Property Disclosures

During the first look at the house I was told that the Seller was not "disclosing" anything about the house. I don't remember exactly what my reaction to that was, but lets just say my agent knew I didn't like that statement. (I'm kind of know for being a pretty open book and would be a terrible poker player.) He explained North Carolina' s Property Disclosure to me and how this Seller had chosen the "No Representation" option on that form probably because it was rental and they hadn't actually lived in the house...that kind of thing.

North Carolina definitely needs to take a look at this form and correct something here.

Other interesting links on this matter...
Residential Property Disclosure Classroom
North Carolina Property Disclosure Form and Instructions

General Contractor's Visit

Rain, rain, go away......
I finally got the call and we went to meet "our" General Contractor Chris at the house. It was just a light to medium sprinkling of rain at the time, but just enough to be annoying. We showed Chris all the home inspection report and termite inspection report that had been prepared and explained the situation to him. We also told him what areas we were really concerned about and wanted him to concentrate on....mainly the crawl space area and wood damaged area over the garage door. Chris then began his accessment of the situation. I should have taken a picture of him when he reemerged from the crawl space because that photo would have truely told the story. His comment was "There's alot of water under there." He looked like everyone else I had seen come out of that crawl space. The front of his pants were wet from just about his knees down, and 1/2 of the front of his shirt was wet. (Remember there is a vapor barrier of plastic on top of the ground so that is what he was crawling on) The good news, I suppose, is that Chris said that he didn't think that water was coming from any kind of "leak" because it was "too widespread." We discussed several ideas about sources for the water and could really come up with nothing but the broad term "moisture" that is evidently used. Chris decided that he needed to talk to his Heating & Air man and get back with us. He explained that people in the Heating & Air Conditioning field are the "moisture" experts and that he would be the one to tell us if it really was a moisture problem or not. This might mean that another site visit would be required by another expert. (Most human bodies have never seen this many specialist)

During this whole process, I had noticed some neighbors outside on their front porch. Each time I visit the area I was always paying attention to people in the area, and I had been intending on talking to some of the neighbors and now was the perfect time. So I walked over, introduced myself and asked if I could ask a few questions. Of course they agreed and were very friendly. I was really only interested in knowing if they had any "moisture" problems with their house, but I ended up gathering alot of info. No, they didn't have any problems with moisture but their house had a moisture barrier under it when they bought it. The wife asked me was there a termite problem because "the termite company had been out there for 3 or 4 days." (Must have been while installing the moisture barrier and doing the termite treatment) They also told me several things I already knew, such as the house had been a rental for awhile, and that "one guy had done some things himself" to it. They asked was the AC working because they knew that they didn't have any AC over there for a couple of months and had to do something to the ducts or something. That would explain 2 situations - the reason that some ducts look newer than others, and the fact that there is no flashing around the outside of the gas pack. It always pays to talk to the neighbors and particularly in this case!

I found a very good article that discusses moisture problems in crawlspaces and various ways that it is dealt with. This is a serious matter and one that requires some thought. After we hear from Chris and what he has to say, we will sit down with our agent and come up with what to do next. I do believe that the Seller should make some repairs to things that were "discovered" during the inspections, but as to coming up with a list at the moment, that will just have to wait. I am certain the Seller won't mind since our Offer to Purchase was totally ignored for a full week, withdraw, and then resubmitted before it was accepted.

More Inspections Needed

Today is the day
"Our" General Contractor will take a look at what the our Home Inspection and Termite Inspections turned up. We also are going to need an estimate on what it cost for a dehumidifying system for the crawl space. This is really starting to add up and we haven't even touched anything but paper reports yet! It is also necessary for an Electrician to give us an estimate to correct the screw-up with the "double-tapping" on the electric panel. U.S. Inspect mentions on their website...

"Double or triple tapping is normally prohibited, both by local jurisdictional requirements and the National Electric Code (NEC)."

Business Background Search

I want to know who I am dealing with too!
Sometimes you are faced with dealing with a business of one type or another, that you know little to nothing about. The Department of the Secretary of State in each individual State is responsible for keeping up with the corporations and various other forms of businesses operating in their state. Thanks to the Internet these days many have websites with searchable listings available on line that give can yield valuable starting information. North Carolina's Department of Secretary of State is a good example of what kind of information can be gathered about a business from these types of listings. I would also check with the state's Attorney General office to see if they have a file on the business, and with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) too.

Termite Tunnel "Super Highway"

Termites...bad...but not uncommon
Ever seen a termite tunnel before? Well, if you would be the one that could be paying for the buffet damage, you really should know your enemy. If you ever saw a termite swarm I guarentee you won't forget it. I saw one last year in a trailer I was renting. (Yes I said a trailer) It looked like it was snowing! Only trouble was that it was August.

