Info on buying new home??
 

About to buy my 1st house(maybe) and being a noob to the game, i feel like i might be getting jerked around a little. Basically everything seems to have gone pretty good up until now(we were about to close). Here are the bad things:

1) we gave an offer for the home and they turned it down and will only take $1,000 off the asking price. Seems like if someone is asking $200k, they would be a little more flexible than to say "the lowest we'll go is $199k"

2) Home inspection was fine other than some water damage spots on the exterior, windows painted shut and oh yea...its a tri-level and 1 level has zero heat or AC!

3) Bathtub has a crack in the fiberglass which could leak + they painted over it to hide it.

All we asked is that they fix the bathtub, have someone do something to the house where heat and air can flow frmo the level that has zero air vents. And just to fix the major water damage spots.

Our realtor says all that stuff is minor and we wont be able to find a better house than that. He thinks asking them to un-stick the windows is picky and we should do it ourselves when we move in(lol) the bathtub crack isnt that bad(to him) and they wont fix all of the water damage spots, just the ones 'they' consider major. And he says he really doesnt think they will fix the air conditioning problem on 1 level of the house.

Is it too much to ask for someone to make sure the windows open/bathtub doesnt leak and to make sure heat and air work in the whole house, not just 2/3 of it? And on top of that, they arent covering the full closing cost and they only went down $1,000 on their asking price. Any advice would be appreciated!

I don't know that anyone could really give you a fair assessment without knowing what market you are in and what the comps in your area are.

I would assume its been priced at bottom dollar already and they priced it way low for a quick sale

im right outside of richmond,VA. I'm just wondering if someone who has bought a house before thinks im asking too much? My real estate agent thinks im being a creep. All i said to him was if they cant fix these things its fine, but ill just look for another house. He's trying to tell me I should just deal with it, like having a leaky tub and no air conditioning in half the house is normal. Wouldnt it just be easier for him to say "ok if thats not what you want, lets keep looking" ??

Yea they may have listed it at the lowest price they want, I've seen some ppl list em lower than they really want to attract buyers etc.
Have your agent ask for a small credit for the problems so you could fix them later after you buy it... you are not buying a brand new home tho, so wont be perfect.

You have to ask yourself is it worth buying the house and paying out of pocket to have the repairs done. I guess the answer to that question should be determined by how good of a deal you are getting on the house. Did you have an appraisal done?

Your other option would be to get an estimate on the repairs that need to be done and ask the seller to deduct that amount from the selling price. If they refuse to do so you can walk. And if you are in a slow market you can play the waiting game and come back to them in a month or so with another offer.

True, the bathtub isnt the worst thing in the world to me and the water spots on the outside are expected. My main concern is not having a/c - heat in the main living area of the house, its the living room plus my kids bedrooms...no heat or air will suck in the winter and summer. Imagine having guests over sitting in the living room and everyones freezing or sweating. Am i being a douche for at least asking to see if the seller will fix it? My real estate agent thinks im being a hard ass and said "i think you just dont want this house,you wont find anything better"

Your agent just wants to get paid. He doesn't make any money if you don't buy a house. From my experience most agents are scum bags and they only look out for themselves.

Unless you are buying a foreclosure from the bank way under market value asking to have painted shut windows and a cracked tub repaired is not asking for too much. The AC / heat problem is really hard to say. Do all of the levels have a vents?

it depends on the market if 199k is a good deal then you live with the things you need to fix yourself if its not a good deal you walk away and keep looking.

If your not doing good with your real estate agent go find another one there are 100's of agents in your area im sure no need to deal with one you dont feel good working with.

That agent sounds like a cocksucker, but I've never bought a house, so good luck.

