Lady Vix, I write this only because you say you are new to this and something caught my eye in your last post. You said "you weren't going to go down to the bank and sign the papers until ......" And then I checked your other posts a quick scan didn't bring up any mention of a mortgage application or approval. So I want to point out that it's not as simple as buying something like a car where essentially you just sign papers promising to pay a certain amount and then you're good to go. With a house you have to apply to the bank for a mortgage on a specific house and they not only evaluate your credit, but they also require you to pay for an appraisal (not the same thing as the tax "appraisal" or the relator's comprehensive market analysis.) Then they decide how much money they will agree to lend to you as a mortgage. You have to come up with the rest. (These days banks' appraisers are being very conservative about values.) There's tons of paperwork you have to submit to the bank and then they will tell you if they will give you a mortgage for this house and how much down payment they require. They will give you an good faith estimate of the closing costs (which may include a lot of fees). You may also have to refund to the seller a portion of the year's property taxes. Plus you will need to have homeowner's insurance, etc. You are spending lots of money on inspections, but you need to get the mortgage app process going right away because if you can't get a mortgage (and banks are reportedly being extremely choosy these days and requiring much bigger down payments than in recent years), you could be wasting a lot of money on these inspections. If you have been to a bank and have been told you are "prequalified" you should know that means nothing Sorry! You need a mortgage approval, which you can only get from starting a mortgage application. Sometimes it takes more than one attempt from different banks. And this typically takes weeks, or even more. If you already have this covered, meaning you already have a mortgage committment/approval on this specific property, ignore this. If not, get to the bank, TODAY! Good luck! L

I've been reading this forums for 2 days straight non stop because we're in the process of selling our house, and this is the most ridiculous piece of advice I've heard so far. I'm sorry to tell you, but as a seller, if someone cam to me with this ridiculous list of things to do, we would sooner back out of the deal. Yes, we would do things that needed to be done do to code violations, and we would also do things that WE could do ourselves. But if you think a homeowner is going to start hiring all kinds of contractors and get on the phone to start calling and asking about bids, you are sadly mistaken, and you've been watching way too much HGTV. A lot of sellers rather just not deal with it, maybe they'll give you a deduction on the price, but to go all out like that. omg, that's crazy. Put down the remote control, walk away, and step back into reality. Quote: From what you've written, it sounds to me like you need more time to determine if the price you've agreed to is fair, but that you also need to respond to the inspection clause promptly. If that's the case, I'd suggest you use your repairs list to fine-tune your price. Be very agressive in your list of requested repairs and corrections. Throw in everything your inspectors brought up and ask that they hire licensed, bonded contractors to correct it and that the sellers obtain permit waivers (or whatever their called) for their DIY work from the city. Your list should be as long and burdensome as it can be without making you look like a total jerk. (Looking nervous is OK.) The sellers will need time to formulate a response, price out your requested repairs and get bids, and you should use this time to get all of the information you will need to determine in your own mind what price is fair and appropriate for a house:

gldnfan, I'm curious what you say about switching out the lights...now that they are required to be pin lights, how does one "switch them out"...are there other lights that use pins? Or do you mean they have the electricians come back and change the fittings? Our understanding is that with the new law it's not easy to switch...I have the same green countertop and yellowish glow on my "cream" cabinets when the lights are on...I suppose as KD's and GC's get more familiar with this people will be advised about the combination prior to choosing it! Oh well, I find I'm starting to get used to it already so maybe eventually I won't even think about it. Gary, my understanding is that the current requirement is that you must have 50% fluorescent, i.e. if you put in one pendant as in our case which is rated for 3 100 watt bulbs, you must have at least 300 watts of fluorescent...the result being that we have LOTS of fluorescent lights. Congratulations, gldnfan...sounds like ahead of me in terms of getting moved back in. Amela, I will let you know about the insets. I love the look and because my kitchen was reconfigured, I think I gained some space to help make up for any lost due to the insets. But I haven't really been able to start moving much back in as I've had a sick DS at home all week as well as a sick DH so not much energy around here. I think it's a sign that it was really time for the remodel to be done! I'll let you know what I think as I go along about the space. The insets do look really good in my house, though, as it was built in 1931.

Knowing what state you are in, county or city might help. You might go to your local building dept and talk to them. Even though most cannot (and should not) recommend a inspector, some do have information who NOT to use. Ex: Los Angeles county does what they call a occupancy inspection done by their building inspectors which are trained in most of what you cover. When we sold, the inspector picked by the buyer was at first reluctant to go around the property as it was rural mountain property. DH was a retired LA county inspector, introduced himself, ( I was not evolved), as we had built the house ourselves. Within a short period of time many of the questions were answered and we only had a few minor things to correct and the inspector was very grateful and appreciated any information DH gave him. In fact he thought he might look into changing jobs. Check the internet to find out more about home inspectors, some fair, but many not trained well as many are general contractors. Just do your homework.