Buying our first house!

[Taosman]

Wife and I are attempting to buy another home and move out of the wonderful city of Chicago to the burbs. Offer got accepted last Friday. Had the inspection today and I am ready to walk away if they dont fix some issues. Its incredible how deflated you become when the inspector shows you all the issues with the house you think is perfect. Given we hired probably the toughest inspector in Chicago, his report for the home in question was 110 pages! The major issues I am seeking the seller to fix are:

1. HVAC issues, the upstairs is not getting any heat. During the rehab the contractor ripped out a bunch of air ducts and who knows how he attempted to get the air to the second floor. Whatever he did, is not working. The upstairs was 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. This is absolute deal breaker if not fixed.
2. So they installed a full bath in the basement, without pulling permits. The bathroom is nowhere near code. They have the plumbing vent exiting through the side of the foundation. Code states all plumbing vents must terminate above the roof. Im mixed on if I would walk away because of this issue.
3. Majority of the electrical outlets are not grounded properly. I would want these all brought up to code.
4. For some reason they didnt install any smoke or CO2 detectors.
5. One of the living room windows has a crack in the glass. Must be replaced.
6. Credit for insulation to be upgraded. The inspector stated we only have about 0-5 inches of insulation in the attic. Also one of the bedrooms has ZERO insulation on one wall. You should see the thermal image of that wall. ICE blue.
7. Replace/Credit for Garage door opener, which doesnt work.

Anyone have thoughts? Am I asking for too much?

House needs too much work and with so many houses on the market, I know you can find something better.
It's a buyers market right now with many houses long on the market and incredible finance rates.
So why bother with one with so many issues?

I have owned 3 homes and a condo.
My first house was a small raised ranch that was a model for a small development. Bought new.
Second home was a "dream house", I went all out as a long term investment.
Passive solar, open floor plan. Wooded, secluded lot. Did a lot of carpentry, myself. mortgage was 17%.....yes, 17%!!!!!
On retirement we moved west to.....
Taos, New Mexico. Bought a small, very traditional Santa Fe style adobe house.(built in 1996) And a million dollar view.
An important part of any home purchase is the neighborhood you buy in. It can make all the difference! A great community is a blessing that keeps on giving!

 

[Merih]

I'll be back in this thread soon enough. Thinking of turning my savings into an investment opportunity before the market recovers and rates return.

 

[NewYorkBuck]

I'll be back in this thread soon enough. Thinking of turning my savings into an investment opportunity before the market recovers and rates return.

Dont want to turn this into a economics/political discourse, but if rates is the trade your playing, now's the time. We are still hovering around historic lows. The Fed is going to try to keep them there as long as they can. However, as we continue to issue debt and debase, sooner or later the market is going to demand more for USTs, regardless of what the Fed does. Since most other domestic financial instruments are based in one way or another off of an X maturity federal debt instrument, as USTs rise, so rises mortgage rates. Long story short, once interest rates start to rise, I'd be surprised we saw another 30 yr conforming rate w a 3 handle any time in the next 30 years.

On the flip side, as rates rise, that lowers a potential buyers purchasing power and commensurately digs into the price of the house, so its all not roses....

 

[Merih]

Dont want to turn this into a economics/political discourse, but if rates is the trade your playing, now's the time. We are still hovering around historic lows. The Fed is going to try to keep them there as long as they can. However, as we continue to issue debt and debase, sooner or later the market is going to demand more for USTs, regardless of what the Fed does. Since most other domestic financial instruments are based in one way or another off of an X maturity federal debt instrument, as USTs rise, so rises mortgage rates. Long story short, once interest rates start to rise, I'd be surprised we saw another 30 yr conforming rate w a 3 handle any time in the next 30 years.

On the flip side, as rates rise, that lowers a potential buyers purchasing power and commensurately digs into the price of the house, so its all not roses....

This has me rubbing my chin stubble. It's too bad I'm not quite ready to settle down in Columbus or I'd be all over a house here.

