more bad luck
I've decided I'm going to move to California and start cultivating fruit trees because, man, I am EXCELLENT at picking lemons!
We had our inspection on the beautiful house we are trying to buy. It went badly. Very badly. At one point, early on, the inspector asked us if we wanted him to bother continuing.
ARGH!!
We started the inspection in the basement because we knew it wasn't pretty down there what with the dirt floor and the mention of "water leakage" by the current owner. Well, the water leakage is bad enough that they've dug trenches down there, and the cinder block foundation is buckling inwards. That's too bad because it happens to be holding up the rest of the house.
We are having some contractors look at it to tell us how much it will cost to fix it but we already know the price tag is going to be HIGH for this. We haven't made any definite decisions, but it almost seems like we are leaning towards sucking it up, buying this unsound house, and making it sound. We seem to be unable to find an actual decent house, and I like everything else about this property. The view is to die for, the woods are beautiful, the pond and general layout of the yard is fabulous, and the proximity to a small town is pretty handy. Sitting in the living room you feel a sense of peace kind of washing over you, even while contemplating the awful inspection.
There's also the added bonus of extra living space once a decent basement is poured. We can add a rec room and spare bedroom, and Mark wants to add a bathroom down there and take the toilet and sink out of the laundry room.
Does everyone go through this much crap trying to buy a house? We are definitely resigned to the fact that we'll be putting in major work no matter what we buy, so we might as well buckle down and do it. We've been living out of our suitcases for just about five months now and I'd love to unpack sometime soon.
Meanwhile, this house-hunting search is looking like a slow-motion train wreck. Hopefully we will survive!
5 comments:
That's what you get for shopping in a crappy area :P
I guess hermits living on 160acre properties are hermity enough to avoid contact with people even to fix things up.
I already wrote Mark but I would say think again about fixing it or at least get a professional opinion beyond just a contractor. Contractors often price things wrong. A structural engineer may cost you $500 but will be able to give you an accurate assessment (or you can sue since they are professionals and you can rely on their opinions).
If the price tag is very large, the value realized from doing it may be very minimal.
If you do decide to go with a contractor, make sure you get a quote for the whole thing, not just an estimate (I'm not sure if that's the right terminology). Basically, make them give you a fixed price so they can't just keep working and costing you more and more... which is what happened on my parents' house in Vic.
Of course, you probably already realized that, or had 6 other people tell you that. One place my parents bought was in such bad shape, they ended up pitching a tent in the livingroom for the first year until they moved & raised it, put in a proper basement, and installed windows. This was in interior BC, so they survived through a winter with snow drifts against the walls :P
Whatever you decide, there will be tradeoffs... just choose the ones you can live with :) Good luck, I'm sure it will all work out.
Be optimistic. If you get it and fix it up you'll have lemon-aid.
Aw Julie, I'm so sorry. Honestly, my advice would be to keep looking. I know how much that sucks. Wanna buy a cottage in Moser River? I know someone selling ;).
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