Hullo from the "there be dragons here" area of MA

[Lily left the valley]

Holy cow, the second lino floor is cool! Not sure I'd want to live with it forever in a room like my kitchen but definitely cool!

The kitchen floor screams late 70s/80s to me though, no cool factor there. Thumbs pressed for your purchase!

I thought the lino in the knee attics were cool too! Next week we should be heading back inside to take some measurements, and I'm going to be brave in a few places and see what I can peel back and peek under/behind.

:thumbup: Hello and welcome to The Neighborhood! Good luck with your offer & hopefully things will go smoothly. This is all very exciting!!

It is exciting. I feel like I'm in a amusement park every day right now. There were some bits with the paperwork I wasn't real thrilled about, so we're meeting with a RE attorney to get a better sense of what Fannie Mae is likely to concede to or not if we dither. We had hoped to meet with them yesterday since spouse actually had off, but he was in court all day. So most likely Monday night we'll be officially handing over the contract. (We also didn't know the good faith had to be a bank check. ) The paperwork said they will not turn electric or water on for an inspection, but the electric was already on, and I still suspect the water works as well (and plan to find out when we go back.) Even though we didn't see anything obviously wrong, I don't want a partial inspection only to have to have the guy come back after we close just to test the plumbing and furnace. That just doesn't make sense to me at all. We're not expecting them to FIX things, we just want to know all the possible "Ohhhh..that's going to be expensive" things.

welcome to our wonderful neighborhood!!!
hope all goes well and you will soon be home owners in the state furniture capital of Massachusetts!! I live another hour plus west of you near greenfield...
...jade

Hey, neighbor! Hmm...now that I know where you are, at some point I might try to hit you up for a window lesson if you do such. I've done putty and points before, but that's as much as I've done with them so far.

[heartwood]

you are welcome anytime....413-six two five-8680.......

[Duffy666]

I'm trying not to have a heart attack. I just found out Fannie Mae's paperwork is 14 pages long, and a lot of it is standard, so it doesn't even apply to the house. Tomorrow is going to be a long sit down, I can see this already. (We're not getting a loan with them, they are the seller.)

I'm sure for the old hand buyers around here, this is nothing. To us, it's terrifying.

Sent out a fee request to an inspector I am hopeful about with some details about the home. Not sure what turnaround time is for such, so I thought the earlier the better.

So many lists I have on my desk right now. Sooo many.

Old house lady and I are in the same boat with Fannie may. Luckily for us all the paperwork is done online.
Still they do drag their feet, our once September 6th closing will now be postponed until October

[Lily left the valley]

you are welcome anytime....{snip}

Thankies. I've written your info in my sketchbook.

Old house lady and I are in the same boat with Fannie may. Luckily for us all the paperwork is done online.
Still they do drag their feet, our once September 6th closing will now be postponed until October

Our closing is currently set for Oct. 14th, but I'm braced for pushbacks given the research I did on foreclosed homes. Our mortgage is through our bank (CRA affordable), but Fannie owns the home.

The only good news from what I read is the home is post foreclosure. Fannie bought it from Wells Fargo. So at least we don't have the pre or during foreclosure headaches. Our lease ends April 30th, so we're not in a rush given our rent includes heat, so we've been paying into that without using it for four months now. They can make us hurry up and wait all they want.

Did they give you any trouble about utilities for inspection? They had a clause in ours about not turning them on, and we had a counter for having them available for full inspection. (We didn't want to do two inspections, and everyone says we'd be insane not to have an inspection before buying.) The electric was on when we were there. I also suspect the water isn't winterized because it's not signed as winterized homes are (every sink has a note on it). Just the toilet was wrapped with a handwritten notice. I've seen such before, and it's usually because a maintenance company for the owner doesn't want visitors viewing to use the toilet--not that the plumbing is actually winterized.

We're not looking for them to do repairs, we'd just like to have the one inspection, and so we can budget properly if there are issues with plumbing.

[Duffy666]

you are welcome anytime....{snip}

Thankies. I've written your info in my sketchbook.

Old house lady and I are in the same boat with Fannie may. Luckily for us all the paperwork is done online.
Still they do drag their feet, our once September 6th closing will now be postponed until October

Our closing is currently set for Oct. 14th, but I'm braced for pushbacks given the research I did on foreclosed homes. Our mortgage is through our bank (CRA affordable), but Fannie owns the home.