What you are looking at in these photos is the underside of the front porch of the house. Now if you live in North Carolina, or about anywhere in the South, and you really want to invite some termites to gobble up your home, the photo above left is a perfect demonstration. Install a simple WOOD HIGHWAY and they WILL come. An ad running on TV now for some doors & windows says they can eat "1000 lbs of wood a yr." That should easily open up your floor plan a good bit.

To see the rest of the photos taken during the Home Inspection check out the Rosewood Valley Photo Album.
(All photos are protected by US copyright law)

Satellite View of House

Satellite View of House
Isn't this great! It's amazing what we can do these days!!

Use Google Maps and see if you can find your house.

Great Info on Termites

Occassionally we do see the benefits of our tax dollars in something that is really productive and not just silly and wastefull. Such is the case with many of the websites available here in NC either from NC State University or this one from the NC Department of Agriculture...

"Wood, paper, cardboard and other cellulose debris under or against a structure increases the risk of termite infestation. Similarly, wood supports, fence posts etc. in contact with the soil and the structure present an easy access for termite entry. Regardless of what treatment options are used, these items should be corrected. Debris must be removed and wood /soil contacts should be broken. Termites thrive in moist environments and can survive above ground in excessively wet wood. Correcting plumbing and roof leaks and other defects contributing to such conditions is imperative. Increasing ventilation in the crawlspace, adding rain gutters, grading to direct surface water away from the house may be beneficial in resolving moisture conditions. Mechanical alteration/sanitation techniques alone are rarely sufficient to prevent or control a termite infestation."

Crawl Space "Moisture" and Termites

WHAT is that?
Yeah, we had never seen such a thing either. THAT is water droplets hanging from one of the floor joist under the house. The floor joist are large pieces of wood that support the floor. Let me back up a bit. Part of this "process" in buying the house is the Buyers' (that's us) right to inspect the property. Only an idiot would buy a house, especially an older one, without having it looked at to see what they were getting into. In our particular situation, the Seller, a "company" or someone acting on behalf of whoever owns the house, is choosing to disclose basically NO information on the house. It just happened that the day I went to see the house with our Realtor, a local termite company was at the house and obviously treating the house for termites. (More on all this later) Now was that fate or what! Back to the water droplets.....On Monday, August 14th, we had our Home Inspection and Termite inspection done. Both of these inspectors reported very negative issues about all this moisture under the house in the crawl space.

I have to say that we both were really impressed with the inspections that we got. I chose both of these companies myself. The home inspection was done by Pillar to Post, a National Corporation with area Franchises. Our inspector David Mustgrave was wonderful to work with, very patient, helpful and knowledgeable. I have seen home inspection reports before and I feel I really got something for my money this time. (Unlike a very short, nondescript, "give 'em as little as you can get away with" letter I have recently seen from as LICENSED General Contractor....who also list himself as a 'Home Inspector"!) I knew I made the right decision there! I chose Wood Termite and Pest Control to do our termite inspection. Inspector Philip Maready was very thorough and was the first to tell me what I really didn't want to hear, but that was his job. He was all around the outside & inside, up in the attic, in the garage, and down in the crawl space. He came and talked to us when he had finished and explained what he had found.

Welcome to Valleywood Dr.

This is the home that we selected to place an "Offer to Purchase."
This home was built in 1988, is one floor with 3 bedrooms & 2 full baths, 2 car garage, deck, and needs work. We were deliberately looking for a home that could give us some projects to do with fixing it up some....within our knowledge level of course tho. For example in this home, the vinyl kitchen flooring obviously has been just "thrown down." It was not glued or trimmed, but I had no doubt that we could definitely do a better job replacing something. The carpets were all old and every room, door, closet, etc would need painting. The kitchen has an island with an old stove in it that is clearly a fire hazard due to lack of safe walking room around it and is absent any type of venting. Both of issues would of course have to be addressed quickly. There is a french door in the dining room leading to the deck in the backyard that was poorly installed and left without exterior trim. (This leaves the interior frame of the opening for the door exposed to weather....ie rain!)

Having stated all these negatives, you might wonder, as my own Father did, "Why do you want a house like that?" As I stated, we deliberately want a house that has some projects for us to spend time on. We enjoy these kinds of things and this is why we chose this house over the other one we were looking at to make an offer on. The other house was "move in ready" and other than some landscaping there was nothing to do. This house does have many positive features that we were looking for. It has a nice back yard, altho we have discovered that at least one of the trees with have to be cut down and possibly two. There is plenty of room and it has the larger kitchen we want.

Home Buyer...Prepare Yourself

You finally get to the point in your life where you are ready to commit to the purchase of that house you have been talking about and dreaming of for years. You prepare by researching everything you can find on the present real estate market and buying a house. You make your list of what you consider "the necessary" things your new home must have, and the things that "would be nice" for it to have. You research the ever changing bank interest rates and determine your "price range" that you want to stay within. You then start watching the local newspaper and MLS (Multiple Listing Service) which allows different Realtors and their companies to show various properties. When you find a home that meets the above requirements, you choose a Realtor to represent /act as your agent to show you the home.