f13.net

Currently looking at buying a house. However when we went looking at the front yard, we noticed a small black dome-like-cap covering a downward ( 90 ) pointing, maybe 6in, round pipe ( Plastic ) right up against the house, it had standing water in it.

Any guesses as to what it is?

The pipe is coming out of the ground and has a dome cap on it?  I don't quite understand your "down (90)" description.

Is it slab on grade?  Sounds like a sewer cleanout they didn't put a proper cap on.

I'll get a picture later. Its simply a pipe sticking out about 2in from the lawn with a black plastic cap on it. Tucked right up against the front wall of the house. It goes straight down, 90 degrees from the lawn. Id say its about 6-8 inches round. Made of some sort of plastic piping and cap.


House has a crawl space, plot is level with the road and surrounding area. I was thinking well cap maybe, but plastic would be odd. Sewer clean-out, but, that close to the house?

It has standing water in it, its smack in the center of the house in the front yard, nearly touching the brick.

Also, on the city listing it says:


I'm sure that term varies from area-to area, but anyone know what that may mean? We are close the the city reservoir and a small waterway. The flood zone is listed as 100 year.

My sewer clean out is at most a foot from my foundation.

Perhaps Merusk is right. I'm not used to seeing a clean out made of plastic pipe, and so large an opening. The pipe looks like something you would use for landscaping drainage, Corrugated Plastic pipe type.

Yeah the first cleanout is typically right at the house because you can hit from there to the sewer invert from it.  Modern plumbing is done in plastic because it's cheap and durable.  All my sewer pipes are plastic until they hit the main sewer. 

Though they should be solid pvc or cast iron, though not corrugated because you don't want effluents sitting there in the ridges.  Corrugated was always for footing/ foundation drain or stormwater.  So yeah, must not be a cleanout.

My civil background is a little less hefty than I'd like, but reservoir protection means you're in the watershed buffer zone. You're going to have a nightmare trying to do anything on your land because you'll have to go through the Army Core of Engineers.

Definitely need a pic but it sounds like a catch basin. Plastic corrugated is drainage so that is what leads me to believe it is a catch basin.

Shouldn't you be squatting in a field and learning carpentry in order to build a cabin before you starve to death?

wut.

Wurm dig

Could also be a whole house shutoff valve for water.

If so, they better get that leak fixed since there is standing water in it. And usually valves aren't under domes... but stranger things and all.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dd0y3y8u9c3co01/thehole.jpg

Fixed the title cause every time I saw the original I thought you were talking about hunting the book publisher. :oh_i_see:

Access to the french drain system? Perhaps you could ask the home inspector or homeowner?

The house is being handled by an attorney, and the owner has died. So, I may have to wait for the home inspection. But, on Wednesday, we make submit our bid. (http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/nervous/afraid.gif)

Well good luck mate.

I can ask our building commissioner if he's in tomorrow

Could be a drainage sump of some kind (although those are usually in the basement floor).  You drill a hole, stick a large pipe in it to keep it from filling in, you put a pump in there (why it has to be a wide pipe) that automatically kicks in when the water rises and drains it.

--Dave

French drain drainage would be my best bet. If there's a French drain in the basement.

But the cap is the real puzzle. I don't get that.

Exactly. Usually they are grated to allow water in. Might have been a quick fix - had the cap and plopped it on.

Just moved into my first house.  Just dropping in to say good luck!!

Thanks, this is fucking nerve racking. So many cards in the air, so many could fall. I'm trying to tell the Scottish in me that this is an investment, not a huge mountain of debt.

Don't be afraid to keep looking. Tons of houses on the market, and the looking is the fun part. The signing mountains of paperwork, actually paying the mortgage, and being on the hook for every single little fucking thing that goes south may sound glamorous and fun, but sucks ass  :awesome_for_real:

I agree completely and I'll mention that you don't want to deal with water or moisture issues at all.  Buy a dry house.

x10.

I'd never buy near water.  Great to look at, fantastic to visit, I will not own a home on or near it, ever.  But that's me, I get the attraction it's just not worth the potential problems to me.


