If they can't meet you, say, halfway on the price to service/repair/replace the high dollar items, I'd walk away. Like previous posters said, you don't know the extent of the damages to the roof--one thing to remove and replace shingles, it's a whole other thing to replace sheathing, trusses, or walls (from water damage due to poor patch work). Not to mention the septic and well issues which have a ton of issues independently...but to combine all of these together, it sounds like they stopped caring for the place and want to sell the house at a premium (despite the price drop, which means it was likely overpriced to start out).

Make another counter-offer on price and repairs. Let them be the ones to say no.

The seller refuses to budge or counter-offer, so we're withdrawing our offer and will keep looking.

Kind of a future FYI We have a 1475 square foot brick ranch with a two car attached garage on 22 acres in S/W Illinois. (Poor us) We had the roof shingles torn off and replaced for $7500 this past summer. A replacement furnace/ac ranged from $6500 to $12000 depending on efficiency, two years ago. We bought the top end. I suppose both of those jobs might vary quite a bit in different parts of the company. Additionally we have a moderate annual payment for use of the part of the land that is farmed. We also enjoy shooting on our property from 0 yards to 500 yards.Taxed as a farm our taxes are not unreasonable. We aren't selling and I haven't gotten any educated guesses of value but I would guess something in the low-mid $400,000's

It may or may not turn out to be the right place. As mentioned unless they have other interest or offers you may hear from them again. I am guessing but wonder if they have had other rescinded offers? Probably.
You will find the right place. It almost always happens that in this situation in reflection. You guys will tell yourselves. Glad that one did not work out. A prayer sent for finding your new home.
It will happen!

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
... And to remind them that if they put the house back on the market, that they are legally obligated (in SC) to report things found in the inspections in a Seller's Disclosure Statement....

Slight thread drift. We are buying a house, we close this week actually. (The process has been good, we found a great house that checks most of the boxes, and moving starts next weekend.) We had it inspected and did the back-and-forth. We suggested to our realtor that we send the inspection report as back-up to our requests. She said the seller may not want the inspection report. If they don't see the report, they can honestly state they are unaware of any issues, as it's a he-said-she-said thing. If they actually get the report, they have to disclose.

Not an issue for us, all worked out. It will work out for you too. You passed on this one, you'll find another. There were a few we looked at that first glance checked the boxes, then when we went back and dug deeper, they weren't for us.

We did send the inspection reports with our requests to the seller, so that we would have documentation to show that our requests were reasonable.

Thanks for all the advice and prayers, all!

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
... And to remind them that if they put the house back on the market, that they are legally obligated (in SC) to report things found in the inspections in a Seller's Disclosure Statement....

Slight thread drift. We are buying a house, we close this week actually. (The process has been good, we found a great house that checks most of the boxes, and moving starts next weekend.) We had it inspected and did the back-and-forth. We suggested to our realtor that we send the inspection report as back-up to our requests. She said the seller may not want the inspection report. If they don't see the report, they can honestly state they are unaware of any issues, as it's a he-said-she-said thing. If they actually get the report, they have to disclose.

Not an issue for us, all worked out. It will work out for you too. You passed on this one, you'll find another. There were a few we looked at that first glance checked the boxes, then when we went back and dug deeper, they weren't for us.

I think you made the right choice, and I believe you will fond your "forever" home, soon.

There are a whole lot of delusional people out there who still think it's 2021-2022 with ultra-low interest rates and people fighting each other to put bids in above asking price. They missed the boat, plain and simple.

^^ Not Everywhere...Just for the record, that shit is still happening here today! Minus the 'ultra-low interest rates' obviously, but every sale in my neighborhood/area seems to be a bidding war, sometimes closing for +10% above the listing price!

I spoke with a new homeowner that closed in July, and they told me they lost out on four separate bidding wars before they were finally able to purchase their home. What's even crazier is that it's so competitive, that sellers aren't even willing to accept any contingencies, so there's no home inspection to save you from a bad deal either. This new homeowner has the A/C fail less than ten days after they closed and had to eat the replacement cost! That home listed on a Thursday for $750K, and was sold (under contract) for $800K on Monday!