Fire your agent, a good agent should be able to get those issues taken care of for you. Hell, if he says it's not a big deal, then he can do it himself if he wants his commission. :2 cents:

2 out of 3 do, the one with the bedrooms and living room have none at all...the inspector said he "thinks" the douche living there now did some re-modeling and covered them up for some reason but he said theres no real way for him to tell, they may have never been there

Well for the area, thats about what all the homes are selling for...so im not sure if i'd consider it a good deal, its pretty much an average deal. I just dont wanna seem like a cock saying "either they fix what i want or fuck em" and that's what the agent is making it seem like when i simply had him question whether or not they would fix it. He's getting wild because he probably thinks we're gonna walk away on this house and he wants his 3% for selling the home

yea thats what i was thinking, i mean if fixing a crack and installing some air vents is as easy as hes making it seem, then i dont see why it should be a problem at 'least' asking the seller if he will fix it before i buy.

Dude... it's your money, it's your life, it's your family. Don't worry about "being a cock." You should be a dick. If you don't like something, you don't like it... tough for anybody else.

If it is listed as living space then I believe it has to be heated and the a/c is optional. You would probably have to have another unit put in and vents ran. This could easily turn into over a $5,000 project. If they covered over existing vents that is really bad. Your unit will not run efficiently and it will cost you on your utility bills.

I would have a A/C guy take a look at the house and see what they think. Even if this is something you are willing to pay for out of pocket make sure you know what you are getting into.

I assume there are other houses just like yours on the same block. Knock on a door and ask about the heat/ac system. I find it hard to believe the builder didn't follow codes for vents on the main living level. Just adding more vents might not work if the air handler can't support a 33% increase in demand.

Note: If the present owners tried to hide a defect they are aware of (painting over a crack in the tub) they have violated Va. disclosure laws for known defects when filling out mandatory info prior to selling the house.

Finally, make an offer then move on if it's not taken.

Good advice, thanks

good idea, the home inspector did say he "thought" there were air vents there before and maybe the owner put sideboard over it when re-doing the living room...(sideboard might not be the word...the shit that borders the perimiter of the room to make it look nicer) thats good to know about the mandatory disclosure, thanks

ohh yea, the agent had me make an offer before i ever had the home inspected. They accepted and we gave a $1,000 deposit with the offer...the way it works here is i can back out of the house before closing for any reason i want, but i'll loose the $1,000...if i back out because they wont fix any issue my home inspector found, i get my $$ back. im a first time buyer so i didnt know how this sht worked at first...seems like my agent should have had me get an inspection and know the problems with the home before giving an offer.

a cracked bathtub? theres probably damage from where the water went through. its kind of a big deal.

get a new agent.

:2 cents::2 cents::2 cents:
Straight up man I agree.

good luck...

thnx:thumbsup

B---u---m---p

I would walk away.

Last year when I was buying a house, I asked that they did the following. Not in this order, but to shorten the long story....

-Replace Fridge ($500.00).
-Allowance for new carpet and tile ($5000.00).
-Pay the closing fees (3% allowed).
-Pay any taxes owed.
-Plus my bid was just under $30,000.00 for what they wanted on the house.

I had gotten everything I asked for, although they did bump the final price up $5000.00 from my $30,000.00 below offer.

They balked a time or two, but I told them I would walk, and the realtor knew I would since I had did it for other houses. I was approved by my credit union, so I was good to go as soon as I found a place, plus I had a nice sized down payment. More a less, I had all the power.

I also was buying in the fall, so it was also one of those deals where the re-location company wanted to sell the house that had been on the market 9 months before the snow started flying. So keep that in mind as well.

Good luck.

IM Pretty sure i am

bump for more advice! thanks for everyones replies so far

Walk away *and* find a new agent - asap.

Your agent works for you, and if you aren't happy with him - find a new one!

Agents are all OVER the place now and should be really happy to have your business.

It took us 3 agents to finally find what we were looking for, and in the end our agent not only got us a great deal on our house, but got a nice bonus from the seller for getting the deal done quickly.

The bottom line is buying a house is a BIG fuckin deal, a huge commitment, and shouldn't be taken lightly. It doesn't sound like you are asking for a lot, but either way, if you cant find a happy medium, keep looking.

PS - we have purchased 2 houses, and each time we looked for AGES before making a decision, between the 2 houses we probably looked at 150-200 - DONT SETTLE!

twinkley

That's your first mistake. The realtor does not work for you, the realtor works for the seller. The realtor's job is to get the most money possible for the house, get their commission check and move on to the next sucker.

