I still think the house is going to be the best we'll ever get in terms of space, size, accessibility, and price. We won't do better. It's in a nice neighborhood. But this time we crawled through the overgrown shrubs (that need ripped out) to get good looks in the windows, and there is going to be some serious negotiation before we buy this house. For one thing, whoever lived there last left some junk in the basement and junky furniture in the living spaces. Damn if that's my job to clean it out. The big problem that will probably make or break the deal, though, is the roof. The husbeast thinks it looks like the roof settled, meaning structural problems. Since he spends his days inspecting for structural problems, I won't argue with him. What worries me is, the roof has been patched. Sometimes roofs get patched because shingles were blown off during storms. But more often, roofs get patched because the roof has been leaking and the owner was too broke or too stupid to get the whole thing replaced. This may come down to "replace the roof and we'll buy it". Whether they will do that depends entirely on how desperate they are to sell this house, and that we don't know.
The good news is we are going to buy the house with a Veteran's Association loan, and the VA requires all houses to be inspected before they'll authorize the loan. So if the roof is bad, we'll have the VA backing us up with the whole 'replace the roof' situation.
I still have hope, but we'll continue looking.
---
In our apartment, Sekhmet has finally figured out how to get into the window:
She's using the husbeast's pillow as a launch pad, which thrills him to no end.
In the afternoons, when the husbeast comes home from work, I will occasionally go hide out in our bedroom, reading. It's kind of cozy to lay in bed reading, with the cat snoring above my head. It's also kind of funny.
9 comments:
Wishing you all the best on the house. I hope everything works out. Could you get a VA loan and the 8000$ home buyer credit if the house were to fall into place by the end of the month?
There still are lots of houses out there if this one doesn't pan out. But I hope it does!!
Cat snores ar so comforting.
Cats snore?!? I didn't know that. Hmm.
Good luck on the house hunt. If it's meant to be, it'll happen. Beware the sagging roof! We spent our vacation money, every cent of it, on new sheathing and shingles. It was hard when every second customer was on their way to the tropics but it'll be a good idea in the long run when the ceilings don't fall in.
Hey, what's the Goob up to these days?
A bad roof is a big deal - if it has been leaking for long, there could be some serious damage under there! I'm glad you have the husbeast who knows what to look for!
We just had ours replaced last fall, and I am so happy! (It had needed doing for a long time, but every time I asked my husband "when are we going to replace the roof?" he would say "when it fails." So finally it did. A 2-layer tear off and some ridge vents later, I am thrilled that I don't have to run to find buckets every time it rains anymore!)
Good luck on the house--and it's always good to have someone who's got your back!
YAY for VA Loans. We used one to buy our house.
The only issue we had was the seller's agent. He was a pompous @ssweasel who INSISTED that using a VA loan REQUIRED us to provide a major pantload of paperwork. In the 1970s, yes that was true. Now? No--the VA no longer requires all that documentation. It took phone calls from legal counsel to convince him otherwise.
Other than the ID10T f**wad, navigating the VA loan was GREAT!
Good luck!
:)
Phyllis
Put it into the contract that house is to be left broom-clean and free of clutter. That's standard in most places.
Hope you get it.
Ah, roofs. ("Roof! Roof!")
Yeah, we finally had a complete tear-off done on ours last year and the sheathing replaced. What a relief to have all that done.
Keeping my fingers crossed that they jump in and offer to fix the roof AND remove junky stuff for you. I'm still seeing tons of houses for sale around us. I never want to move again!!! Sekmet looks SO relaxed!
Post a Comment