All Forum Posts by: Bryce Y.

Honestly it just sounds like she wants more than you are willing to pay. I would just move on...

I would definitely follow up a few months down the road though.

Michael Siekerka Jon Holdman

Thanks guys. I will be having a contractor walk through with me. I got a full blown inspection on my first property and imo it was pretty useless and not worth the money. I can turn on the stove and a/c and see if it works. I can tell that the kitchen and bath are not GFCI ,etc. Plus on some other things they gave me misguided advice. For example, there were some cracked tiles in the kitchen and they said it could be a slab leak. I was pretty freaked out and brought in some contractors and they said there's no leak, just old tiles. I think it's a combination of them not having practical knowledge (compared to a good contractor) and not wanting to be held liable for giving bad advice.

After I get more experience, I will probably just inspect it myself.

Jon Holdman The issue per the seller is the inconvenience. It just seems to me like it's not that big of a deal if I were the tenant. But the part about them getting spooked definitely makes sense.

Michael Siekerka Perhaps the part about 20 people was a little dumb, but I'm more concerned about electrical, plumbing, or other issues that could be temporarily patched up so as to appear fine during the inspection and rear it's head down the road when I am the owner. Are there any examples of things I should be extra careful for to spot these type of patches?

FWIW the seller seems honest and has been very cooperative thus far. I think I will give him the benefit of the doubt here.

Hello guys,

I am in the option period and would like to get an inspection done. Due to my work schedule, the best times for me are on weekends. My inspector said he can do it on Saturday morning around 9am. I let the seller know. He contacted his management company, and they came back and said it would be a "huge mistake" and it would be better to do it during the week when the tenants are gone. That was exactly what he said word for word. They proposed the following Wednesday.

Immediately some alarm bells went off in my head. I can definitely understand it being inconvenient, but a "huge mistake"??? It makes me think he is trying to cover up some electrical/plumbing problems. Or maybe there are 20 people living there and he doesn't want me to see it... Should I insist on having it on Saturday?

Thanks.

Actually handwriting the letters yourself will definitely get you a better response rate, as it feels more personal and authentic (because it is!). However, you must weigh the time and effort that it takes against the increased responses. Is it worth it? In my limited experience, no.

I've thought about outsourcing (even to other countries), but the hassle of dealing with other individuals (the people that do this won't be the most responsible), checking to make sure quality is up to par, etc. seems to not make it worth it. If you could outsource in huge bulk then it might make sense, but I am nowhere near that point.

Edit: I meant outsourcing to individuals (college buddies, stay at home moms, etc) and not to companies.

Thanks for the clarification Dion and Bill. Sorry for the small hijack. :)

Larry Oconnor

Thanks. The white stuff on the portions of the roof jutting out in the first pic is actually polyurethane foam applied by the previous owner.

I will look into this further. Thanks again.

I am currently negotiating with a seller on a property I am looking to buy. He has agreed to carry back some amount of my down payment. I plan to purchase with a conventional loan, 25% down.

I spoke to my lender about this and he said that Fannie Mae does not allow 2nd liens in the purchase contract (makes sense), but after closing I am allowed to get a 2nd lien on the property. Basically once they underwrite it they don't care what you do after. This struck me as odd and a bit crazy but that was exactly what he said. Is he misinformed, or does this vary from lender to lender?

Thing is, I am perfectly qualified, can close with my own funds, but the deal would be much sweeter if he can carry something back.

Thanks.

I got 4.125% with 25% down on mine.

I am also interested in seeing if there's any way to verify this. In my case landlord paid for water/sewer and I wanted to verify the seller's numbers. Ran into the same problem where they told me they can't disclose that info.

You could try asking the seller for copies of past month's electric bills. But there's nothing like hearing it straight from the horse's mouth.