I find this completely outweighed by my ability to do whatever the fuck I want to my home.  "Hey, I could use some shelves."  "Hey, this room would look better in xyz color"  "Hey, let's plant some trees and petunias this year."

Granted, I didn't buy an old house with old house problems but the next one will be at least 30 given the area I'm headed toward.  It'll still be worth not having to deal with landlords, rent raising and fighting about what should or shouldn't be fixed. 

The bonus being in the last 10 years my monthly has only gone up $30 because of tax increases/ assessments. I'm still paying less than I did for a 2-bedroom apartment in 2003, even after several $300 A/C or Furnace repairs.  I'll never understand the permanent renters I know.

Housing is a consumption choice, not an investment. That said, I think it can be a very worthwhile consumption choice, for many of the reasons already mentioned.

Good luck with the buying experience and all of the post-purchase fun!

Housing is sort of an investment, but it's usually a bad one. There are obvious exceptions, and the best way to avoid losing money on an investment deal is paying in cash. Obviously, very few can afford to do that.

Where things start to get sideways on homes is a lot of hidden costs. There's the obvious things like mortgage and repairs. Both renting and owning have utilities. Where things can get expensive is the taxes, the insurance, an HoA if you have one, and landscaping. Taken over a monthly period, along with the repair costs and the total mortgage interest paid over the loan, you can look to see which is more expensive between owning and renting. I'm not even referring to the equity in the house and the market fluctuations either.

Buy small, trade-up, never pay PMI, (If you have to pay it the house is too big for you.) and for chrissake get a home inspection to avoid major repairs you can't handle.  If you're tripling your rent the house is WAY too big for you. (I know *so many* people who did this.)  If the place will need a new heater/ roof in 3 years and you can't drop the $5-$25k then it's not the place for you no matter how "perfect" it feels.

Even though I bought in 2003 I'll be making money on my house when it sells and my mortgage is only a few thousand over 100k.  It's like any other financial transaction, be smart about it and don't go from the gut/ heart. 

Yes you'll get in fights with your S.O. if they've fallen in love and "MUST HAVE" that place that doesn't work, but it will be better in the long-run to pass it by.

TLDR: People let emotion run-wild when buying houses. Don't.

Well there's two kinds of "I made money on my house." The first is that they sold the house for more than they paid in principle on the closing statement.

The second is actually making money, which is adding up all the expenses, taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments, closing costs, commissions, fees, and remaining principle on the mortgage. Very few people actually fall into category #2. That's usually a confluence of good timing more than investor savvy.

I'll gladly buy a house again... if I can manage to get a $250k down payment (25-30% required) and pray that the bank will look at me over the investment firms and banks that are paying cash well over asking price.

EDIT: Never mind, more for Politics.  Just get used to competing with the hedgies, it's going to get worse.

--Dave

I was thinking local and the majority of the country, not the fringe cases on the coasts.  Sorry if you choose to live in one of those locales, but you knew what you were getting in to.


I think I know where you were going and yes, it is. The Millennial and younger X'ers seem ok with that because they haven't thought it through.  Upside is we've still got land to build on so it's not going feudal any time soon, Mr. Tinfoil.  :grin:


Closing costs commissions, etc are sunk costs you need to be aware of, yes. It's money you have to assume is gone and unless you're doing something dumb like flipping every 3-5 years aren't a real problem.  I've always looked at it as a larger security deposit, which is about 8% of annual cost of rent.  I never got those back no matter how clean and tidy the place was after I moved out.

Taxes and insurance are something renters also have to deal with and I know you don't think the homeowner/ building owner is just eating the taxes.  My renter's insurance was about the same per year as whole-house because I didn't underinsure my possessions.

You also omitted the cost of moving frequently from rental.  Sure, you can rent the same place for a decade but chances are you won't, or rent will rise to the point you can't.

If there were jobs anywhere else, I'd be there.  Sadly...  Choosing between hunting for no jobs in a cheap place vs. having a job in an expensive place isn't much of a choice.

Yay!  Is it adobe?  I loved living in adobe houses.  My fav one was in the mountains near Santa Fe.  My parents almost bought it.  If they had, I'd probably still be living there! 

