Yup, the “inspection” phase of selling this #!#!@$ house has come. The guy is here, and of course, since he’s contracted with the buyers he can’t tell us a thing. He’s got a poker face, so it’s hard to read him. I’m sure he’ll find something wrong with the house - it’s his job - but I’m praying there’s nothing that’s a deal breaking going on here. The house was built in 1996, so it’s not that old. I don’t know of anything major wrong with the thing. Still, I’m nervous.
Goddamn, he’s got something that sounds like a geiger counter over by the fireplace now. WTF? Maybe a radon tester?
<sigh>
I can’t wait until we close and this whole nightmare is OVER.
Just went through this myself. The inspection company is a fly by night place that got started by buying a package over the Internet. This, of course, has me just FILLED with confidence.
The guy found a possible deal breaking thing happening with the roof. HE says it’s got a few months left, the other two guys we’ve had look at it say 2-3 years and 5-7 years respectively.
As far as I can tell they’re all guessing. We offered to split the roof reshingling with them, so we’ll see. I hope it works out, if the deal breaks we won’t be able to close on the new house.
Thank you both. I just really need backbone and cheers right now.
I think it’s all going to be OK. I was able to spy on the list of “major concerns” and they’re things like “you should caulk a gap in the siding on the west side of the house” and “the vent for the upstairs bathroom goes into the attic, this is bad because of blah blah blah”
There was nothing like “The foundation is crumbling and the house will become a stinking pit of slime within the year.”
Yeah, depends where you get them. If the real estate agent finds someone they give could lean
it iin their direction. But if you don’t like the report you’re welcome to have someone do one yourself,
right?
I agree with handy. It may well be worth the money to have a report from someone else, hired by you. I don’t think it’s illegal, nor is it unusual. I don’t know about Colorado real estate, though, so YMMV.
Good luck. In a house that new, you shouldn’t have too many problems. Petty-ante stuff at the most. My house was built in the 1920s and it passed inspection with flying colors.
I was on the buyer’s side of the inspection a year ago, Athena, and I think I was as nervous then as you are now that there would be a deal-breaker. As it turned out, the inspector found a couple of things I already knew about because I have eyes (the shingled part of the roof has 3-4 years left at best and the upstairs deck in the rear is in desperate need of major repair or replacement) and a few smaller things that I found it useful to know. The only thing that made me balk was a problem with the plumbing in the downstairs bathroom. Our seller came down on the price $750 rather than deal with getting it repaired, I was happy with that (since I planned to replace fixtures anyway), and everything was fine.
Usually, by the time you get to the inspection phase, the only real deal-breakers are structural problems, and a newer house shouldn’t have those. Remember, problems found during inspection aren’t necessarily things you have to fix. They may just be minor negotiation points. Good luck!