I can't believe how crazy every day has been since we've been in contract for the house. Like I wasn't busy enough before! Now I've had mortgage docs to gather and sign, inspections to attend, etc. forms to fill out, ducks to line up.
We just had the inspection. Only one big surprise. The furnace and AC are 18 years old. The listing IMPLIED that it had been updated. The HVAC system was listed in between the new kitchen, and in the same sentence as the new roof and new water heater. Um, why would you even mention it as a feature if it was that old? I don't know if they deliberately were trying to mislead or not, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who read the listing that way.
So yeah, we are putting together another counter. Outlining all of the costs of all the repairs recommended by the inspector, and then saying "hey, we'll cover all this other stuff, if you either reduce the price or give us a credit for the cost of the HVAC, since our current agreed price was based on those things having been done, as your listing kind of led us to believe."
I spent all day on the phone with all manner of contractors getting quotes for everything. In addition to my the actual work tasks I have to do every day-- and in the mere three baby-free hours I have every Monday to do it in.
I feel like I'm treading water, barely doggy paddling my nose above water, with all the house-related stuff I've had to do, in addition to all of my work. Ugh!
I hope I am not being unreasonably asking for the HVAC credit. Hubby and I have tenatively agreed to walk if they don't give it to us, but now I am even doubting that. They will likely give us part of what we are asking for, but probably not all of it.
The house is overall in good shape, very solid, and it still is close to work and schools. So is it foolish to walk over a couple thousand dollars, if it's the place we will likely be til the kids are in college? I don't know.
A break from the crazy, please?
March 8th, 2011 at 04:25 am
March 8th, 2011 at 04:28 am 1299558527
March 8th, 2011 at 11:20 am 1299583218
If you do walk now, you can come back later w/an offer for SIGNIFICANTLY less than previous plus the repairs subtracted in a month or 3.
March 8th, 2011 at 02:57 pm 1299596235
Last time we were in contract they verbally told us that they would replace something (don't remember what) and then renigged on the final offer. I suppose that was different because it was verbal. I know our realtor was frustrated, but I don't want to deal with people like that. The realtors agreed to pay for the difference to get the sale through in that case. I still didn't feel warm and fuzzy about it. I don't like to buy things from shady people (cars, houses), because lord knows what else is going on. But, in this case I think hubby said something and the wife didn't agree - we liked the sellers and had a good feeling about them. Realtors made the deal sweet while we were thinking of walking away.
If they had both told us to our face and changed their mind, we'd walk away anyway. Who needs that? A little creative marketing is almost as annoying, in my opinion. You are basing the price on the fact that things shouldn't need updating in the near future. That's a BIGGIE to me. I prefer not to have home repairs early on when buying a house.
March 8th, 2011 at 04:09 pm 1299600554
"All new Kitch. w/deluxe cabs, s/s appls, granite, etc!. High-effic.HVAC, newer roof, new windows."
Why would you put an 18 year old HVAC system in the middle of the list of new and updated items? Maybe the guy just needs an English lesson, but on the other hand why would you list an old system as a selling feature?
But either way, the listing implies that it too was updated. We just signed our counter offer and sent it off. I included an itemized list with actual repair estimates for all of the significant items on the inspectors reports, then said "listen, we're happy to pay for all of this stuff, if you pony up for the HVAC. Our offer was based on the information that it was newer than it is."
I also asked our realtor to stress that this is a deal breaker for us. And on the other hand, if they give us this it's a sure bet. We're going to closing. They can either start from scratch and hope for the best, or go with the sure thing for the cot of about $7500.