The mystery of the drain is solved. Its a secondary water cut off for the main.

Everything seems to be going my way right now. Our current rental place is letting us break the year lease we just signed, sans deposit and one month rent. They signed the release form so I could use it, and if things go well I submit it to them. This way, if it goes south with the house, we still keep the year lease.

I'm asking for 3k closing costs, and coming in 6k under list price.  For various reasons I am sure will come out during negation. My mortgage at this level should be about what I pay in rent now. So, acceptance/rebid and inspection come next, but I'm nearly positive I know what will come up already, as both my brothers are contractors ( I'm the nerd in the fam ). IR at 4.75.

I think I'm doing well and crossing my I's.

Wow. So when you get multiple lenders in an offer war, magic seems to happen.  They keep leapfrogging the rate and payment lower.  :drill:

I'm deathly allergic to debt.

I'm also the mythical rented the same place for a decade guy!

You are lucky then, something is happening with the appraisal system lately where they are coming back lower.  I know my house I bought started at 83,000 when I bought it, 3 years ago it was appraised at 89,000, then this month it dropped to 74,000. Hopefully it is due to all the foreclosures that hit in this town, because all the other houses listed around me are way higher. I don't feel like fighting with the appraisal company, I know I can but is it really worth it, and the chances of getting it changed is not that great. I'm going to miss out on a lower rate (3.25% for a fixed 15 year but they want 25% down if a new load or 75% of the appraisal cost or lower to finance...i'm so close but not close enough) so maybe in a year or two the market in my neighborhood will bounce back and I can get a decent refinance.

Home owners associations are assholes. They may start out great and you may have great neighbors, but then people will become dicks for some reason and be prepared to have to do what they want or face their wraith. My next place I buy will not be in any type of owners association.

Oh, don't ever take the loan for 1st time home buyers where they don't require you to put down a down payment. The rates are higher and you will have to pay PMI.

HOAs are always run by the people with the most time. This means housewives and retirees for the most part.  They have their purpose but I will never move in to a "Strong" HOA neighborhood with more than a few rules/ restrictions.

Of course, the more development that goes on the less likely that is to happen.  Executives among Developers & Production builders LOVE them some HOAs so the "Feel" of "Their Neighborhood" isn't ruined.

They have their place. In the best cases, the HOA is there to provide some common upkeep and also make sure you don't have one rogue owner completely ignoring everyone else's property value and quality of life.

The the worst cases, they are fucking gestapos.

Standing water in a valve box is not a good sign. It is not the end of the world and all, but it means either it is not draining properly and/or that valve is leaking near your foundation. Might be worth an estimate to see how much and knock that off the price.

Yea, I'd definately go watch the meter for a minute or two.

Plus houses are a pain in the ass. All the home owners I know are constantly talking about all the repair bullshit they have to do, and it seems to NEVER EVER END. Fuck that!

Of course, we have never gotten in a fight with our current landlords, and when we need something fixed, it's done within a day or two, with absolutely no fussing about if it "needs" to be done or not. There are downsides (I would really, really like an in-unit washing machine/dryer, for example), but nothing to make me want to take on ENDLESS HOME REPAIR AND/OR RENOVATIONS.

Some areas require them because it takes some of the stress off of local services. It was really hard to find anything in the DC suburbs that didn't have an HOA because of this.

In general, I think they support toxic behavior. We have an acquaintance who's the dictator in a small condo association and lost his mind. He's done five years of litigation and at least $20k in legal expenses over a door not having a window. It was always about his dick size more than anything, but since he got into it and the expenses started to mount up, it became important to the HOA to continue it because the expenses are coming from fines levied against the no-window offender.

That's the downside of an HoA. The upside is they can help with the one unique snowflake who thinks painting his house neon green with christmas lights is the bees knees for property value, while decorating his lawn with busted cars.

Oh yeah, I'm not against them for many things. What I'm talking about is when its taken to the level of "Everyone must use this exact mail box.  All houses must be this shade of white.  All future work must be in this exact (wrongly-labeled) architectural style using this (wrong/ unresearched) list of traits." 

