Home Repair forum - furnace, roof, and window replacement

Author

furnace, roof, and window replacement

kelly

2005-08-30, 11:21 am

Hi,
I fell in love with this house that is
15 yrs old, double garage, with roof, furnace, and
some bay windows never replaced.
I have never done home repair before.
The seller's house inspector said those
have to be replaced.
I don't know how soon those has to be replaced
and approximately how much for each repairs?
Currently, the house I'm living now, I rent the
furnace.

Thanks for the help.

Edwin Pawlowski

2005-08-30, 11:21 am

"kelly" <kelly@some.com> wrote in message news:43145EE9.5060603@some.com...
> Hi,
> I fell in love with this house that is
> 15 yrs old, double garage, with roof, furnace, and
> some bay windows never replaced.
> I have never done home repair before.
> The seller's house inspector said those
> have to be replaced.
> I don't know how soon those has to be replaced
> and approximately how much for each repairs?
> Currently, the house I'm living now, I rent the
> furnace.
>
> Thanks for the help.

Get some estimates and factor that into the total cost of the house. If
still a good deal, buy it. If not, move on.

Furnace usually last more that 15 years, roof life can be 15 to 20+
depending on location, windows 20 to 100 years. Now that I think about it,
if all that is gone in 15 years, how good is the construction of the rest of
the house?

Not knowing the size, configuration, etc no one can give prices very close.
Furnace $2500 to $6000. Roof $3000 to $10,000, Windows $500 to $2000.

barry@sme-online.com

2005-08-30, 12:21 pm

One wouldn't expect such items to have to be replaced in that time
frame. Quite the contrary. What matters most is _why_ someone said they
need replacement.

IME, it's most unusual to have a "seller's" house inspector, even more
to have this person list any items that need action by seller. Sounds
suspicious, even, since one potential impact is to reduce the selling
price. Note: from what you said, the _seller_ would be liable for
fixing things or reducing price accordingly. Not you.

There are many aspects to be considered regarding the items mentioned-
including mechanical, cosmetic, energy-efficiency, cost, urgency of
problem. You might wish to ask a knowledgeable friend to consult, or
recommend someone to help you, as to your course of action. Definitely
NOT a good idea to fall in love with house, also. :')

HTH,
J

Todd H.

2005-08-30, 12:21 pm

kelly <kelly@some.com> writes:
> Hi,
> I fell in love with this house that is
> 15 yrs old,

Uh oh. That's a dangerous home age to be falling in love with a
place, cus it's about when the first wave of a bunch of crap needs to
be replaced.

> double garage, with roof, furnace, and some bay windows never
> replaced. I have never done home repair before. The seller's house
> inspector said those have to be replaced.

That's gonna cost a bundle. First, Figure, oh, $3-4k for the furnace
assuming we're talking about a 4br house or so.

Ah, the late 80's early 90's when crappy wood started getting used
with abandon. The bay windows _should_ be okay, but did the inspector
specificaly call those out for needing replacement? If so,
something's wrong--perhaps the windows were just junk and not
maintained. Windows should last a lot longer than 15 years. Why are
they in need of replacement? Is there water penetration? If there's
water penetration, there'll be mold concerns.

Roof, 15 years depending on the slope and such, it would make sense
for that to need replacement. Cost vary like mad with roof size,
slope, and how many surface/starting edges it has. If the current
shingles are asphalt shingles and aren't curling too bad and you can
put a 2nd layer. Figure $3k-4k for that perhaps. I'm picturing a 4br
2000-some square foot house for these wild assed guesses.

> I don't know how soon those has to be replaced and approximately how
> much for each repairs? Currently, the house I'm living now, I rent
> the furnace.

If I were in your shoes I'd do several things:
a) emotionally distance myself from this house so I could be
objective.
b) make an offer on the house that is reflective of what I
already know is wrong with the place. Make sure that offer
has a professional inspection contingency.
c) have this place inspected by a licensed home inspector that
I pay. I won't trust the word of a seller's inspector.
d) Get professional estimates (preferably several as they can
vary all over the place) for the items that the inspectors
indicate need repair immediately and in the near future.
e) go back to the seller with this list and negotiate credit
for the items that are not in operating conditions or that
present a health and safety hazard at the moment. And
feel them out for what they're willing to do to mak the
deal happen on those items in the "need to be fixed very
soon" category.
f) negotiate the seller to purchase a home warranty for the
place so you reduce the chances of getting hit with big
bills in teh first year of owning the home when you'll have
many new expenses anyway.

If you can't come to terms, walk from the deal.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

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