Sounds like we are looking at $60-75K possibly. There go their unrealistic proceeds expectations! Oh, it is just a crack. No, it is a massive $$$ sucking crevasse!
Whoa. Are you going to walk?
You really did dodge a bullet on this one, and the sellers are going to be kicking themselves for years for not having accepted your offer.
The cost for engineering report is about $800 since my agent has ordered many engineering reports before. She says it doesn’t matter if lots of issues or no issues. Its a flat fee. Permits probably about $1,000 because the City just depends on repair list in engineering report. The repair quote is worst case. I would budget about $2,000 to remove tall tree. The unknown is drainage because if engineering report determines that the new City sewer line trench caused the settling then I am in a can of worms.
I had a discussion with Listing Agent and forwarded the report. He feels that the Sellers are in total denial and this will drag out to the point that there will be a Court Order to sell property for the divorce case but it will be several months.
Ohh, and I officially requested that we be allowed to pull up carpet over bad slab area and he says that Sellers will probably refuse. I have no idea how they think they are going to sell the house.
Sounds like a nightmare! Where are all of the houses with just some outdated carpet, some ugly wallpaper and maybe outdated kitchens and baths that just could use a little sprucing up?
Ummmmm – that would be my house.
ETA: The sellers will ultimately sell because another buyer will not be as suspicious and savvy as coralbrook. So they’ll have no idea what they’re getting into.
CB. Since you have forwarded this report to the sellers’ agent…wouldn’t that agent bear some liability of this issue is not disclosed? What if someone does buy…and then finds the issue…and then uses the same company. Any chance the new buyers could come after someone for non-disclosure?
At this point the Sellers have been officially notified of all the issues and they legally have to disclose everything. The Listing Agent has to legally disclose also. However, since I paid for the inspection (I didn’t but they don’t know that) I have requested that the report not be made available to other potential buyers, just the lawyers and Seller.
The sellers will have a different value of their home than I do. In their minds the house is worth $650k and repairs are $60k so someone should pay $590k for their house. They don’t understand that it will snowball with all other repairs needed once house is torn apart. Most importantly, there is a very small group of buyers who are willing to take the risk and deal with months of work. Even most flippers wont touch it.
I wish I could buy something structurally sound and just do cosmetic updates. But unfortunately that is what every other investor is looking for and they will offer high for those properties. I get out bid in every one of those situations. They are looking for a slam dunk and will ram through it with cheap upgrades, they use in house agents to reduce selling commissions and they have quantity over quality for profit margin. I have to go for properties no one else wants.
Although that Guizot hoarder mess brought heavy competition 
CB do you ever watch Flip or Flop with Tarek and Christina on HGTV (in Orange County)? They seem to be the winning bidder on every house they choose and then despite unexpected problems, they complete the flip within 30-45 days at a nice $50k-$100k profit.
Madison, I take the information shared on Flip or Flop with a grain of salt. They are in the business to gain ratings, not to share accurate information.
Yes, ive seen it. I’m guessing they don’t show all the properties they didn’t get. Most likely they get a house and then film a fake sequence leading up to the sale.
Their margins are getting much smaller than when they started.
Flip or Flop is one of my favorite shows since I live in Orange County. There have been quite a few episodes, at least in earlier seasons, that at the time of airing the property had not sold. I keep hoping they will go back and update us on what happened. You figure they flip a lot of houses, and show just the most dramatic. Also, using the show format that they do, they are only going to show us the auctions they win. I don’t think as many houses are being auctioned off any more. I don’t think any from the new season have been at auction.
No way in the world they can “win” so many houses at the steps. It just don’t happen. I have a friend who buy houses as a living at the steps, they operate both in LA and Orange counties, they probably could net one house every 6 month, mostly in a year.
I have been to many auctions at the steps, most posted sales were canceled or sold to the bank who is holding the mortgage.
CB, there are three foreclosures in my neighborhood primed for flipping! So sorry you are on the other coast…I could get you to fix my house while you’re at it!
In their earlier seasons the only auctions they were standing at were some kind of private type auction. They were not standing at the courthouse steps, they were outside the house or at some private auction house. Very few other bidders around. This leads me to believe that all of the purchase sequences on the show are faked “after the fact” of the actual purchase. It would be way too expensive and fruitless to follow these people around all day just in case they get something at one of the auctions. The reality is it took me 4 weeks, I’m up to #17 or so and I still havent bought anything.
I had read an article about how House Hunters on HGTV is faked. The buyers already have made on offer that was accepted. Two other homes are then added to the mix for show.
That makes a lot of sense because it would be very time consuming to follow people around looking at houses. Its impossible to believe that home buyers looked at only 3 houses in one day and decided to buy one of them. What I find interesting is how Sellers would let them film in their houses that are for sale.
When DH and I have looked for a house to buy – twice in our life, so far – we’ve looked at a heck of a lot more than three houses.
I find it amusing also that when the couples are discussing which house to buy, they often acknowledge the compromises they’ll have to make with each house. That’s realistic, but sometimes I want to shout at them, “Just keep looking!!”
CB, the other two houses are usually homes of friends of theirs. Legitimate houses for sale don’t want to be filmed. And Madison, you are correct in that the house has already been purchased. That is a prerequisite to be on the show. The house with no furniture in it is the house they “choose”.
Also, CB is right in that the filming of the auction on Flip or Flop is faked.