It gets in to the craziness you just described, particularly when it involves the stupidity of calling for the exact colors.  Paint companies retire colors all the time as do housing accessory companies. 

I had a similar problem with a zoning department last year.  They required the building be "earth tones" with no definition of the colors beyond that.  The headache is that in a design palette there are reds, blues, oranges and whites which can legitimately be earth tones. 

What they really wanted to say is something along the lines of; "All buildings must be tint of brown between 20% black and 80% white"  but didn't bother to hire a design consultant (or hell, even do a Google) when writing the regulations to tell them "earth tones" is a bigger swath of colors than they thought. 

I now have a lawyer involved. This process has shown me how much I simply do not understand. At this point my decision is who to go with to finance the loan. Most are maybe in a 20$  ( and like 0.3something in rate ) range of each other. So I suppose its down to who I want to work with, and weather they sell the mortgage or not.

We rented a condo in Montgomery Village where they went so far as to have a list of acceptable color & brand. I once saw in the hearing notes that a mail slot had turned down by the architectural committee.

That was a pretty hellacious one though. It had two levels of HOA, one set the rules for the entire development, the other provided services to individual areas. So the rich people in the minimansions got to be part of setting rules for everyone, but didn't have to tolerate sharing their pool and tennis courts with hoi poloi from the condos.

Tangential, you can mix any color of paint in any brand.

I never understand why people get so upset over what there neighbor does or looks like.

Some of the nicest people I know live in some pretty shitty houses and homes and some of the biggest douche bags live in really awesome looking homes.

The biggest bitch I have about my home owners is that they won't let me put up solar panels or a wind mill. I have read I could take them to court on that, but I'm not really wanting a fight, the head of the H.O.A., is a major dick, and he owns an oil company in town, so I really would piss him off and make me a target, better to keep on there good side and stay under the radar.

Because your neighbor affects your property values.  I like HOAs because it gives a tool to keep cars off lawns, lawns from turning in to 'wild kingdom' territory and forces upkeep of things lazy people will let go otherwise, like painting and minor repairs. 

You've seen the pictures of the 'horrible workspaces' in the IT-tales thread.  Imagine that as a house next-door to you and I don't think you'd be chill about it. Now imagine you have no recourse to resolve it because you're in an unincorporated area or the city zoning allows it.

HOAs give the tools to attempt a resolution or keep those who'd willingly let such disrepair out of the neighborhood.  Beyond that they become a tool for bullying.

Some are petty tyrants. Some are just old farts who hate change. The large majority just like to make sure one guy doesn't piss in the pool.

A bad house in a neighborhood can murder resale, and it can drag down standards as a whole. People start to think this guy does it, and it sort of rolls downhill. Sometimes you end up with the reverse: a neighbor who is just a dick and wants to put up a neon beer sign in his windows at all hours, just to piss everyone off.

The problem with many HoAs is that reasonable solutions are often the first casualty. HoA makes a modest suggestion, some "don't tread on me dude" pitches a fit, they battle and battle until it's painfully resolved. The next time around the HoA comes down harder to make a point, and the escalation of insanity begins.

I bought my house knowingly breaking one of my rules: it isn't on a hill. I've always lived on hills.

Six grand later, I do have a nice dry basement. Totally worth the money, but I'd rather not have been the one to pay for it.

As far as renting vs owning, I hope to never be stuck renting again. I'm paying off my own appreciating asset rather than someone else's, and I'm not at the whim of a landlord. My mother has a sweet deal on her house in the country, great landlord and she's paying circa 1994 rent. But he's in poor health and when he decides to stop landlording, short of signing it over to her she is completely screwed. She's paying $525/mo for a large 4br/1ba in the country in the woods, creekside and that might get you a crappy 2br/1ba apartment in the city. That house would pull a good $1200/mo in the current market.

I know when I retire, I'll be paying the taxes and repairs and let everyone else play around with escalating rent/housing market. After mine is paid off, it's just more equity for me to borrow against. And even if we trade up, I'm considering renting it out. First choice would be to my mom just to cover the mortgage or take a slight loss in exchange for the equity (and backup property). Otherwise I could rent it out for 50% more than my mortgage (well, pimi).

