On Wednesday afternoon, both the foundation specialist and the pool company went out to conduct more detailed inspections of the foundation and pool problems. Our realtor met them both there.
The news was devastating! The foundation guy said the foundation has shifted 4 inches from the front to the back of the house! So if you set a ball down on the floor, it would just keep rolling! Ugh. They allow a variance of 1 inch around there and consider that normal, so 4 inches indicates a significant problem. He said they would need to insert 24 piers/pilings to support the foundation along the whole front of the house, one on the interior, and two under the concrete of the pool decking, which would require them to break up the concrete of the pool and the interior floor and then repair that, too. Then they insert a hydraulic jack to hoist the foundation and level the house. The estimated cost was $11,000!!!
Oh, my gosh, am I ever glad I hired a home inspector!
And the pool guy cited tons of problems with the pool and equipment. He said the pool lights aren’t working, the pool heater isn’t working (and what good is a spa without a heater?!?), there was a leak around the main motor, the plumbing was bizarre, there are some loose and uneven bricks around the perimeter, it’s not grounded so it could cause electrocution in the pool, the covers on the returns aren’t safe (could suck someone’s hair in and cause them to drown), and the pool’s surface is at its end of life and will need to be resurfaced soon (at a cost of $4,000). The list goes on!
Obviously, we don’t want to buy a money pit, because we will have drained our entire savings by the time we pay out the cash to close and the cost of moving our stuff. And I couldn’t imagine the sellers were prepared for this news, either. So needless to say, I was more than a little bit stressed at the idea that this whole deal could totally fall through.
There were so many things wrong with this house that we decided to only ask for the major things to be repaired…things that would be deal breakers if they weren’t resolved by the sellers. We expected there to be a bunch of smaller issues anyway, being as this house is 41 years old already. So we asked our realtor to propose that the sellers will repair the foundation problems, repair the mechanical issues with the pool equipment, and replace the cracked library window (which wouldn’t pass the VA inspection).
I really had trouble sleeping that night. I kept waking up. In fact, I lost 2.5 pounds in 2 days from the stress! But the next morning, our realtor called me firs thing with the seller’s response: they will replace the broken window, repair the mechanical problems with the pool equipment, and on the foundation, they asked us to extend our active option period until Thursday of next week for $1 so that they would have time to hire a structural engineer to assess what needs to be done to the foundation at their expense. So on Friday morning, the realtor sent us an addendum to the contract to extend the option period. I got the impression that the sellers intend to do whatever the engineer recommends, so at this point, it seems we still have a potential deal here.
However, I’m holding off my lender until we have a signed contract addendum detailing the repairs they agree to make. I have a bunch of signed paperwork I was supposed to get to my lender several days ago, but I’m delaying until our option period expires next week. One of the forms is an intent to proceed with the loan for this property. Once I turn that over, the lender will start ordering an appraisal and the VA inspection, and I will begin to incur costs from the lender that I’d be responsible to pay whether the deal went through or not. So we’re in a bit of a holding pattern right now. I realize that the delay will potentially/likely delay the closing date, but at this point, it just can’t be helped.
So if you think of us this week, please keep us in your prayers! I really hope that everything works out, but in all things may His will be done! I know He has a plan for us, and I anxiously anticipate where it will lead us!
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