 

[buckeyebri]

It's funny this thread was at the top of the page because the girlfriend and I have been talking about buying a condo or house here in June when our lease is up at our apartment. Right now we have a very nice apartment in Northeast Ohio but I am paying out the ass for it and it's money I will never get back. Now that I have a career job here in Willoughby (just east of Cleveland) and am settling down I really want to stop flushing money down the toilet in overpriced rent and buy my own place. Everything going into this will be fixed solely on my income alone for numerous reasons, but since I am a first time buyer I really don't understand the process all that well. To kick things off, it's my understanding that I should be looking for an agent to help me find what I am looking for, but my question is what are the best ways to find an agent? I've read the best way to find a good agent is word of mouth from people who have recently purchased. By chance - does anyone have any agent referrals for the Northeast Ohio area where I am?

We have had a number of different realtors over the years buying and selling houses. I am always a fan of the referral because any good sales person knows how important that is. In this case though, we liked going to open houses and meeting realtors. It is a good chance to just have some conversations with the realtors and get a feel for whether they would be someone you want to work with. Remember they work for you.

Another advantage is just looking at places without having to have someone tag along with you. It is a great way to see things and get an idea for what you might like or not like in a home. We found it to be a good way to kill some time on the weekend after football season .

One last thing I would recommend when considering purchasing a house is to spend some time walking around the neighborhood or sitting in your car in the neighborhood to observe what it is like. Is it quiet, is there lots of traffic, is it hard to get in and out of the neighborhood, is there a hot neighbor, all good things to know. I swear you should be able to hang in the house for a few days and see how it feels when you spend that kind of money.

 

[Magua]

We have had a number of different realtors over the years buying and selling houses. I am always a fan of the referral because any good sales person knows how important that is. In this case though, we liked going to open houses and meeting realtors. It is a good chance to just have some conversations with the realtors and get a feel for whether they would be someone you want to work with. Remember they work for you.

Another advantage is just looking at places without having to have someone tag along with you. It is a great way to see things and get an idea for what you might like or not like in a home. We found it to be a good way to kill some time on the weekend after football season .

One last thing I would recommend when considering purchasing a house is to spend some time walking around the neighborhood or sitting in your car in the neighborhood to observe what it is like. Is it quiet, is there lots of traffic, is it hard to get in and out of the neighborhood, is there a hot neighbor, all good things to know. I swear you should be able to hang in the house for a few days and see how it feels when you spend that kind of money.

LOL, I like hot neighbor part - nice. It turns out my girlfriends grandma was a realtor (something he failed to mention throughout our entire discussion process) and has some close friends still in the business so she was going to connect us with a couple she felt we might like.

I do like the idea of open houses and taking a look around on our own time and terms without an agent tagging along.

I have a pretty good idea for what I am looking for now. We are both in our mid 20's and pretty career oriented right now. We don't PLAN on having kids anytime soon, and having a huge yard for me to maintain with what little free time I have is not something that interests me. I think for the time being we are looking at condos or small lot homes in a nice neighborhood. Perfect world we would live in this for 8-10 years before buying bigger or building our own home and then either selling or renting what we purchase now. Luckily there are a few neighborhoods close to us that meet our initial criteria from the outside looking in so we're going to start off and go from there.

 

[buckeyebri]

My wife and I have gotten tired of renting our house that we bought while living in NC. It has become a pain to deal with being so far away. We figure we are at a point that we can get out from under it with the right offer. We have had it on the market for close to five months at the same price we paid for it about 5 years ago and no offers. I dropped the price on it recently and just nothing happening at all. A few but just nothing.

I am about ready to ditch my realtor, who hasn't been much help at all in getting this sold. I have little faith in the realtors in that market to be honest. They know how to list a house, but they have no clue how to sell a house. Has anyone tried going through one of the house buying services? I am pretty leery of getting scammed by one, but I need someway to get this place sold.