[Tommyp!972]

I am just about to have my home inspected before the closing happens..
1... I noticed that the hot water heater is made by a company that went out of business 10-15 years ago and the condition of the heaters effectiveness is in question... not to sound cheap, but do I have the right to have the price of the house negotiated on due to the fact I will have to have a plumber come in and replace it or will it be a case of if it ain't broke I'm not going to bother with the price?
2... I noticed during a bad rainstorm the water in the basement coming in through the foundation walls... the house is over 100yrs old and the basement is made of very large stones and mortar.. it uses a sump pump to get rid of the water.. do I have a leg to stand on if I demand that the cellar walls be fixed or does the seller have the right to refuse to fix it because there is a sump pump in the basement?
The rest of the house has so much potential but I'm worried that we may be walking into a money pit... plz help any advice will be welcome.. thank you

[RickJ]

In my area a full inspection from roof to foundation runs about $250. This is a must.

If you're going through an agent, he/she should have encouraged this.

You say "before the closing". So you're already in contract? If so, do you not have an inspection contingency in there?

[LisaB4657]

In NJ a standard contract provides that the systems will be in working order at the time of closing. So if the water heater is working then the seller is not obligated to replace it or give you a credit for it even though it is at the end of its normal life.

With regard to the basement, the basement floors and walls should be dry. Water should not be coming in at all, regardless of the presence of a sump pump. Have a company come in to give you an estimate for waterproofing and request that the seller either have this done before closing or give you a credit for the amount of the estimate.

[Fr_Chuck]

I will assume your contract is pending approval of a home inspection.
This is common in the US. After the inspection you have the right to refuse to buy the home if the inspection is poor, ask for certain things to be fixed, or have the price lowered so you can have them fixed.

On the water heater while a home fix it person can easily fix their own, you should get it done for under 500 dollars. So you can ask them to either put a hot water heater in or lower the cost.

The leaking basement ( cellar perhaps) is going to be a major project most likely. It can be the landscaping issue (water standing around home) but most likely you will need to have dainage area put all around the home .

Now basically all you can do is ask for the seller to do these things, they can merely refuse and say you can either buy the home the way it is, or forget it. You can not force them to do anything.

If they think they can get a better offer from someone else without doing this, they will just refuse.

In older homes the majority have sump pumps in their basements, the one I grew up in as a child had a pump and every rain, water came in the outside stairs and dampness along one wall, it runs to the sump and goes out. Dad put a dehumitifier down there to keep the dampness out.

But wait till you get the report from the home inspector, perhaps talk to a couple of contractors to get an idea of the repair cost.

In the end, all you can do is try to negotiate, if they are down as low as they will go already, most liekly they will say no, When I sold a old house, its heater was poor, a new buyer wanted either so many dolars off the price or a new furnace I basically told them no, that was the price and they could take it or leave it.

They may come down some, depending on the price you are paying and all that.

[Tommyp!972]

Well the inspection was today and didn't go so well..
The basement was "fixed" prior to the inspection with mortar.. its not pretty to look at but it looks like it will hold back water..
I'm just worried about the recourse, if any ,I have if it starts to leak after I buy the house...
The roof isn't leaking thank god but the inspector said the shingles will need replacing... I'm going to try to negotiate a new price about the roof..

The few good points were that I didn't know I was receiving a credit for a 40 gallon tank for home depot.. prob worth $2-300 but I still need to have it installed..
It passed the septic and electrical and structural tests but the plumbing gets tested Friday but that's another story...
... but...

You knew there had to be 1 right... lol... this is going to be a sticking point in the sale ,I think...

... there is an addition on the back that was going to be converted into a mudroom with 1/2 bath leading out to an eventual deck but the structure is sitting on a questionable foundation(Big stones stacked on top of each other (not blocks)and filled with some mortar to hold) ,it has a leaky roof that the seller said, but its not in writing, that he was going to repair but was "waiting to see what i wanted to do with the addition 1st"...
It looks like it was constructed a little after the house was built roughly 100-120 yrs ago...
The inspector recommended that I don't put a lot of money into modernizing it..
Looks like I'm stuck with either using it for storage which I didn't want to do or I have to tear down the addition and rebuild it the right way...
The seller said he would tear down but didn't say anything about a new price..
Now granted I know this is a fixer upper to a degree but doesn't the seller have some responsibilities to the houses upkeep?I'm not willing to have the seller tear down 300 sq.ft and still pay the full asking price for less of a home... am I just being stubborn or should I be glad he fixed up the previous problems and just deal with it?
... I knew it had problems before getting into this and I know that more will creep up eventually but that's life..

I guess my qustion now is
... should I accept the patch job in the basement?
... should I negotiate a price for the install of the water heater in my contract?
... should I accept, hopefully, a reduction in cost by the seller for the roof or should I wait and get a few qoutes from contractors which will take time I don't have?
.. ask for reduction in cost for the "useable" but not useable, for what we wanted it for ,addition/storage shed?

Thanks for letting me rant abit:mad:

[arlcruise]

All things are relative. What other homes have you seen? If after spending all that needs to be done on this property, is it cheaper, or more expensive then the other comparables?