Re: Home Inspection - Question?

Update:

The seller is not willing to do anything. He won't put up any money for
me to fix anything, nor will he do anything himself. He pretty much
wants to sell the house as is. In addition, we were planning on
closing at the end of the month, but since his house is not ready, he
wants to stay there untill the very last day we approximated the
closing to be. The problem with that is it won't be till the end of
next month, and i am going to have to pay $350 dollars in interest as a
result. I'm so frustrated with this guy. I can still bail out of the
contract, and i'm seriously considering it.


trader4@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
1)some exterior deterioration in the wood trim in various places

Impossible to say how big of an issue this is. It depends on how much
trim there is and how much needs to be replaced. Could be $500 or $5K

2)The plastic flashing on one or more of the plumbing vents are split,
cracked, deteriorated, or lifted. Repairs are necessary

This is either a DIY or $100, to fix a couple. But, at this age,
it's normal and probably a good idea to replace all of them.

.
3)The is rust in the metal vent vovers and flahsing on the roof.

Again lacks clarity. If it's just cosmetic and paint will solve it,
it's less than if it's rusted out and needs to be replaced. But either
way, not expensive.

4)The flashing at the chimney may be an eara of potential leaking

Is that all he said? He should have gone into more explanation and
also said if there was any indication from either the attic or inside
the house of actual leaking. It's easy for anyone to say flashing at
a chimney MAY be an area of POTENTIAL leaking on most houses.


5)Additional vent openings in the attic were recomended to be
installed.

Good idea and should cost a few hundred bucks.


6)Unable to fully inspect the attic due to personel content

Not clear how much he could see and how much he could not. Again, if
he took the time to add "I could only fully inspect the front 2/3 of
the attic.... etc, you'd have a better idea of what he actually saw.
Did you go with him? What did he say about the area that he could see?

7)It was noted that there was some stains or damage on various areas of

the ceilings and walls.

No clarity here either. Did he probe with a moisture meter? That
should have been indicated. Were they in areas that could be
attributed to the chimney flashing or plumbing vents, roof holes? Or
where they from soda pop?


8)Life before replacement of roof - 3 years with maintenance and
repairs as needed.

Probably the original roof, so no surprise here. This is the highest
cost item on the list and the one you should focus on first.


As others have pointed out, this is all typical for a 26 year old
house. I'd get quotes from contractors to fix all of this and then
negotiate for a discount in the price of the house. The quotes will
add up to X dollars. I would expect to get most of it taken off the
price, but exactly how much depends on how well priced the property is
to begin with, how much you want the place, etc.

Also, you said it was a townhouse. That term is used very loosely.
Is it a detached home or is it a condominium that is attached to and
shares a common roof with other units? If so, the roof and related
issues, vents, flashing are probably not your responsibility, as they
are maintained/replaced by the association. I would get a complete
copy of the association documents, master deed, bylaws, rules/regs and
read them thouroughly.

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Roof vent
    ... construction using ridge vents and soffit vents instead of the ... a difference compared to not having any opening in the roof... ... It worked pretty good on my last house... ... It was probably most efficient when he set the water flow ...
    (alt.home.repair)
  • Re: Home Inspection - Question?
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