There are buyer agent services available but I don't think you need to use one in this market.

i mean dude, its hard to even read what you're saying...that sig pic is extremely distracting.

your clueless.

"that's the best you'll find" wtf kinda statement is that from an agent? Lazy wanker

None of that stuff you mentioned even matters. What market are you in? Is this the absolute best house for you? Are you willing to keep looking?

If you are in a buyers market and you don't mind looking ask for what you want and if you don't get keep looking. Strong buyers in most markets right now can get what ever they want and can really get a great deal.

I wouldn't buy a house right now unless you are getting a great deal. If you feel like you are just paying what its worth don't buy it.

If it's a great deal, just bite the bullet. If not, keep looking.

it's a pain to fix things. usually after you buy a house you end up not fixing anything, too busy moving in and getting settled.

Honestly if you wanted to pay for inspections before making an offer that is up to you, most will just do what the agent did and give you a walk out clause with refund.

I can not get into your agents mind. None of us know what the comps in your area are. If the house is already priced at rock bottom and as a slight fixer upper then your agent may be perfectly correct. On the other hand if there are other comps for a very close price then you have a lot to concern yourself with.

Also did you really interview your agent before hiring him/her?

It also would not hurt to ask for credits on say the heating/ac, sealing the tub, and perhaps some exterior painting or you will walk. You could bring in a contractor real quick to get an estimate on how much it would cost for a hundred or so. Worse case is you are out the contractors fee's and walk away with your deposit.

must have pool...

if my real estate agent said that to me, he would no longer be my real estate agent.

and i would walk away from the deal, considering it is an average deal and you'd be putting some thousands into repairs and upgrades.

this is a buyer's market. take your time. if it doesn't feel right, it isn't.

Fuck that. Your realtor is working for you and if you're the buyer, you're going to make him/her at least 5k on a 200k house. If they don't want to work with you, find another realtor. They're working for you - period. Sounds like he wants his quick money and to be out. We went through 3 realtors before choosing on one. One was pushy, one was a complete idiot and the last one, which we picked was a nice lady but I still think she took advantage of us since we didn't know much when going into this either. And if the house sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. Unless you've got another 10k or so as 'backup' per say, I'd be careful. From the sound of your post, it sounds like they did a lot of cosmetic shit to cover up the faults and things wrong with the house.

I just bought my first house a few months ago and we offered full price but got them to fix a ton of stuff. We had the septic cleaned and fixed, a water purifier thing installed, a radon system installed, HVAC unit for the 2nd zone fixed and a few other little things. We got every test done we could on the house, just to make sure we'd have no problems. Remember, this isn't an apartment where you can call maintenance to fix something. It gets expensive quick.

Also, you're buying from a seller, not a foreclosure or something from the bank right? If it's a bank, they usually wont fix shit and goodluck on getting a FHA loan unless you've got cash up front.

yea, don't rush it, give it a few weeks, the seller will most likely lower the price by then... if not, I'm sure there are 100s of other houses for a sale in the area...

This is what I did when I bought my house-

We played ping pong on the price and I was only able to get the seller to come down $15k. Offer was accepted and we moved on to inspection. The inspection didn't go so well, there were a handful of things that needed repair.

At this stage in the game it's like entering a second negotiation phase. You can choose to walk away from the deal at any time and your realtor should support you in this.

My first response was to tell the seller to fix everything, because let's face it, that's the easiest things to do. The seller came back and said they didn't want to do that, instead they wanted to negotiate the $$ for repairs and would cut me a check after closing. I met with some contractors the inspector hooked me up with to get an estimate on the work, they came back with probably $4500, $6k on the high end. I shot the $6k figure over to the seller and she accepted.

At closing the seller begrudgingly cut me the check and that was it. Honestly, I still need to replace the garage door 6 years after I bought the place, but they did give me the money for it so I have no one to blame but myself and my lazy.

Bottom line, they should drop the price or offer you a check at closing to cover the repairs. If they won't budge then you have the right to walk. If you're not crazy about the house you should probably walk anyway.