House Dilema

After the inspection yesterday, i have been worried about purchasing the house..

If feels so overwhelming and im not sure if this is the house for us, and i cant figure out why...Did anyone else experience these feelings??

im VERY confused

Suzanne,

I followed your post about the house inspection. Your not alone!! We too felt the same way after our inspector told us:

1. The electrical system should be upgraded ($1,500);
2. The existing cesspools were original to the house (40-years old) and would be costly ($8,000) to replace if they go bad;
3. The hot water heater had exceeded it's useful life ($4,000);
4. We live in a wooded area, and our backyard is a huge hill - estimated cost to grade to level was $10,000 to prevent erosion and water entering the basement
5. It already had two roofs on it - our next move was to rip them off and repolce the entire roof.

Oh, there was more, although minor.

However, we loved the area, the size of the house and the amount of land we had, so we went for it. 2-1/2 years later, we are loving our house and very happy. We had not had to fix or replace one thing the inspector noticed might happen!! It's all just very precautionary!!

Not sure if this will help your decision, but just wanted to let you know we went for it and everything turned out right!! If your gut tells you this isn't the house for you, then think about it a few more days, if you can. It's a big investment and you want to be happy and know you made the right decision for the two of you.

Trish

Trish,
Thank you very very much for sharing... I will definatly think about it some more, we have a little time since i have to get the results of the water test and i need to call the town to make sure about the sewer..

Ill never forget your wonderfull advise

Suzanne
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was talking about when I said don't get overwhelmed!

Some inspectors/engineers just scare people when they do inspections. Others claim to be extremely thorough and provide 200 page reports on the house, it's condition and all the little contingencies and stipulations about how old certain things are and how long they can be expected to last...but it's all basically a CYA thing.

If the engineer doesn't tell you some of these things, and something horrible happens or something breaks or fails AFTER you close on the home, than you'll think the engineer lied or missed something during the inspection process, etc.

In NY buying a home means 'buyer beware.' That's just the way it is. That's why you have an engineer look at the house before you buy it - b/c sometimes they see things that you and I don't.
In the end, they are not always right about their estimations. We had our engineer tell us that we should replace the roof, too. But, we recently had our carpenter up in the attic, and he said there are no leaks, and the plywood looks very new. So, who's to say we need to invest in a roof right now?

If you can picture yourself living in this house and you feel you will be happy there, go for it. No house will ever be 'perfect' - there is ALWAYS something to be done, or something that will need mending. I know it seems like a lot, but we have all been there! Try not to worry, although I completely relate to your reaction - I was the same way.

suzanne
check your forum mail

I know what you are feeling. We were the same way. We had that initial stab of - is this what we want - are we spending too much and so on. I think its normal. After all its a very big life decision and financial commitment. You will do the right thing.
Good Luck and keep us posted.

Claud said it best:

If you can picture yourself living in this house and you feel you will be happy there, go for it. No house will ever be 'perfect' - there is ALWAYS something to be done, or something that will need mending. I know it seems like a lot, but we have all been there! Try not to worry, although I completely relate to your reaction - I was the same way.


It is a very big decision to make. The above advise is perfect. Remember, if you are not sure, there are always other homes to go look at. It may take a little longer, but you will find something that makes you happy. If this is the house for you, you will feel it in your heart.

Thank you everyone!! its good to know that others have gone through these feelings as well.. IT doesnt help that my parents are driving me crazy, my father hasnt bought a house since 1973 and constantly hearing him say that this house is not worth 200K is driving me crazy, i dont think there are any houses in nassau for 200K.. its making me second guess myself.. but hearing all of your great advise has made me relize that we are doing the right thing..

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I cant tell you how much your advise means to me! I am very lucky to be apart of this site!

THanks shamme, the money pit was one of my favorite movies!! LOL

Our inspector said the house seems to be in pretty good condition, so as long as the sess pool is no longer in the yard i think we will go foward!

Sharon, while I completely feel for you and sympathize with what happened to you when you bought your home, I have to say that I think your situation is a bit the extreme and not the norm in most cases.

Our engineer's report had over $20,000 in repair expenses listed:
* Necessary: $6,000 (this means, just to MOVE IN!)
* Upcoming: $11,300 (this means, things like to break/fail)
* Potential: $3,000 (this means, the engineer didn't have enough info to know for sure how much something would cost to repair, or how far away from their life expectancy they were)

Suzanne - in order to ease our minds during this process, we hired some experts to come in and take a look at the things that troubled us the most....like the electricity and the termite damage (because of structural concerns).
The electrician did fix a few things, but overall (thank goodness) there were not major fire hazards. The exterminator was actually able to determine that we DID NOT have termites, but rather - carpenter ants - which are not as harmful and are less expensive to treat.

So, go with your instincts? YES! But, you can also hire other people to follow-up on some of the things that the engineer's report brought to light. This might give you the peace of mind you are looking for. These are your rights as a home buyer and you should not buy something that you are not confident in!
edited to correct my horrid spelling!

Thank you soo very much claud.. your information always makes me feel better.

I am trying at this point to get an assement on my taxes and the lady on the phone gave me a REALLY low number, its like 2500.00 for school and 1400.00 for town.. that doesnt seem right...

Suzanne, darling!!! I'm sorry that I've been MIA lately, but it's hard for me to get on here!!

I agree with the others in that you should go with your instincts ... but really go with your gut and not your heart (if that makes sense to you)!!! We skipped past our first bid, because our engineer told us there were just to many potentinal and necessary damages that we just didn't want -- although, you may feel that it's such a great house, there may be another house that's even better out there for you.

The house that we bought -- had a few potential problems, but nothing major. Just really the possibility of the roof not lasting more than 2 years.

And parents ... my parents had a comment too, but that's only because they are looking out for your best interest -- although you've grown up and gotten married, if they are like mine, they never go away (which I actually love about them) !!!

My suggestion to you is to really think about it. Sleep on it ... discuss it with Frank ... ask him what he wants to do. I was so disappointed when the first house fell through but then realized that it was for the best. We weren't looking for long and it was one of the first that we liked in a good price range. After the report, we knew why it was such a great price.

If you really love and want this house ... maybe you can negotiate for some credits on the work that you may need to do. They gave us that option on that house we turned down!!! I wouldn't want to put a lot of money into a home unless it was your dream home.

THanks so much cira!!

Its actually in great condition the house.. the only thing is the asbestos which i will make them remove proffessionaly first..

It was just i guess the overwhelming feeling of buying a house and the HUGE commitment it actually is..im a little scared..its so easy to rent!

Oh, okay ... then I would second Claud's suggestion and bring in an experienced person to give you their intake on the problem.

I know Suzanne ... I was so excited until we actually got our offer accepted and then I was FREAKING out!! Actually, Rob was worse than me!!! Those are buyer's nerves ... just think of all the great things of owning vs. renting and you'll get through it!!! You are not alone - we all went through this!!!

Good Luck -- I hope for the best for you guys!!!

THanks Cira, your right, frank is worse than me!