dMCTxJq

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp.

First pic the pvc looks inverted without proper drop.

If this is all the same area, ie, the basement is underneath the soft flooring, then buy it. You’re going to have to redo the bathroom
And kitchen anyways.

Subfloor and joists, while people often make it sound major, isn’t really. We’re talking 40 for a sheet of plywood and similar for 2x8/2x10/2x12 and bolts and nails.

Structural engineer can provide the details.

The money comes in when you put in new flooring? And drains and remediate mold thru the whole house and who know what else. This is a house that regularly floods? Who would think it would be anywhere in the 10/15 thousand route. I’m guessing 50/75 after remediation and repair and drainage. Or more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Invoke the inspection contingency. Void the contract.

I want to back out of this deal but my husband seems to think these aren’t “super major” issues.

Your husband needs his head inspected.

Op here: trust me, I get it. I think because it’s “just the basement” he doesn’t think it’s HUGE but I feel like mold isn’t something to mess with and it absolutely has to be spores spread in the air upstairs etc

Every other episode on HGTV is about all of the "killer" mold lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an inexpensive house relatively… makes the repairs a chunk of the current value, but is the overall condition consistent with being a fixer upper?

Were you planning on renovating these areas anyway?

Not all black mold is THE black mold. It looks to be mostly on concrete (0 concern) or wood that you would replace anyway as part of remediation.

Based on what you’ve said, it’s not the end of the world. Water issues are a big problem if you can’t isolate the cause. But you can. The subfloor being damaged sucks because you have to rip the whole thing up.

If you or your husband can supervise the project, it’s really not a huge deal. Put down some floor that’s updated and inexpensive, clean the cement, and when the floor is up you’ll have access to any areas that may have been wet. Carpenter ant damage makes sense given the moisture - probably requires sistering some of the structure (not complicated especially when the floor is up).

I would check to see if the moisture wicked up the wall or collected under the cabinets.

People make big deals about this stuff, but it can happen anywhere and you just have to deal with it as part of home ownership.

If you really love the house aside from this, I’d go for it. Sure, you can ask for a credit from the sellers, but if it’s already priced reflective of condition, they’re unlikely to give much. Can’t hurt to ask.

Realized I misread about carpenter ants. Those aren’t a big deal.

Look, none of this is outside the realm of something you may encounter as a home owner anyway.

Those pictures don’t scare me.

Based on the construction of the cabinets, they’re not that nice anyway.

I’d not look at this one job and freak out. Ok, you weren’t planning to redo the floors - but they are probably ugly and you would redo them eventually. So that is accelerated.

The joists appear to be in good shape- the weight hasn’t caused them to sag in their pockets.

My first house had very similar issues - but I wasn’t buying it thinking it was move in ready.

There is probably value here in the long run if you are smart with the budget.

It seems very likely the water is from a plumbing problem - I thought you knew that already. I would try to rule out foundation or roof issues as those are more expensive and probably mean damage outside of this localized area.

If this is rural and you have 2 plumbing fixtures with water damage around them, I’m thinking the property wasn’t winterized properly once and was vacant and had some pipe joints that busted in freeze/thaw. Maybe it something else - but is there water collecting anywhere now or is this all old mostly dry damage?