Put in an offer for a house....

[Johnny Rockets]

I just dealt with termite damage last year. No bueno. Cost me $8k. Fug a termite. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Probably the three biggest red flags when it comes to houses are foundation issues, flood damage, and termites. You're dealing with quite the trifecta here, my friend. You're a braver man than I. I would've just walked. But, like I said, if they except the offer you can always use the inspection to kill the deal if necessary.

[hepcat]

27 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Probably the three biggest red flags when it comes to houses are foundation issues, flood damage, and termites. You're dealing with quite the trifecta here, my friend. You're a braver man than I. I would've just walked. But, like I said, if they except the offer you can always use the inspection to kill the deal if necessary.

True enough but in our price range we're either looking at living on the absolute fringe of town and fuging up one of our commutes or dealing with a house with some kind of issue. We're going to have to compromise somewhere. A house with some issues, a bad area (crime wise) or somewhere out in the boonies.

[LinvilleGorge]

48 minutes ago, hepcat said:

True enough but in our price range we're either looking at living on the absolute fringe of town and fuging up one of our commutes or dealing with a house with some kind of issue. We're going to have to compromise somewhere. A house with some issues, a bad area (crime wise) or somewhere out in the boonies.

I can definitely sympathize with that. For what we paid for our house here in the mountains of CO I could buy a literal mansion back in my hometown in NC. And it's not a mansion by any means. 3 beds, two baths, 1900 square feet on 3/4 acre. For what it's worth now, hell there's not many houses in my hometown that you could spend that much money on.

But, there's sacrifices you can make and those that you can't make. You gotta make sure you're buying a solid house. I'd MUCH rather buy a solid structure and do a gut job remodel than buy a house with significant structural issues. The reason those three issues are so major is that you can spend lots of time and money trying to chase down all the issues those things can cause. With water comes mold, particularly in a hot and hung area like Austin. Be sure you inspector does mold tests. With foundation issues you can possibly be looking at having to jack up the structure and re-do fill or install pillars to bedrock. That's major $$$. Same thing with trying to chase down termite damage. If those things get into load bearing structures you're again looking at major $$$.

Try to find you an ugly ass outdated house in a good area and upgrade as time and money allows. Remember, paint is the easiest and cheapest thing to fix. Flooring probably next. Swapping out appliances is easy as pie. The only problem with that plan in a hot area is that those are the exact houses flippers are looking for and a lot of flippers will be cash buyers. If you're going up against a cash buyer you're gonna lose.

[thefuzz]

21 hours ago, hepcat said:

Reasons we came in under asking: House endured water damage in 2018 and had termite damage. House has construction grade appliances and fixtures. House has obvious foundation concerns. 

So we finally got a response late last night. They did not outright reject our offer but want to wait for the house to be listed for 30 days before making a decision. It has been listed for 10 days. They countered at 5k under asking. We have decided to meet their counter should they cover all closing costs. They seem amicable to the idea. We'll see. 

Inspection incoming if they accept those terms.

You got all that on paper?

Also, you didn't answer if you have a buyers agent or not?  Who is helping you with this purchase?

 

[cookinbrak]

Having just started a new job and getting married, you should probably wait a while before committing to buying a house. Save up for a year or so, then revisit.

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, thefuzz said:

You got all that on paper?

Also, you didn't answer if you have a buyers agent or not?  Who is helping you with this purchase?

 

About the damage? It was all on the sellers disclosure. It was a very detailed letter.

We have a realtor who is assisting us, yes

No answer on the counter yet fellas 

[hepcat]

6 minutes ago, cookinbrak said:

Having just started a new job and getting married, you should probably wait a while before committing to buying a house. Save up for a year or so, then revisit.

That was the plan until our existing landlord told us he’s selling the house when our lease is up at the end of August and he’d buy out part of our lease if we left early.

We will probably wait until at least after our honeymoon to start looking if this one falls through. This was a special case of a house that checked all our boxes that popped up under the average home price in a neighborhood we really wanted to live in 

[cookinbrak]

Did you offer to buy the house you're in?

[hepcat]

12 minutes ago, cookinbrak said:

Did you offer to buy the house you're in?

He wouldn’t sell to us and that’s for the best. We know all the negatives of the house and we wouldn’t buy it unless he pretty much gave it to us.

It is original from the build date of like 1973, it has a cracked slab foundation right down the middle and the garage floods at least 2-3 times a year, among other issues. It might be a total tear down job honestly. We only stayed because our rent is ridiculously low for the area

[Squirrel]

8 hours ago, hepcat said:

He wouldn’t sell to us and that’s for the best. We know all the negatives of the house and we wouldn’t buy it unless he pretty much gave it to us.

It is original from the build date of like 1973, it has a cracked slab foundation right down the middle and the garage floods at least 2-3 times a year, among other issues. It might be a total tear down job honestly. We only stayed because our rent is ridiculously low for the area

And yet you are buying a place that sounds about the same.  I understand the pressure of wanting your own place but dont settle for something. You might be stuck with it for 10 years if the market downturns again. 

 

Rent a apartment or something. Just my advice. 

[hepcat]

13 hours ago, Squirrel said:

And yet you are buying a place that sounds about the same.  I understand the pressure of wanting your own place but dont settle for something. You might be stuck with it for 10 years if the market downturns again. 

 

Rent a apartment or something. Just my advice. 

That’s a fair point, and that’s definitely the fallback plan if we don’t find a place that doesn’t break the bank that we don’t love. But we haven’t had  the house we put in an offer for inspected yet so it’s not fair to say it’s in the same condition as our rental because I don’t know what condition it’s truly in. Its had a lot of updates and our rental house has obviously not had anything major fixed since it was built. But like I’ve said, unless we decide to live on the fringe of town we’re not going to get an affordable house unless we compromise somewhere

If we rent in the same neighborhood we would only be paying slightly less than what we’d pay for a mortgage, for a likely worse house. Biggest problem is me and my fiancé work in opposite directions and this neighborhood is the perfect one right in the middle. And it’s Austin, an insanely booming real estate market. I’d be beyond shocked if we lost any money on this house

[LinvilleGorge]

Foolproof three step process to losing your ass on a property even in the hottest of markets...

Buy a house with:

- Foundation issues

- Flooding issues and

- Termite damage

[hepcat]

Update: Owner sent us a message that he's still considering our counter offer. Says he might offer a fixed amount to help cover closing costs. Also hasn't given us an actual yes or no so he could still reject it. We're backing out should he say no. I have three vendors on call waiting to do an inspection should this go through - Regular home inspector, mold tester, and a foundation company coming out to do a level test and possible estimate of any needed repairs.