The only good news from what I read is the home is post foreclosure. Fannie bought it from Wells Fargo. So at least we don't have the pre or during foreclosure headaches. Our lease ends April 30th, so we're not in a rush given our rent includes heat, so we've been paying into that without using it for four months now. They can make us hurry up and wait all they want.

Did they give you any trouble about utilities for inspection? They had a clause in ours about not turning them on, and we had a counter for having them available for full inspection. (We didn't want to do two inspections, and everyone says we'd be insane not to have an inspection before buying.) The electric was on when we were there. I also suspect the water isn't winterized because it's not signed as winterized homes are (every sink has a note on it). Just the toilet was wrapped with a handwritten notice. I've seen such before, and it's usually because a maintenance company for the owner doesn't want visitors viewing to use the toilet--not that the plumbing is actually winterized.

We're not looking for them to do repairs, we'd just like to have the one inspection, and so we can budget properly if there are issues with plumbing.

Yes, they tried to give us a hard time about utilities but myself being a home inspector and the fact that I have a Realtor that knows his stuff and goes the extra mile. We got them to agree to turn on the electric and water but we did have to sign a waiver that stated they are not responsible for any repairs. Which is something we already knew.

I have performed a lot of inspections where the buyer actually had the utilities turned on in their name just for the inspection...not the best scenario but it was the only recourse to be able to have a full home inspection performed.

[Lily left the valley]

Yes, they tried to give us a hard time about utilities but myself being a home inspector and the fact that I have a Realtor that knows his stuff and goes the extra mile. We got them to agree to turn on the electric and water but we did have to sign a waiver that stated they are not responsible for any repairs. Which is something we already knew.

I have performed a lot of inspections where the buyer actually had the utilities turned on in their name just for the inspection...not the best scenario but it was the only recourse to be able to have a full home inspection performed.

Good things to know. Thanks for sharing the info! We might be able to word the counter so that the waiver step can be skipped, but at least we know now to ask for it if not.

[Lily left the valley]

Yes, they tried to give us a hard time about utilities but myself being a home inspector and the fact that I have a Realtor that knows his stuff and goes the extra mile. We got them to agree to turn on the electric and water but we did have to sign a waiver that stated they are not responsible for any repairs. Which is something we already knew.

Just talked to our mortgage agent and our realtor, and that form isn't what I thought it might be, so please disregard. I did some research, and I'm wondering, did you use the PIW? (Property Inspection Waiver) Or was it another standard waiver I just haven't found? (It might also have been a non-standard, I'm realizing.) It seems to waive the appraisal if I'm reading it right. I'm going to ask our mortgage agent about it today.
When we spoke to our realtor yesterday, he had gotten something similar (regarding repairs) inserted into the offer itself, except Fannie Mae did have to do the repairs. The was from a sale he was the Buyer's Agent for some time ago, so I think the PIW was made to replace such things happening again, as it seems a recent addition from the Fannie Mae site.

[Don M]

Why would you want to waive the property inspection? Granted an inspection can't reveal everything wrong with the property but it sure can give a good idea of things that are obviously wrong & if the inspector is good, also give you an idea the anticipated costs to make repairs.

[Lily left the valley]

Why would you want to waive the property inspection? Granted an inspection can't reveal everything wrong with the property but it sure can give a good idea of things that are obviously wrong & if the inspector is good, also give you an idea the anticipated costs to make repairs.

We actually don't. That was the closest I came to form wise after searching for an hour through Fannie Mae documents. I got confused because of a clause that made it seem that we would only be deferring inspection rather than canceling it wholesale.

What we want is for all systems on, but were willing to waive Fannie Mae being required to repair so long as we could walk without losing our earnest if the repair costs were higher than we were willing to cover.

That dance around is moot anyway because I just spoke to both our mortgage agent and updated our realtor a few moments ago. Our bank will not appraise a home without all systems being operational, and the home must be appraised as part of the process. There's no wiggle room there. So either the Selling Agent has to back off, or this home is going to be a wash.

The mortgage agent did say he didn't think it'd be an issue. He says he sees this all the time where it's written in and later removed. As I mentioned, we didn't even have a chance to give them our initial offer before the Selling Agent sent that tome over, so we're skipping one counter early this way I suppose.

I guess they leave it in there for folks who don't read what they sign.

[Don M]

Yes it's clearly in your & the bank's best interests to have all systems working & the bank darn sure isn't going to lend money on a property without being sure it's worth loan value.