Renting does make sense for people who can't or don't want to maintain a property (or pay someone to, though that's what you're doing with a landlord), or if you move around more than every five years, or if you live in a ridiculously expensive market.

I guess I'm more laid back, I don't care if you have 6 cars on blocks or if you have a neon beer sign or a 12 foot penis in the front yard. But then again, I was raised out on a farm in the sticks, we had a nice farm that was manicured, but our neighbors did have the cars on blocks, they took 3 different colored trailers and put them together, and I'm sure when they cut there yard they found cars, trailers, and stuff. Mom and Dad still live there, and the property value keeps going up, despite the neighbors moonshine, pot farm, and meth lab across the bean and horse field from them.

The other problem I have after researching home owners is how much power they have, it is crazy on that note, almost as bad as fighting city hall. And there is nothing to really be an over watch to see if they are being too much of a dick.

Well, for me this choice is easy. Most of my family is here, with houses of their own, same with friends. Also, I have always had a hard time paying rent, in that, it does nothing for me save possibly being good for credit. There is no HOA, its in the city but on the outskirts of the line, so somewhat rural. When this is all said and done, I'm likely to be paying less in mortgage than I pay in rent now, and what I pay in rent is low for the quality of the apartment I am in. We have been extremely lucky, and I like to think its in part to me and my over cautiousness.

What your neighbor does can cost you tens of thousands of dollars when you go to sell your house or have it appraised for a home improvement loan.  I have the least expensive house in an affluent neighborhood.  My neighbors care a great deal about my house as it anchors the low end of the housing market there.

Some of us actually like living in neighborhoods that don't look like shit.   Unfortunately, we don't have a very strong HOA, so ours is trending back to the bare allowable amount of shit.  All of which is going to make selling our house a bit of a chore.  I'd pay an extra 10 a month if they'd just make people close their fucking garages when they're not doing something that requires them to be open. 

But then again, that's why we've been looking to move for a while now.  That and I'm a bit too far away from my son's school, my work, and the parts of the city I actually do stuff in. 

You know, people say this. But how can this affect you, Beyond the Buyer just not wanting to live near that kind of person? How can it depreciate the vale of YOUR property. And by who, the city assessment, or the Banks? Where is this value going?

You answered your own question.

I mean, I understand that part. As I have been that person that did not want to live next to the hillbillies. But that doesn't directly lower the assessed value of your house. As I understand it. yes?

Its the second part of his statement I don't understand:

Unless you challenge your tax appraisal (which is usually entirely data driven) I seriously doubt it will effect the estimated value of your home for tax purposes.   For home purchases your lender will do a full appraisal and it should effect the value represented there (but may not always do so).  I wouldn't be surprised if you went down to challenge your tax appraisal with a copy of the 3 foreclosures on your street, a report on the registered sex offender living next door and a picture of 4 abandoned cars in the other neighbors front yard they would accept that as evidence that your property is subjected to below average conditions for the area (unless of course the above scenario is already representative of your entire area).

Well, I went to re-finance the home loan. The bank and the appraisal company said my house is now worth $74,000. Really the bank is only going with what the appraisal company said. The company that did mine really made it look like a bunch of busy work and then kept saying it was condo instead of town house, and didn't compare my house to any houses in my neighborhood. Instead they took 4 from my subdivision that were either up for sale or sold recently, but they wouldn't use the two in my neighbor hood for some reason (and they just sold in the past 3 years of course they are like way more expensive --$130,000 and 140,000). Then they took 4 house from a subdivision about 15 miles south of me (those houses are a lot older than mine too). The bank says that is what this company is supposed to do, plus the bank says they can't get too involved with the appraisal company now, especially since the housing crash.

Wow, you all don't want to live next to me and my hillbilly friends?

There are definitely limits on how recent a sale has to be to be used as a comp and 3 years is way beyond that limit.

So then how do they figure in your neighborhood and the home owners crap?

