Anonymous wrote:I'm confused as to why this is an issue. Are you planning to sublet that room? If not, lots of people use rooms as bedrooms that aren't technically bedrooms -- no one cares.

Safety

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, I would've known that instantly by looking at the window. Also why didn't your realtor or you call about open permits? These are basics.

Op did mention that their agent wasn’t very helpful.

If it’s otherwise the perfect house for you I’d see what the sellers can comp you, but otherwise I’d close. We were waffling back and forth and right after we closed we found out there was someone else willing to put in a higher offer waiting for ours to fall through.

Walk, push back the date or egress or they pay you the amount for an egress and you have it done especially is there is a permit.

Just ask them for the cost of a new, larger window to make it legal. This is neither hard nor the reason for a money grab. You should get about $4k. Enjoy the new house.

To be fair, I would've known that instantly by looking at the window. Also why didn't your realtor or you call about open permits? These are basics.

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused as to why this is an issue. Are you planning to sublet that room? If not, lots of people use rooms as bedrooms that aren't technically bedrooms -- no one cares.

It can be a problem for the appraisal.

I'm confused as to why this is an issue. Are you planning to sublet that room? If not, lots of people use rooms as bedrooms that aren't technically bedrooms -- no one cares.

OP we went through the same exact situation. We ended up renegotiating and had the home 25k cheaper. The sellers were pissed, but they were paying both rent and mortgage so they were desperate to sell.

Anonymous wrote:Bank and insurance are going to treat the house as a 3 bedroom. Your agent needs to run comps in the area for 3beds. That's the price the bank is going to approve your loan for--so negotiate from that point.

+1. But it won't drastically alter your price especially if your house eg has a newer roof. In my neighborhood this year 3 very similar homes with similar number of bedrooms sold for different prices and two of them within a couple of weeks. One of them had a new roof.

The town will not be able to issue you a certificate of occupancy for that bedroom. You can use the room, but not as a bedroom. Your permit will remain open until you deal with the issue.

Frankly I have seen worst, I wouldn't walk away.

Unfortunately, what you described is not uncommon. My parents live in NY. The permitting process is insane. As a result a lot of people don't know their extra bedrooms are not legal. This is why it takes forever to buy or sell a house in NY. Municipal searches often reveal issues. And then the homeowner have to go into retroactive permitting and so forth and it becomes a mess. So many homes there go "back to market"

Be glad you are in VA lol

Bank and insurance are going to treat the house as a 3 bedroom. Your agent needs to run comps in the area for 3beds. That's the price the bank is going to approve your loan for--so negotiate from that point.

Walk away. You will be left a pending permit. And you won't be able to get home insurance. I don't think home insurance can only cover some portions of a house and not others. Next, you will title issue etc etc

You don’t ask for a discount. You pay full price but demand that money be put in escrow to convert the room into a legal bedroom.

We are in a crazy situation. We are closing in 2 weeks and the seller informed us that the 4 bedroom we put an offer on only has 3 legal bedrooms. The window in the 4th room doesn't meet egress requirements and the seller won't be able to turn into a "legal" room within the next 2 weeks. They have an open permit for it.

Personally that's not a reason for us to walk away. We like the house and the neighborhood and the price was great. Our realtor is useless. How much discount can we ask for?

And could this affect our loan? We already have the CTC. Anyways we will bring to our LO.