The inspection came in, need further estimates within 10 days?

Question

Hey all,

A frustrating situation I (first time residential home buyer) am in;

Our inspection came in on a 2 story 1500 sq foot 1920s house(as-is) in Roxborough with 2 major concerns:

• Basement - Joint rot that was addressed by adding vertical supporting beams towards the end of each joint (but they lack 'snowshowing' at the base and might be advisable to add additional for support)
• Electric - Knob/tube wiring and 0 grounded outlets through entire the house

The issue is our inspection doesn't have an estimate, only a recommendation to get an additional specialist inspection for that to obtain an estimate. We need those estimates to negotiate credits with the seller and are within the 10 day period to close or not close. Without any estimates, I feel weak in my position to ask for credits.

Being Thanksgiving week, electricians and contractors are not responsive. Any thoughts on how to proceed? I sent out half a dozen texts to recommended electricians and am about to call as business hours open. Who might be best to contact for the basement issues?

Stressed. Any thoughts?

Wayne Brooks · Answer

Tell the seller agent you need X amount of time to extend your inspection period....or you will cancel.

Ryan McLaughlin · Answer

Hey Ryan, how did you make out here? I agree with the previous poster that if you saw 2 prong outlets you needed to expect that none of the outlets would be grounded. Knob and tube and ungrounded outlets are super common in houses of that age in ROoand throughout the city. I would imagine you would have a tough time negotiating a credit for that.

I would assume a full rewire should run you about $8.5-11K but I wouldn't expect the seller to come out of pocket for that, especially in this market, and good electricians are scheduling about 8 weeks out right now. It's hard to assess your structural issues without seeing them. Your agent should be able to advise you on all of this. Give us an update?

Steve Babiak · Answer

I agree with @Wayne Brooks. I will add that ungrounded receptacles should be visible to any person since they will be two pronged instead of three; you might not get the seller to budge any on that issue unless they had three pronged receptacles that lacked a ground, which would be a code violation.

The inspection came in, need further estimates within 10 days?

The inspection came in, need further estimates within 10 days?

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