Around here the fees are typically high enough to completely fuck with the affordability of housing, also, at least at my income level. "Hey I found a place I can afford... oh wait it has a $300 HOA fee every month."

Right. I understand that. And I understand that for buyers, cars on blocks is a personal valuation. I simply do not understand the idea that that effects the value of your land and home for a home improvement loan. We are talking about unsavory neighbor, not entire areas hit by depression.

Unsavory neighbor is a pain in the ass to live next to creates problems and means you're not going to be willing to tolerate living next to him.  The only way you can tell if a neighbor is unsavory is the upkeep of their house and yard, they're not interviewing for assholes. (whose metric is always variable.  We all know plenty of assholes with friends) 

Cars on blocks are not a personal evaluation, it's pieces of a property evaluation. Those cars are a sign that upkeep isn't a concern and that a limited number of the populace will be willing to move in next to the problem house. Look at it the same as insurance assessors noting when you're under 25. Not all teenagers and young adults are terrible drivers, but enough are that everyone gets painted with the same brush.  Business isn't concerned with fairness. 

Yes, banks can only go by what the assessors say because that's the assessor's job.  Banks aren't property evaluators, they're loan generators. The bank is harmless for the assessment of your place because it's not their job. Their job is to determine if you can pay them back and the assessment says if the house is suitable collateral for that loan.

So, for the home improvement loan next to the house with 6 cars on blocks the assessor is saying; "No, Mr. Bank, you're not going to find enough people to pay for this house at the price Mr. Homeowner says it will be worth after the improvments.  This piece of collateral will actually only be worth 2/3 of that price."

Comps can be pretty  :why_so_serious:

My place comps soo low. It's on the rolls as a 1br/1ba, though it's really a 2br where one was opened up to the kitchen as a den. One weekend with a couple 2x4s and drywall and I can make a nice profit, but I like it open and it keeps the price down on the tax roll. My garage is called a 1-car, but it's only because it's got a large 1-car door...it's larger than most 2-car garages, I keep my tools and toys in there and still have room for all my winter cordwood...and can park my FJ in it. But the kicker is I live on a dead-end street with a primary school at the dead end and a middle school a block to the south; double lot backed on by woods that's mostly school property and a watershed, so unlikely to lose the trees. There's nothing even close to it until you start looking at twice the price, and really those are pretty big compromises until you start looking at triple.

Took me five years to find it, and it's far from perfect, but at the price it's amazing. That's why I don't want to sell it on if I move.

Anyway. Comps for it are all ghetto shacks :) I laughed when the agent starts pulling out stuff in ghetto hoods that he's tossing because they're listed 50% over mine...

Have you looked at the price of drywall lately Sky?

I must say I wasn't planning on moving next to a river and a quarter of a mile from the Gulf.  Life is sometimes funny that way.

Sigh, tomorrow I have to go up on the high part of the roof to check the upper gutter--during really heavy rain today we suddenly had a bit of water dripping from the bathroom ceiling where the gutter was damaged and replaced during a huge snowstorm a few years ago. I suspect it got clogged, in fact I hope that's it and not something trickier.

I do occasionally wish we hadn't bought a house, though I like ours well enough. The property taxes alone are brutal because of the good school district.

The house behind mine is a rental.  They didn't take good care of it.  It was infested with rats.

As a health issue, it devalued all the adjacent properties because those rats were going to spread.

Our house painter discovered a large-ish section of dry rot below our bathroom window (floor is going on the bathroom as well due to unrelated water damage). I suspect that the dipshit who owned the place before us did some half-assed repairs and/or improvements and fucked the seals up. We are basically going to have to cover it up and wait until we can afford to fix it, since I am pretty sure it won't be cheap. Sigh.

When I had this scenario I took the DIY route and was 2.5 years with no master bathroom.  I'm surprised I am still married, looks great now though.

See, if I had a house on the shore of a river I'd be basically resigned to dealing with flood damage at some point.  Also Gulf coast, same thing for storms.  Ultimately that would be OK since I know the risk.  However, if there was seeping water on normal days or due to rain, that's another matter.

