I'm buying a house.

[ohiopiper]

So now it's looking pretty grim.

The appraiser has tacked on a list of things that have either been previously addressed or should be non-issues. Five in total. Two of them concern an old barn that needs paint. The garage was not included in the appraisal of the house value because it is an "outbuilding". Then what the @#$% is a barn? A spare dining room maybe? Sheesh. Some people.

The other two issues have already been inspected by the guy I hired (rather than the fool hired by the v.a.) and determined to be alright. I'm submitting his report for "evidence" in my case to have all this stuff taken from the equation.

[ohiopiper]

Update: Barn is painted and closing set for next Monday!

[piperdbh]

A few years ago, the inspectors and appraisers would approve just about anything, but not no more. The Mrs. and I bought a house in Novemeber, and there were all kinds of silly obstacles.

Make sure you carry your Mrs. across the threshold, preferably kilted! And get somebody to take pictures.

[Pleater]

I remember watching a co-worker reading a copy of the report on the house he was selling, which the buyer's mortgage lender's wanted him to fix before the money could be advanced. His wife had opened it and brought it over to the factory for him to see.

Apparently there was woodworm and dry rot in windowsills and flooring of the front room.

The windowsills and the floor were both concrete.

He went home at lunchtime to phone the relevant people - I wish I'd been there to hear just half of the conversations.

Oh the fun and games there can be in the acquisition of property, but at least once it is done and the first flurry of painting and decorating is over things tend to settle down.

May you be able to sit and reminisce about the appraisal due to it being the last significantly problematic thing in the ownership of the property.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Pyper]

Update: Barn is painted and closing set for next Monday!

Congrats!

Wife and I closed on a new house a couple months ago. It was built in the early 1970s and still has the original oven (in Harvest Gold). I get a kick out of it because the nameplate reads "Frigidair -- Made by General Motors".

Ours was part of an estate, and the bank did all the heavy lifting before they put it on the market. We've been putting in some ceiling fans and so forth, and refinishing the (original) kitchen cabinets. There's a guy going to blow insulation in the attic next week.

Anyway, we're about ready to move into it and put the other one on the market. It's both exciting and scary to have two at once.

[kc8ufv]

Good luck on the new house.

[bigdad1]

Congratulations to you and Kim. The only advice I offer is to be there when the home inspector is there and make sure he goes over everything that might or can break. Then when/if problems are found take a hard look to see how easily they can be corrected. Far better to find most everything now than to be rudely surprised in a year.
Best of luck and lots of happiness.

[ohiopiper]

I've not yet heard the resutls of the inspectiion done this afternoon, but it should have gone off without a hitch. All he was supposed to do was sign off that we had the barn painted, wondow sills painted and the other issues he brought up addressed. This was all done.

There were two inspectors involved, one I hired myself and one the V.A. sent out. The one i hired was a pro. Walked me through the whole house and checked everything over. His inspection was for my benefit only, had nothing to do with the V.A..

The second guy involved was sent out by the V.A. and is a real hack. He made issues out of thin air and was very inconsistent in how he chose to evaluate things. After we get closed and settled, I'm going to contact the V.A. and see what I can do to get him off the list of approved V.A. inspectors. He's supposed to be evaluating a home based on the interests of the buyer and the V.A. who is backing the loan. This guy just manufactured problems needlessly and held up the process. I'm pretty sure this isn't the type of service the V.A. is interested in providing for veterans.

[ohiopiper]

The second inspection went off well. Closing is happening this coming week and we plan to be moved by the end of June. I don;t want to pay both rent AND house payment.