Buying a house, some concerns with the property after inspection/property research RealEstate

Hi All,

We are first time prospective home buyers in a competitive market. We recently had an offer accepted on a house, but have a few concerns after inspection. Basically, the house is nice but has a few problems that we feel indicated the house was flipped somewhat carelessly. This is making us concerned that there might be deeper problems/the recently renovations might be of suspect quality.

Some Details of the property:

• House was purchased in 2014 for $340k, being sold now for $480k.

• Two family house, built 1910.

• One unit is recently renovated. Owners lived in one unit while slowly renovating the other. The renovated unit was only lived in for maybe a few months in spring 2017 before they moved out and tried sell.

• The first unit is nice but not renovated, could use a ~$3-4k kitchen upgrade before renting.

• New boilers for both units. New electrical, plumbing, ikea kitchen in the renovated unit.

During inspection, we noticed a few smaller concerns, such as the refrigerator water wasn’t attached, there are broken windows/missing storm windows, no locks on the windows, missing closet door, radiators were loose (found out heating hasn’t really been used), etc. No deal breakers, but this made us feel that the renovations might be a bit rushed.

This led us into taking a hard look at some of the bigger issues. Talking to the selling agent, it sounded like the now-renovated unit had some major issues (both cosmetic and electrical) that were fixed over the past few years. The entire electrical system was just replaced due to poor wiring before they could bring to market (sounds like they only found this out in the summer, and it delayed them going onto market until now). Electrical is now fixed, but sellers went overbudget – we think this is why some of the smaller things were left unfinished.

We also have some of our bigger concerns after the inspection:

• Asbestos, radon in the basement. Most of the asbestos is in good condition, but several areas where it is cracking/damaged.

• Plumbing was replaced in renovated unit but not throughout. A few visible old cast iron pipes with blobs of rust/at end of life. Concerns that this is an upcoming big repair.

• Renovated unit is listed as a 3 bed/2 bath, but serves more as a 2 bed/1 bath. 1 bedroom/bathroom is in the newly finished attic (~250 sq ft), but there is no heating element (other than open stairway to downstairs heat), no door on the bedroom, and no shower in the bathroom (bathtub only).

Based on this, I have two questions/thoughts that I’d like some feedback on:

• I’m not sure if we are not being rational/being over concerned regarding the smaller or even potential bigger issues. I’m certainly concerned with the potential quality of the work given it was for the flip, but certainly emotionally reacting based on the problems I see vs. the apparent profit the sellers are making.

• We are considering being very demanding after the inspection or walking away. The house has some great features as is in a very desirable/competitive neighborhood, but we think it is priced a bit high given our concerns with the attic space + potential future repairs.

Submitted November 25, 2017 at 09:17PM by grandon http://ift.tt/2iR1CMP RealEstate