Here's another...The house across the street from me listed for $849.9K and was sold (under contract) for $925K in six days...More the $75K over the listing price!

How about this one...Another home in our neighborhood listed for $700K and sold (under contract) for $780K in less than a week...$80K (11.4%) over the listing price!

Insanity!

I would have said if you love it, buy it.

Obviously, you ask for everything you can get but I've never thought a seller should be penalized for the house needing something unless they neglected to do it right. Fact is, houses need roofs periodically. And they need to HVAC periodically. And they need the septic tanks pumped. None of those things indicate the house wasn't well taken care of or that the owner neglected.

Radon might not be a scam completely, but it is incredibly overblown, imo. But whatever you believe about it, mitigation is fairly cheap.

Likewise, I would also rescind the offer.

My two SWAGs:

a. The seller has seen the inspection report before (ie., other potential buyers)
b. Seller is not in a hurry to sell because it would mean minimal equity/profit realized and/or the high interest to buy a house which they have not identified yet.

I would also research how long since the last sale (how many years has the seller been there?) and wait. Are they trying to flip for a profit or have they been long enough to have paid it off.

Maybe in 4-6 months the price will come down (provided you are still looking of course)

They bought the house in 2016 for well less than half of what they're asking.

We terminated the contract, but we'll still keep an eye on it.

They're a very odd couple. When my mother-in-law asked where they're moving (multiple times), the wife answered "home is where the heart is". ?

They wouldn't let the inspections occur without them on premises (I'm told this isn't the usual), and freaked out at how many inspections we had asked for, and freaked out by the number of inspectors there. They required shoes off in their house, and even went behind the inspectors with a vacuum cleaner if even the slightest bit of grass or leaves made it inside. And they kept saying "we're not trying to hide anything". Oh, and we asked if they had ever done any shooting on the property, they said they're not any of those "gun nuts" (or something similar).

Oh well.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Likewise, I would also rescind the offer.

My two SWAGs:

a. The seller has seen the inspection report before (ie., other potential buyers)
b. Seller is not in a hurry to sell because it would mean minimal equity/profit realized and/or the high interest to buy a house which they have not identified yet.

I would also research how long since the last sale (how many years has the seller been there?) and wait. Are they trying to flip for a profit or have they been long enough to have paid it off.

Maybe in 4-6 months the price will come down (provided you are still looking of course)

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:


They wouldn't let the inspections occur without them on premises (I'm told this isn't the usual), and freaked out at how many inspections we had asked for, and freaked out by the number of inspectors there


And they kept saying "we're not trying to hide anything".

Two giant red flags if you ask me

They KNOW there are major issues with the place

quote:

Originally posted by sigarms229:
I showed this post to my 78 year old mother who has over 45 years in the real estate business (she's still licensed and works with established clients only at this point in her career).

She said if they aren't willing to budge on price or correct the issues, then she would recommend you walk away. She's not a high pressure agent and says that's what she would tell her client in a case like this.

It might take time, but you will find another place that's a better and safer deal.

^^^^^^^^^^^
And all of those things can be found elsewhere, with a lower risk/better price for the risk level, given enough time looking.IT IS YOUR MONEY!!!

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:


They wouldn't let the inspections occur without them on premises (I'm told this isn't the usual), and freaked out at how many inspections we had asked for, and freaked out by the number of inspectors there


And they kept saying "we're not trying to hide anything".

Two giant red flags if you ask me

They KNOW there are major issues with the place

The inspection didn't turn up anything out of the ordinary.

People are sometimes just weird, especially older folks living out in rural areas. Chances are they haven't had people in their house in a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:

They wouldn't let the inspections occur without them on premises

I do not see anything strange about this. I would not want strangers traipsing around, inside my house, if I were not there.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:

They wouldn't let the inspections occur without them on premises

I do not see anything strange about this. I would not want strangers traipsing around, inside my house, if I were not there.

It is not typical for the seller to be there when the buyer's inspection is happening.