Home owners. I have a question!

[BeHeMOTH]

I have a bit of a situtation, I'm in the middle of buying a house and I found out yesterday that it's going to need a roof replaced, I was told that it was 80% gone and it's the second roof. My problem is in the original deal they were goign to pay closing cost and that's it (the cost of a 2500) Now after I found out about the roof I asked to have it replaced at their expense average cost 2000. The roof is 10+ years old now does this sound like I'm asking for to much.

Added note they asked to keep the fridge, stove, washer and dryer pretty much everything in the house and I said ok. Plus the porch swing and a few bushes that have memories? I also agreed that they could take them I just wanted to a roof added.

My realtor said that they might do the roof but not closing. I said "I want both or we re do the contract and I offer less to cover the cost." I'm just wondering if I'm being silly or if that sounds reasonable.

thanks,

 

[Isla]

Look for another house.

Screw them!

You can do better than that.

 

[desy]

Nope
Get it all hammered out now and in writing cause once the sale is final doing anything different will be a PITA.
Did you get them to fill out the disclosure paperwork?

 

[Electric Amish]

Unless the house is something special, move on.

amish

 

[Donuts]

Well that depends on if your getting a good deal on the house or not. If your paying market price then your on the right track. Keep pushing for what you want.

 

[skywhr]

It sounds within resason to me, they should replace the roof!
If the roof is only 10 years old it shouldnt need to be replaced.
What kind of roof is it?

 

[hammer01]

As a matter of fact the bank may not even loan on a house that is not livable (as a house with an 80% bad roof can be) so those folks should do as requested or you should walk.

 

[FettsBabe]

I would look for another house if they wouldn't accept your offer/deal. Have you put down your earnest money yet? If so, what limit did you set regarding backing out of the deal?

 

[visgf]

I would definately push to get them to pay for the roof. If not, oh well, there are probably better houses out there. If they want to sell it that bad, the $2000 for the new roof shouldn't even be an issue. If the house is selling for going market rate, $2000 should be an insignificant amount for them to pay. Good luck.

 

[GasX]

Don't get too emotionally attached to that house now. Wait until you move in. If they won't give you what you want, move on.

 

[Drekce]

Don't buy that house! They should pay for the roof. I have never heard of anyone taking the stove, the fridge maybe, but not the stove. Also, who has bushes that are meaningful to them? Dont buy that house.

 

[Raspewtin]

i say move on also, and your realtor should be fighting for you a little harder IMO. Maybe it's time to consider getting a tougher realtor. They are taking everything in the house, they know the roof needs to be replaced, they should do that w/o having to haggle.

 

[BeHeMOTH]

I left room to talk I just found out yesterday so the offer is in their lap, the bushes are from dead family members, which is not big deal to me and the house they are moving into doesn't have that stuff, plus I'll have a new fridge, stove etc before I would move in so that's not really an issue.

The roof is guessed at 10 years but my inspector said that could be older,but no leaks and solid built,but it's shingle. I talked to my morgage company about options and unless they replace it the deal is dead.

I like the house and I hate for a roof to stop the sale but I'm not going to pay for it period. I was just wondering if I was being petty.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Why won't their insurance cover it? The deductable should be minimal, shouldn't be a problem, cool thing about buying a house is that everything's negotiable. Offer to split the deductable... & they cover closing.

Wife & I just bought a house in Feb, told her for 2 years straight not to fall in love with a house, we bought the 1st one we looked @. I wanted it when we drove up to it for the walk through, wife fell for it when the front door opened.

 

[Cuppy888]

It sounds like you are set on this house. You seamed to have compromised alot with the current owner. I believe they should cover the cost of the roof replacement. Did that not get noticed in the inspection prior to signing a contract? Stick to your gunns and go for both since you let them take bushes.

 

[xraymongral]

See if there is a warrenty offered with the house, if so, see if it will replace the roof.

But it is really up to them to either have the roof fixed, or knock the price of a roof off the cost of the house. By the way, you will have to tearoff the old roof to the sheating(plywood), there may be some spots that need to be replaced, also inspect the trusses/rafters to make sure there are no soft spots.

So, get a high bid to present to them. It will be way over $2000 to have the roof redone properly.

Edit, also use cost to relandscape as a bargaining point. And the cost of new appliances.

 

[TheGameIs21]

You are being VERY reasonable! Your demands (I would demand it too) might break the deal on their side but so be it. You don't want to get into a large debt knowing that there will be more $$ to spend in the near future (Unless it is a fix-r-upper).

 

[visgf]

Oops, misunderstood what the agreement was. Please disregard the previous post.

 

[rahvin]

Nobody takes the stove, it along with the dishwasher is considered part of the house. The fridge and washer/dryer are normally taken with but my gawd you are dealing with some strange people if they are taking the stove. I really hope you have priced stoves so you understand the cost you are bearing by letting them take it.

 

[BeHeMOTH]

It's a solid house but the roof was the only bad thing really, everything else was stuff I could do myself nothing major. Their is a warranty but it doesn't cover the roof already looked at the option. I've tried to help now it's just up to them. Guess we will see sometime this week.

If not me the next person will ask the same I'm sure.

 

[Rio Rebel]

If the roof is in seriously bad shape, you have every right to expect them to cover it.

However, if I were the homeowner and I thought my roof was in okay condition, and someone said "the roof is 80% gone, you have to pay for it" I'd say go to hell.

This is not clear-cut. You might consider a compromise. If they pay half, and you pay half, you would be out another $1000 but you'd have a brand new roof.

I know you feel you have made a legitimate offer. I bet they feel the same way. Neither of you want to shell out another $2000. If it's a $60,000 home, I can understand you holding firm. But if it's a $150,000 home, and you really like it, AND it's a good deal, I would at least consider a compromise before you walked on it.

 

[Rio Rebel]

One more thing - (if you don't mind some unsolicited advice)

IGNORE what your realtor says about what the sellers will accept. Once you've found a home, and an offer is made, it becomes a THREE team game - you, the seller, and the realtors. They want the sell to be completed, and 95% of the time both will try to convince their clients to accept the other's offer, regardless of your interests.

When we bought our most recent home, our realtor kept telling us to accept the problems we found, that "new homes aren't perfect", "walls aren't always straight", etc. She convinced us that the seller (who in this case is also the developer) "doesn't come down on the price...he sets the price low and doesn't budge." Then by the time we discovered that his sale price was almost full appraised value, we were too far along in the process to back out.

And the house we sold was the same thing from the other direction. Our realtor tried to stick us with all sorts of repair charges just to get the sale completed.

I don't know why people trust realtors so much - from my experience, they are as shifty as car dealers or lawyers.

 

[Moonbeam]

One thing people don't seem to realize is that the realtor works for the seller, not the buyer. It's important to keep that in mind. Everything is negociable and there is no such thing as reasonable, or if you wish, what is negociated is what's mutually reasonable

 

[visgf]

Also, the realtor will not even tell the seller about any deal you may want to make if it may decrease the selling amount of the house. Usually, the realtor takes a certain percentage of the final selling price, so if the seller lowers the price, the realtor gets less.

 

[FettsBabe]

The best thing is to have a realtor working for you too. Your realtor (works for you) and the other realtor (works for the seller). They cut the %. Or at least that the Real Estate Law in NC. But it differs from state to state.

**If they do say they will fix the roof - please make sure that you know who they are having fix it and make sure they are reliable!