Roughly $10/sheet, about like I remember it, why? We're talking three sheets (ahoy) here, it's already pretty closed off with everything to code for a legal bedroom. It's money in the pocket.

House inspection is today. Now is when it gets real.

Ah, house inspectors.  :why_so_serious:

We will not be taking this house. The issues that appeared at inspection, and my research about how much this would cost, and how well it would be "solved" are more than I want in my life right now.

Stop that! Details man! Was it built on a burial ground?

No, essentially, the house is in a bowl. Crawlspace has standing water, would require work down there, and a regrade of most of the property, but the house would still be the low point. The air ducks are sitting in the water as are some lines and plumbing. The entire yard, front and back flow to the house. None of the electrical is grounded, not even at the panel. There are sections of the brick pulling away from the house. I was just pricing how much this stuff would cost, and the landscape guy was really not enthused with the prospects of solving the water issue on the property. He even told me he would be Leary at taking the job.

Unless they came off the price about 30 grand, its just not affordable. And even then, it may still be an issue.  We would need pumps and basically a reverse irrigation system that tied in to the city drains to solve all this.

As this is my first house, we came to the conclusion, this is just to much. Also, mold.... yada yada yada. I'm rather sad, we loved the house itself, it was the right size, in the right area, and would have had great neighbors. Its just more than we want in or lives, and it felt like this would be forever an issue we would be addressing.

I keep second guessing my request to release the contract, but I know logically, this is the right call. Emotionally, I'm sad. I am however thankful for the above average amount of rain we have been receiving, if this was a dry summer, I may never have known.

Literally the entire front and back yard has standing water. Someone tell me i made the right call. :cry:

I feel ya. The x and I when we first moved to Pittsburgh found a great house up near Wexford. Had everything she was looking for in the rural settings and the house was a Chalet type. However, it was on a well system for water (though city water could be installed fairly easily) and septic system. House passed inspection with flying colors, but the septic system failed miserably. Needs a complete overall and the people would not take off the $12k for the new system (needed a new leech field, tank, pipe system, etc). Walking away from that place hurt... but the cost overall would have buried us before we even started.

You did, and then some.  I was just visiting some friends in the midst of fixing a drainage issue.  It involved a lot of jackhammering, to make a drainage moat in their basement.  Even if you could afford it, do you really want to have to listen to jackhammering for days on end?

Plus, sounds like it's bad feng shui! 

I'm going to have to cry fowl on this one.

Depending on the amount of water, it may or may not have been a big deal. I just did my basement last year, jackhammering wasn't 'for days' it was a few hours (don't ask my cat, though). All told it was about six grand and well worth it. But I only get seasonal wall seepage and opening things up actually remedied the problem, the sump pit has been almost bone dry all year. If it's very wet and you don't remedy exterior issues (good gutters, grading, etc), then putting in a redundant pump setup would be better.

Depending on where you are you might not be allowed to tie into the city's storm sewer (and definitely not the septic). You'd probably have to set up a leach field in the yard, which would be $$.

So with all that and whatever excavating (excavators = $$$, I should've stuck with construction when I was 18 working with a couple guys running an excavator) and remediation (a $$$ scare tactic field)...

You made the right call. Also, peace of mind is priceless.

Standing water is not worth dealing with. My neighbors are planning to dump a lot of fill in their yard, but I am planning on them grading it improperly and not sending it into the woods (not without its own issues, likely killing 70' trees 50' from their house). It's a shitty and cheap solution to a tougher problem, but that's how they do. So like I said, I'm planning my next couple moves in that scenario, setting up some kind of wall and drainage along that line.

Neighbors. One reason I would rather have several lots on either side.

You absolutely made the right call. Fixing drainage issues is not for the faint of heart and the costs have the tendency to balloon out of control. If there was standing water in the yard and the crawl space walking away was the best option. You will find another house that will work for you :).

This was some kind of uber cement that required a 90lb air hammer in the end...  Last of the well built homes in the area, if not for the unplanned pool in the basement!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlDQvgM4pKM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlDQvgM4pKM) just do it the easy way...

