Nitrousbird Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 My wife and I are in the market for a house. We found a home that is a foreclosure. It just came on the market 2 days ago, and it is going to go FAST. We want to make an offer ASAP, but don't want to do it without at least a general inspection. Too much $$ to buy something that is FUBAR. 2004 build, nice area. Water/electric is off. Electric isn't supposed to be off, causing the sump pump to be off, and 1-2" of water in unfinished basement (looks fresh...we figure it has been without power for 1-2 weeks). I just need someone to go through it quickly, and give it the "yeah, it's worth making an offer on" or a "no dude, this thing is f'ed." From apperances, the place is super nice other than some minor things that are very obvious and I can easily DIY (such as all of the appliances ripped out of the place, as are the light fixtures). I just need a general once over by someone who knows what they are doing. I know a little about homes, but not enough to know the things to really look for in an inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Glenn home inspections is who i just used friday. not sure if they'll have anything tomorrow. i dont know if you'd consider it a "light" inspection though...they took about 3 hours and covered everything. was $300 i dont have the number now, but they're registered with the BBB. Gary is who i talked to, but Jack Cindia is the guy who did it. theres only 2 of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I know plenty about electric, but if it was built in 04 I doubt you'll find much. Electrical codes have been very specific for the last 10 years or more, so long as it was built in an area with a picky inspector. Where is it at? I was wiring alot of houses in 04. edit: it just dawned on me that you weren't refering to electric specifically, but anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Call Paul Rockwell @ 614 374-5352, he is my boss and does home inspections and teaches classes about home inspections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Are you working with an agent? - If not get one. My wife is an agent that only represents buyers - I know they can get more info on the house through their contacts and make sure you get it for as cheap as possible and don't get burned on the condition of the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrousbird Posted March 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Are you working with an agent? - If not get one. My wife is an agent that only represents buyers - I know they can get more info on the house through their contacts and make sure you get it for as cheap as possible and don't get burned on the condition of the house. I am working with an agent. And sadly, we lost the house anyway. The bank accepted one of the offers; we don't know the amount, but sounds like a little higher than we would have offered, and was a very clean offer (25%+ down, pre-approved and can close very shortly), so the bank moved on it. We have some other contenders as well. We also need to sell our condo (we can afford both, but obviously don't want to pay for both), but refuse to until we are in contract on something we want...we are kind of picky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 My wife and I are in the market for a house. We found a home that is a foreclosure. It just came on the market 2 days ago, and it is going to go FAST. We want to make an offer ASAP, but don't want to do it without at least a general inspection. Too much $$ to buy something that is FUBAR. 2004 build, nice area. Water/electric is off. Electric isn't supposed to be off, causing the sump pump to be off, and 1-2" of water in unfinished basement (looks fresh...we figure it has been without power for 1-2 weeks). I just need someone to go through it quickly, and give it the "yeah, it's worth making an offer on" or a "no dude, this thing is f'ed." From apperances, the place is super nice other than some minor things that are very obvious and I can easily DIY (such as all of the appliances ripped out of the place, as are the light fixtures). I just need a general once over by someone who knows what they are doing. I know a little about homes, but not enough to know the things to really look for in an inspection. You realize you are supposed to make an offer "contingent on inspection" if you are afraid the house is going to move fast. Did your agent not tell you this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 You realize you are supposed to make an offer "contingent on inspection" if you are afraid the house is going to move fast. Did your agent not tell you this? +1 - and all of the questions you are asking should have already been answered by your agent! It is a crap shoot on foreclosed homes but if you're patient you will find something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linc5.0 Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 You realize you are supposed to make an offer "contingent on inspection" if you are afraid the house is going to move fast. Did your agent not tell you this? +100000. Get into contract first, then worry about inspection. Usually you have two weeks for inspections...If something is wrong, you back out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Condo's are a tough sell. We had my wife's condo on the market for 8 months and continually dropped the price. We bought a home 3 months after putting her condo up. It was a b!tch to get rid of, and we ended up dumping it and taking about a 15% hit. My advice would be, if you buy before you sell the condo be sure you have enough cash set aside to pay for what you could lose. Otherwise you're screwed. Luckily, my wife closed the sale of her condo 3 days after she was laid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrousbird Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I can see some of you have looked into buying a forclosed home: As-is, is As-is. You can't go into contract of a forclosed home based on an inspection. Period. If you thing otherwise, you are incorrect. As for our condo - we don't have the typical condo, and not by a long shot. Of our 40 units, there isn't a single child residing here. It is all retired folks and young professionals. It is also in a HIGHLY desireable area that there can't be any more development here. This isn't some Polaris condo where there are 500 more to choose from. There aren't that many condos in this area at all. The setting isn't your typical condo setting either. Anyone interested, we will sell by owner for 160k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractor Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Still your agent should have had a list as long as your arm with names of contractors who could do an inspection for them. Its not like anyone in the industry is busy at the moment. If the agent left that up to you then you should get a new agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I can see some of you have looked into buying a forclosed home: As-is, is As-is. You can't go into contract of a forclosed home based on an inspection. Period. If you thing otherwise, you are incorrect. Yes you can. You just won't get any money from the seller for repairs. In the state of Ohio you have 3 days to pull a contract anyways. Always submit an offer (usually) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Yes you can. You just won't get any money from the seller for repairs. In the state of Ohio you have 3 days to pull a contract