Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

We are looking at a house that is a complete gut renovation and may have some expensive issues...but it's a bargain for the area and a ton of property. We have the cash to fix it up, we just don't know the order we should go in or which experts to come assess the issues. We would want to expand the home after buying it and there could be drainage issues in the basement.

--Do we first get an inspection (before putting in an offer at all, in case the issues are too grave)?

--Do we call a civil engineer, an architect, a contractor??

Just don't know what to do first to make sure we know what we're dealing with.

Thanks!

Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Most of the time an inspection is done after an offer is made and accepted (before going into contract). Our inspector was an engineer.

Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Inspection comes after the offer. Once you and the seller agree on an offer, you schedule the inspection. Then contracts are signed. You can drop out anytime up until contracts are signed.

Re: Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

You can ask the owners if you can bring in a general contractor to look at the house with you, before you even make an offer. The owner doesn't have to say yes, but it never hurts to ask.

And as the PPs said, you don't get an inspection until you have an offer accepted.

To me, it sounds like at a minimum you need an inspector and a GC to look at the house before you go into contracts. And are you working with a buyer's agent? They should be able to help you navigate these waters.

Re: Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Yes, as others have said, you should make an offer first before you invest in inspections. What if you can't agree on price? Then, the condition of the home is moot, and you've spent money on an inspection! Plus, I don't think any seller would agree to have their home inspected by someone who does not yet have an accepted offer.

If you do come to terms (on price, timing, etc.) and get an accepted offer, then you can schedule an inspection asap. If you don't like the results of the inspection, you don't go to contract. You just withdraw your offer (which is the reason why you do the inspection before you go to contract. because as others have said, once you sign the contract, you are committed to the purchase and have part of your down payment at stake).

If you have no idea what to even offer, because you are concerned about the cost of doing some work, you can have someone come in to look and give estimates. I've had that happen before. However, you should always have your agent ask the listing agent if that would be ok with the sellers. I've never had anyone say no, but it is common courtesy to ask first. For example, I've had people want to bring in contractors to find out if they can remove walls and that type of thing before they want to make an offer, and that is like a two minute consult. If the seller wants to sell the home, they are usually open to this type of thing. But if the seller is there, and you haven't even made an offer, you don't want to bring a parade of specialists through to examine the home for hours, you know?

Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

If it really needs a gut renovation and you don't know much about this stuff... are you sure this is the house for you?

At a minimum, I'd get a contractor to look at the house with you to give an idea as to what things cost.

the problem with inspectors in a situation like this...
1) you're talking about replacing a significant amount of the interior in the plumbing and electric as well as windows, probably siding and who knows what else. The inspector can create a laundry list of crap that is dated old etc that you are planning on replacing anyway. And these aren't real negotiation points b/c the house is priced and your offer should be figuring that you're redoing these things. I'm not saying don't get one, but it should be telling you a lot of stuff you already know.

I guess my point is, if you get someone in after the offer, say you offer $400K and figure it costs $80K to do what you want. The contractor tells you after you offered that it will cost $160K....... now what? are you going to go back and say "I thought it would be cheaper to renovate." The house is in the same condition before and after. I think you should get an idea what renovations cost before offering b/c you could be offering high and then end up with a surprise later.

Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Also make sure if you need a mortgage you are able to get one on the house. If it is a true gut you might need to get a rehab loan and not a traditional mortgage.

Re: Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Re: Clueless Homebuyer - Help!!

Thanks for all your input!

We are debating whether the project is worth the headache. But it's a huuuge piece of property in a great location, who things that you cannot change, so we are thinking we could deal with renos for 1 year for the long term.

We'll see. The home is habitable but there could be black mold in the basement, which is scaring us and don't know what that would cost to fix. The sellers need to give us a little more info...they said they had an expert down there but we want to see an official report saying it's clear of mold.