Yep, there is always another house.  This is good... or bad if you are indecisive.  :grin:

You did.  I just moved out of a house I lived in for 4 years due to mold and mildew caused by standing water in the crawl spaces running in from failed gutters and poor grading\drainage (which the landlord insisted was something I was responsible for).  My landlord insisted nothing was wrong and she sent her guy down to look at it and the verdict was "no water is down there" despite my seeing it there the weeks before.  It would mold and mildew up starting from the floors and run up the walls all the way to the windows and ceiling if I didn't bleach the shit out of it every few weeks.

Grading problems, living in a bowl, standing water INSIDE the house ANYWHERE, and terrible electrical work are reasons enough to walk away.  You did the right thing.

Not only did you make the right call, based on what you listed I'm of the opinion the house should be demolished.  It'd cost more to save it than to rebuild properly from scratch.

I got as far as "standing water in the crawlspace" before reaching the same conclusion.  That just does not sound like a good thing unless you live in Venice.

Speaking of house hunting, the old lady just sent me a message with a link to a house that basically ticks every box on our list. The only downsides are no central AC (which I don't have now), the garage is detached (but two stall + workshop), and it's off the city sewer (though it is on city water, and I grew up in the country dealing with septic tanks). Bigger than this place (950 vs 1350), pool to swim laps, big yard (acre), double the # of beds and baths, fireplace (I'd have to install a wood stove but we're planning on a new one in the next couple years anyway). About 5 more minutes out...but I believe it's on the trunk fiber verizon rolled through (past the library, they dropped it in for us). Cedar shake craftsman, 1940 (I won't buy post-1960 if I can help it).

I think they've listed high, only been on the market 13 days at $148,500. Sold in 2002 for $89k. I'd pin real value right around 110-120, my top would be 130k with 10k back for costs and pocket change.

Really crappy timing, but it's sooo tempting. Because I doubt I'll be able to build onto this house cheaply enough to make room (and sonic separation) to allow her to move in...

:inluv:

Make sure you factor in your homeowner's insurance costs if it has a pool, Sky.

That and pools are not cheap to maintain either. YMMV though.

I can't even contemplate a world where you could buy a house for $148k.

Welcome to life in rural America.  My 2,200 sq ft house is up for $175k and people think that's too expensive.

Want to trade paychecks, too?

Running from that deal was the right move MrB. Even if you could correct all the grading issues, just think what several years of having an in house pond has done to the structure of the house. Then there's the mold...

Yeah, agent just called, her guy quoted them 10k just for the crawlspace work. Sans grading.

Now get a cost to remove and replace the failing brick veneer.  Then to properly ground and re-wire the electric so a short doesn't burn your house down.  Then to replace the rusty ducts that have been sitting in water - under a crawl space.

And you'd STILL be in a bowl because I'm willing to bet you don't have enough property to regrade the entire place.

I wasn't kidding when I said cheaper to raze and rebuild.

Well, just for the grading, 8-10k, crawlspace work 10k... I bid 93 and closing on a list of 99.5, they came back at 96 and closing. So, really it was looking like they would need to knock off 30k of the price just to be liveable. I am also on the coast, and we get hurricanes.

And you are right, that's not including the ducts and wiring.. Also, the kitchen was ancient, water came in under the garage door from the driveway( Grading issue ). There was a soft floor in where the heating and air was....

I just have to tell myself this is not one of those times I power through and make things happen. Its just too much. All I want is a backyard to fiddle around in!

I did the right thing. I did the right thing. I did the right thing. Also, apparently I now like the idea of a garage.

I'll never be without a garage. One thing to look out for when you have grading issues with a garage, a lot of times people will just pave a thin layer over the old driveway. Sometimes people will do this many times. This will bring up the driveway's grade to the point where it will shed water into the garage and do funky things with the lip.

I found three layers when I excavated a corner of mine. Mine is pretty shot so...excavator $$$ when I need to pave it. It's also sinking from years of ants excavating it.

You did the right thing. If there's any indication of real major issues, not just handyman stuff, just walk away and never think of it again.

We had a similar house two years ago and got word six months after walking away that it was on jacks with structural problems that were worse than even the worst case scenario the inspector gave us.