anyways. Always submit an offer (usually) +1 - Don't buy into that "as is" stuff. My wife closed on a house last month that was a foreclosed home. Bank agreed to repairing the roof. Contract was written contingent to inspection and offer was accepted. Inspection showed a leaky roof - buyer wanted it fixed and bank agreed. In your situation where there were multiple offers that probably would not work - they would take one of the offers without contingencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linc5.0 Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Yes you can. You just won't get any money from the seller for repairs. In the state of Ohio you have 3 days to pull a contract anyways. Always submit an offer (usually) once again, LJ is right. You always get an inspection, even "as is" so that you know what you are working with. The bank may not discount the price, but then again you should be getting it at a good deal already and be able to fix these problems. The point of the inspection is so that if there is more that needs to be fixed than you thought.....you can still back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 +1 - Don't buy into that "as is" stuff. My wife closed on a house last month that was a foreclosed home. Bank agreed to repairing the roof. Contract was written contingent to inspection and offer was accepted. Inspection showed a leaky roof - buyer wanted it fixed and bank agreed. In your situation where there were multiple offers that probably would not work - they would take one of the offers without contingencies. If you offer full price contingent on inspection with a guarantee that you will not ask for money back, they will probably take it. If you know there are going to be multiple offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallard Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I can see some of you have looked into buying a forclosed home: As-is, is As-is. You can't go into contract of a forclosed home based on an inspection. Period. If you thing otherwise, you are incorrect. As for our condo - we don't have the typical condo, and not by a long shot. Of our 40 units, there isn't a single child residing here. It is all retired folks and young professionals. It is also in a HIGHLY desireable area that there can't be any more development here. This isn't some Polaris condo where there are 500 more to choose from. There aren't that many condos in this area at all. The setting isn't your typical condo setting either. Anyone interested, we will sell by owner for 160k. Her condo was similar (all retiree's and young professionals), but there were more than 40 in the area. I don't know where yours is, what the spec's are, or what it cost new, but good luck getting $160k. My wife's condo went for around $140K new (in 2000), she bought it for $135 in 2005, and we sold it for $96k and we had other offers for $92k and $86k. Hopefully you can get what you want out of it, but be prepared for the worst. We went into it thinking we'd get $112-118k out of it. Everything the previous posts say about inspections is true. We had an offer on one, it was accepted, and during the inspection we saw something we didn't like and walked away. The bank called back asking what it would take for us to buy it and offered another $10k off the price. We still walked, but they sounded anxious to get rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrousbird Posted March 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Her condo was similar (all retiree's and young professionals), but there were more than 40 in the area. I don't know where yours is, what the spec's are, or what it cost new, but good luck getting $160k. My wife's condo went for around $140K new (in 2000), she bought it for $135 in 2005, and we sold it for $96k and we had other offers for $92k and $86k. Hopefully you can get what you want out of it, but be prepared for the worst. We went into it thinking we'd get $112-118k out of it. Well, since two lesser units sold in the last two months for about that money, I think we are okay...especially since there are no other units for sale now. My wife lucked into getting it in 2002, as there were other offers on it already, but hers was the only pre-approved one. Location, Location, Location. These aren't your typical new build, cookie cutter condos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS69 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Generally speaking for foreclosures through the Sheriff departments, you bid and win, its yours. Its is that quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moostang Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 My friends just got a foreclosure house on harvard ave off of taylor. They made their bid then had an inspector go through. If something would have been wrond to my friends standards they could have backed out of it. So my advice is bid on the house then get the inspector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 LJ is correct. and IIRC from the HUD papers ive read through, any loan going FHA the contract is subject to inspection. i believe it said if its conventional, oh well the HUD houses ive looked at are as-is. they will fix any issues they find pre-listing to bring it to livable standards, but issues after its listed are your problem. im sorta having issues with that now, because they didnt do inspections with the utilities on, and when i had them turned on for the inspections, there was a gas leak (found out today its in the hot water control valve, $225 to the company to fix, $70 for part...not horrible) and a water leak (loose bolt, should be fine). the appraiser has the house value contingent on those repairs being made, so the guy at the bank is trying to get it in to where they'll accept the repair estimates that i will have those fixed. she obviously couldnt test anything needing gas or water, so we were worried the appraisal wouldnt come in high enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJ Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 LJ is correct. and IIRC from the HUD papers ive read through, any loan going FHA the contract is subject to inspection. i believe it said if its conventional, oh well the HUD houses ive looked at are as-is. they will fix any issues they find pre-listing to bring it to livable standards, but issues after its listed are your problem. im sorta having issues with that now, because they didnt do inspections with the utilities on, and when i had them turned on for the inspections, there was a gas leak (found out today its in the hot water control valve, $225 to the company to fix, $70 for part...not horrible) and a water leak (loose bolt, should be fine). the appraiser has the house value contingent on those repairs being made, so the guy at the bank is trying to get it in to where they'll accept the repair estimates that i will have those fixed. she obviously couldnt test anything needing gas or water, so we were worried the appraisal wouldnt come in high enough Glad you found someone reasonable for the gas. Who did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 actually called up a guy with an ad on craigslist. it was a company. he said $225 to fix up to 3 leaks...told him i couldnt have him fix anything since i didnt own the house. he said $95 to get an estimate, and he would apply that towards the fix once i get the house. so ill end up paying another $200 to get it fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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